The Boy Scouts of America, an organisation that faces tens of thousands of sexual abuse charges, said it will sell its vast collection of Norman Rockwell paintings to raise funds to settle sexual abuse lawsuits. The Boy Scouts filed a reorganisation plan while filing for bankruptcy in a Delaware court in late February, in which it listed hundreds of artworks it could sell, including 59 oil paintings by Norman Rockwell, to pay victims of sexual abuse. The survivors have alleged that they were sexually abused during their time at the organisation by scout leaders. Some of these allegations of sexual abuse date back as far as 1944.
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More than 85,000 former scouts claim they have been abused at their time in the 111-year-old organisation and are suing for compensation. The settlement to the survivors runs up to $300 million, which is expected to be funded by money from its local councils, insurance policies and oil and gas interests, besides the sale of the artworks.
The reorganisation plan did not put a price on any of the artworks listed. Noted American painter Norman Rockwell was made art director of the Boy Scouts' official publication Boys' Life when he was in his teens. Rockwell, who went on to become a celebrated illustrator, worked for the Boy Scouts for most of his life. The paintings reflect Rockwell's long collaboration with the scout movement.
Reports of sexual abuse by former boy scouts first surfaced in 2012.
