The total value of the claims billed to insurers so far exceeds more than $12 billion, while the bankruptcy plan estimated the amount to be up to $3.6 billion

Tens of thousands of individuals who were sexually abused in the Boy Scouts of America are facing increasingly dim prospects for receiving the compensation they were told they would get during the youth group’s bankruptcy.

The cost of fully compensating abuse survivors has ballooned, with insurers receiving bills for at least $12 billion so far from a settlement trust and with roughly 17,000 claims still needing to be reviewed. That’s up from $7 billion earlier this year and several times the $3.6 billion forecast under the

Boy Scouts’ bankruptcy plan, according to court papers filed last week by settlement trustee Barbara Houser.

The Boy Scouts won court approval in 2022 to resolve its sex-abuse liabilities, valued at the time at up to $3.6 billion. The bankruptcy court found those claims would likely be paid in full by a compensation fund with roughly $2.5 billion in insurance coverage and other pledged assets.