Sex abuse claims against the Boy Scouts of America have now surpassed 88,000, according to lawyers who represent victims who’ve filed claims against the organization. 

Christopher Hurley, the managing partner with a law firm representing 4,000 survivors of childhood sexual abuse who say they were victimized while participating in the Boy Scouts, said in a statement to The Christian Post that there are over 88,500 victims that have come forward as of Monday, the deadline the bankruptcy court set for such claims. 

Lawyers told The New York Times that over 82,000 abuse claims were made against the group as of late Sunday and that the number of sexual abuse cases filed against BSA far exceeds the number of cases linked to abuse claims in the Roman Catholic Church.

“I knew there were a lot of cases,” said Paul Mones, an attorney who has been working on BSA cases for approximately 20 years.

“I never contemplated it would be a number close to this,” noting that with the prevalence of the abuse the number may represent a mere fraction of victims.

The BSA has filed for bankruptcy but hopes to reemerge anew one day. 

According to its bankruptcy filing, the organization founded in 1910 reportedly has over $1 billion in assets, much of it in real estate.

“The response we have seen from survivors has been gut-wrenching,” the BSA said in the statement, noting that it was “devastated by the number of lives impacted by past abuse in Scouting.”

Full story at The Christian Post.