UNITED STATES
TRD NATIONAL
January 11, 2020
At least 20 dioceses use bankruptcy and legal entities to limit payouts to victims
Catholic church dioceses across the country are moving around their real estate portfolios and using Chapter 11 bankruptcy to protect assets in sex abuse lawsuits.
Over the last decade and a half, the U.S. Catholic Church has shielded more than $2 billion worth of assets from people who were abused by clergy, according to a Bloomberg Businessweek report. In some cases, that has significantly reduced the amount of money available to compensate those victims.
More than 20 dioceses have chosen to go the bankruptcy route since 2004 rather than face lawsuits.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.