Australian Court Upholds Sex Abuse Verdicts Against Cardinal Pell

An Australian state appellate court on Wednesday upheld lower-court verdicts against Cardinal George Pell, the highest-ranking Roman Catholic cleric to be found guilty of sexual abuse.

In a 2-1 ruling, the Court of Appeal of Victoria state rejected Pell's request to overturn his December conviction. The 78-year-old prelate, a former archbishop of Sydney who later became a top Vatican adviser, is serving a six-year prison sentence for sexually abusing two 13-year-old choirboys.

The abuse occurred in the 1990s after Pell became archbishop of Melbourne. He was found guilty of orally raping one boy and sexually molesting another. read more »

‘Maybe someone will believe me’: Nine new lawsuits allege sexual abuse by Boy Scouts leaders

He says his scoutmaster sexually abused him for the first time when he was 12 years old. For the next three years, the man he had come to trust as a mentor continued the abuse. Finally, when he was 15 and about to become an Eagle Scout, he realized that only leaving the organization would end his suffering.

“That’s when I left Scouting,” David, now 61, said during a news conference in New York on Tuesday. He declined to give his last name, and wore sunglasses and a hat to protect his identity. “Because I realized the only way to obtain the rank of Eagle was to endure more sexual abuse by my scoutmaster.”

But although David escaped his abuser, he said the Boy Scouts of America allowed the man to work with other boys. David said he recently discovered that the Scouts had included the man’s name in a once-secret file of thousands of abusers, suggesting that the organization knew of his crimes. read more »

Jeffrey Epstein preyed on women during jail sentence, forced victim to marry woman, lawsuits allege

Three lawsuits allege a complex web of companies employing "disciples" who saw to it that Epstein's sexual desires were met.

Jeffrey Epstein employed an army of "disciples" through a complex network of companies for many years to recruit girls and young women to have sex with him, according to allegations in three lawsuits filed Tuesday.

Among the allegations is that Epstein arranged to have one of the women marry another woman so the woman could get permanent U.S. residence allowing her to stay in the country. One of the suits allege that Epstein continued to have sex with underage girls while he was on work release serving a Florida jail sentence under the watch of sheriff's deputies. read more »