LA County DA seeks pause of $4 billion child abuse payouts

The Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office is seeking to halt all payouts from a historic $4 billion child sexual abuse settlement, alleging that a majority of the claims may be fraudulent. In a motion filed Thursday, District Attorney Nathan Hochman asked a Superior Court judge to pause the payments until the end of 2026 while his office conducts a criminal investigation.

The motion states that investigators believe more than 80 percent of the claims could be fabricated. Prosecutors argue that disbursing the funds now would risk interfering with the probe by complicating witness cooperation and obscuring financial trails. A hearing on the request is scheduled for Monday morning before Judge Lawrence Riff.

The settlement, approved by the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors in April 2025, is the largest of its kind in U.S. history. It resolved more than 11,000 claims of sexual abuse at county-run juvenile halls, foster homes, and children's shelters, with allegations dating back to 1959. The claims were enabled by a 2020 California law that temporarily suspended the statute of limitations for childhood sex abuse cases.

The district attorney's investigation began in...