Aug 26, 2019

CultNEWS101 Articles: 8/19/2019




Multilevel Marketing Companies, Maharishi University of Management, Mormon Church, Legal, Lev Tahor

" ... 'We were told very specifically, never post anything negative on your Facebook. No prayer requests, no talking about, I'm having trouble at this. No drama. Like you were supposed to filter your Facebook as though once you joined It Works all your problems went away,' Courtney, a former distributor for It Works, told Business Insider of the pressure she received from other distributors.

It Works is a multilevel marketing company that sells beauty, nutrition, and weight loss products through its network of distributors. It Works is best known for its Ultimate Body Applicators which people wrap around their stomachs or other areas in hopes of tightening, toning, and firming. Courtney says she first learned about this product and the opportunity to sell for It Works after she posted in a mom group about her "mom pouch" about three weeks after having a Cesarean section.

Because recruiting and motivating thousands of independent distributors is fundamental to how MLMs operate, it has caused some to liken these companies to cults.

"Multilevel marketing companies do have some similarities to cults," Jennifer Chatman, a professor at the Hass School of Business at UC Berkeley who researches, teaches, and consults on how companies leverage organizational culture to improve corporate performance, told Business Insider.

"What cults do is they try to recruit people based on relationships. They say, here's a person who is very similar to you and you should forge a relationship with them and they're going to be really nice to you," Chatman said."

"Maharishi University of Management reported 16 safety-related incidents involving students on or near campus or other MUM affiliated properties in 2017. Of the 2,795 colleges and universities that reported crime and safety data, 1,396 of them reported fewer incidents than this."

" ... Based on a student body of 1,530 that works out to about 10.46 reports per thousand students. In 2017, 1,454 colleges and universities reported fewer incidents per thousand students than did MUM."

" ... Crime and safety incidents fall into four broad categories. Disciplinary actions represented 25.0% of all incidents. Arrests related to possession represented none of all incidents. Violence against women represented 43.8% of all incidents. Arrests for major crimes represented 31.2% of all incidents."

" ... Maharishi University of Management reported 16 safety-related incidents involving students while on campus in 2017. Of the 2,795 colleges and universities that reported crime and safety data, 1,475 of them reported fewer incidents than this."

" ... Based on a student body of 1,530 that works out to about 10.46 reports per thousand students. In 2017, 1,577 colleges and universities reported fewer incidents per thousand students than did MUM."

" ... Disciplinary actions represented 25.0% of all on-campus incidents. Arrests related to possession represented none of all on-campus incidents. Violence against women represented 43.8% of all on-campus incidents. Arrests for major crimes represented 31.2% of all on-campus incidents."

Campus crime is greater at MUM than in other colleges. And, 48% of the crimes are crimes against women- higher than the national average.

"A federal lawsuit sure to get attention in Utah claims that the "Mormon Corporate Empire" has driven worshipers to existential crises, suicide, anxiety and depression by peddling a "scheme of lies" centered on the  religion's creation and its scriptures, a onetime member claims.

Laura Gaddy on Monday filed a scathing, 75-page class action against the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Represented by Salt Lake City attorney Kay Burningham, Gaddy claims the church, which claimed 16 million members worldwide in 2018, twisted "the foundational history of Mormonism" in a "fraudulent scheme perpetrated for generations."

"The material facts upon which Mormonism is based have been manipulated through intentional concealment, misrepresentation, distortion and or obfuscation by the [LDS] to contrive an inducement to faith in Mormonism's core beliefs," the complaint states."

"Four more alleged members of Lev Tahor, a fringe ultra-Orthodox sect, were indicted in New York for conspiring to kidnap two children from their mother and return them to their sect.

One of the men, Mordechay Malka, was arrested this week at Newark Liberty International Airport and remains in custody, the New York Post reported, citing the US Attorney's Office in Manhattan. Three others — Shmiel Weingarten, Yoil Weingarten and Yakov Weingarten — remain at large.

The charges unsealed Friday in White Plains come days after five leaders of the sect, who were arrested in December, were indicted on similar charges.

They are accused of participating in kidnapping two children — 14-year-old Yante Teller and her 12-year-old brother Chaim Teller."




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