Oct 11, 2019

CultNEWS101 Articles: 10/11/2019




Trafficking, Scientology, Legal, Golden Dawn, Greece, Bikram Choudhury, Documentary, NXIVM

"For two decades, Jeffrey Epstein built a sex trafficking enterprise that reached across state borders and spanned the globe. Using an almost bottomless quarry of wealth and connections, he not only employed recruiters around the world, but enlisted the help of an array of seemingly legitimate people — from hairdressers to psychiatrists to immigration lawyers and dentists.

Even doctors who prescribed his victims birth control and screened them for sexually transmitted diseases.

While many of his survivors were underage, there were countless others who were 18 to 23, a group of women who have been reluctant to come forward because, despite the ordeal they went through, they are ashamed and believe that the public doesn't look at them as victims at all.

But a closer look at Epstein's sex trafficking operation sheds new light on how the multimillionaire and his accomplices perfected a process to sexually exploit and abuse young women that was so organized — and so apparently acceptable to many of those around Epstein — that his victims, even those above the age of consent, came to believe that it was almost normal."

" ... To understand how women above the age of consent could get trapped in Epstein's network requires understanding what Edwards calls "Epstein's Process''— the psychology behind a sex predator mastermind who homed in on the weaknesses and vulnerabilities of his targets.

"He would find out they have no home, no car, that they need a place to live, and he would provide a place to live,'' Edwards said. 'He can get you to the best doctors. Sometimes he would do that and sometimes he wouldn't do that, but the promise was real because as soon as you walk into his house and see there are legitimate cooks, chefs, and assistants, everybody catering to him — it gives this air of legitimacy. I mean, everybody in this whole entire mansion can't possibly be running an illegal sex trafficking operation, right?'"

"A woman says in a Florida lawsuit that Scientology operatives cut the brake lines on her car, vandalized her property and followed her after she spoke out about alleged abuse.

The lawsuit filed last Wednesday in state court in Miami says the unnamed 25-year-old woman had been sexually assaulted as a child in Scientology's care.

She says the harassment started after she left the Church of Scientology last year and spoke out about the abuse.

The lawsuit claims church officials knew about the abuse, but did nothing to stop it, and didn't contact law enforcement."

" ... The woman is referred to only as Jane Doe for fear of more retaliation by the church of Scientology.

An attorney for the church called the lawsuit 'a disgusting sham.'"

"For years the five-storey building at 131 Mesogeion Avenue embodied the success of Golden Dawn, the neo-Nazi party that took Greece, and Europe, by storm. Today, its tattered flag, broken signage and shuttered doors have come to tell another story: of Golden Dawn's rise and fall on the back of rage and economic crisis, hate-mongering, murder and criminal charges. "The people put them in, the people threw them out," quips Giorgos Mavroeidis, the manager of a health-appliance shop two stores down. 'We got used to the rallies in the end but they were extremists to be sure,' he says of the black-clad staff and supporters who would frequent the building, the party's national headquarters. 'It's strange to think of us being so close to them now.'"
"Academy Award-winning filmmaker Eva Orner's "Bikram: Yogi, Guru, Predator," about Bikram Choudhury, the controversial yoga teacher who had multiple lawsuits filed against him for sexual misconduct, just premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival.

The Netflix original documentary shines a light on the stories of the women who took the Indian American yoga teacher down and explores the contradiction of how this healing discipline could simultaneously help and hurt so many.

Orner told Variety that she is now asking California lawmakers to reopen a criminal sexual assault case against Choudhury.

"We have a great governor in California, Gavin Newsom, I'm sure he watches everything on Netflix. Hopefully he will watch this film, call (Los Angeles District Attorney) Jackie Lacey and tell her to reopen the case, go after him criminally, get him extradited, and he will have to face the music," Orner told Variety.

In 2017, the California State Court of Appeal dismissed a plea by the Indian American 'hot yoga' guru, remanding him to pay $7.3 million to his former attorney, Minakshi Jafa-Bodden, who had sued him for sexual harassment and wrongful termination.

Referencing that Orner said, as per Variety, that rape and assault charges have yet to be investigated while Choudhury remains a fugitive evading investigation."

"India Oxenberg is the daughter of actress Catherine Oxenberg. She was a member of Nxivm, a multi-level marketing organization that branded itself as an empowerment training center and was later exposed to be an apparent cult, for several years. Oxenberg and her mother, Catherine, first got involved with Nxivm as a duo. Catherine then spent several years trying to pull her daughter out of the organization; this effort culminated in a memoir, which has since been adapted into a film, which will run on Lifetime on September 21. Oxenberg left Nxivm in 2018, and is now in a relationship with chef Patrick D'Ignazio.

The film, which is titled Escaping the NXIVM Cult: A Mother's Fight to Save Her Daughter, is dramatized by other actors and actresses. Catherine explained her decision to take that route in an interview with Variety. She said, "To be quite frank, going through this once was plenty, and I'm so grateful to hand the part over to somebody else. I'm barely recovering from the first time."

Catherine also said that this movie is told largely from her perspective, not from India's. India is currently working on her own book, reportedly."




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