Billions in Covid deals given to firms linked to Plymouth Brethren sect

Ben Ellery
The Times
February 05 2022

Dozens of companies with connections to a tiny fundamentalist Christian sect were awarded as much as £2.2 billion in government coronavirus contracts, The Times can reveal.

Firms with links to the insular Plymouth Brethren have been handed contracts for PPE, masks, visors, aprons, tests and ventilators without other companies being given the chance to bid for the contracts.

It can be revealed that PPE worth millions of pounds supplied by firms linked to the group were cleared for use by the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) despite being declared substandard by the Health & Safety Executive (HSE).

The evangelical group, likened to a “cult” by some former members, has connections with the Conservative Party, and MPs have previously lobbied for it to be given charitable status.

The first Brethren assembly in England was established in Plymouth in 1831 by a group who had become disillusioned with the Anglican church and felt it had become too involved with the secular state. The majority of members are born into the church, though on rare occasions those without a family connection have joined by meeting a local group. Members are encouraged to set up their own businesses.

This week it emerged that the DHSC had written off PPE worth £8.7 billion last year, admitting to a “significant loss of value to the taxpayer”.

Unispace Global, an office interior design company that suddenly became a PPE provider at the start of the pandemic, was awarded seven PPE contracts worth almost £680 million by the DHSC in 2020.

The group that owns the company belongs to two Australian brothers, Charles and Gareth Hales, whose father is Bruce Hales, the worldwide leader of the Plymouth Brethren sect.

Unispace Global recorded an £86 million profit in 2020, with the largest beneficiary, likely to be Gareth Hales, entitled to £32 million.

Research by The Times and the Open and Candid website, an investigative platform, found that former directors of Unispace are connected to at least 45 companies linked to the Brethren that have won coronavirus contracts. There is no suggestion that the sect co-ordinated the applications for contracts.

The sect reportedly has 50,000 members worldwide, with 16,000 in this country. It operates a series of primary schools and business courses in the UK.

Followers adhere to a set of strict rules based upon their interpretation of the Bible. In avoiding anything they perceive to be sinful, members cannot watch television, listen to the radio or go to the cinema.

Unispace Global has transferred the money from the Covid contracts to Sante Global LLP.

Ross Robertson, 39, from Oxford, is a shareholder and former employee of a sister company, Sante Global Trading Co. Three days after lockdown, Ross and his brother Luke set up Medco Solutions, which was then handed £772 million in contracts to provide visors, facemasks and aprons.

In December it was reported that visors procured by Medco as part of a £33.4 million contract were being processed by a recycling firm.

A third Robertson brother, Murray, is a director of Rapid Relief Team, a Plymouth Brethren charity that provides catering for emergency services crews.

A charity was set up by the sect in 2013 after a battle with the Charity Commission for it to be officially recognised. The application was made by the trust of the church that runs its gospel halls. Ultimately, the watchdog decided there was enough public benefit from the gospel halls for them to be given charitable status.

The campaign to secure charity status was heavily supported by a large number of Conservative MPs, including Owen Paterson, Peter Bone, Robert Halfron and Michael Ellis.

Jolyon Maugham QC, founder of The Good Law Project, said: “It’s very, very odd that companies connected to a tiny sect have won £2.2 billion worth of contracts. At best, it’s a head-scratcher.”

A spokesman for the Plymouth Brethren Christian Church said: “The Plymouth Brethren Christian Church is [a] place of love and worship, not of business and politics.

“Like in any other religious group or church, many of our members run their own businesses, and these businesses are completely separate from the church. Any contractual agreements between the government and these independent businesses are completely unrelated to our church.”

Neihttps://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/billions-in-covid-deals-given-to-firms-linked-to-plymouth-brethren-sect-8tlszvrh5ther the companies concerned nor the DHSC responded to requests for comment.

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/billions-in-covid-deals-given-to-firms-linked-to-plymouth-brethren-sect-8tlszvrh5

Man, 77, accused of killing reputed CT cult leader dies after contracting COVID in prison, attorney says

Lisa Backus
CT Insider
January 20, 2022

A 77-year-old man accused of participating in the murder of a reputed leader in the Brother Julius cult died from complications of COVID-19 while he was incarcerated awaiting trial, his attorney said Thursday.

Rudy Hannon, 77, was arrested by New Britain police in July 2018 and charged with murder and murder during the commission of a felony in the death of Paul Sweetman, the second-in-command in the Brother Julius cult who went missing in Southington in 2004, according to court documents.

Julius Schacknow, known as Brother Julius, was accused of enlisting hundreds of residents from the Northeast in the 1970s and 1980s to join the cult, which discouraged education or any free thought, former followers said, according to court documents.

Schacknow died in 1996, leaving Sweetman and others to continue the cult on a smaller scale, former members said, according to court documents.

According to an arrest warrant, Hannon and Sorek Minery, another cult member, killed Sweetman in Plainville in 2004, placed his body in a freezer and then dismembered him, burying his remains at various locations in New Britain.

Hannon, however, maintained his innocence to the end, his attorney J. Patten Brown III said Thursday.

“He was going to trial,” Brown said. “The tragic thing is that because of COVID, he sat there for years.”

Brown was notified last weekend by Hannon’s family that he had died with COVID-19 while being held on $2 million bond. His case had been essentially stalled by the pandemic and no trial date had been set, Brown said. During a routine court date next month, the case would have likely been continued again, Brown said.

New Britain State’s Attorney Brian Preleski said Thursday he will dismiss the charges on Feb. 1, which was Hannon’s next scheduled court date.

Minery pleaded no contest to a single charge of conspiracy to commit murder in the case. He is expected to be sentenced in the next few months, Preleski said.

Hannon became ill after contracting COVID-19 while incarcerated and later died at a local hospital on Jan. 15. He is the 27th Connecticut inmate to die from complications of the virus.

Officials at the state Department of Correction declined to confirm that Hannon had died.

A press release issued by the agency on Wednesday said that a 77-year-old inmate being held on $2 million bond on murder charges had died from COVID-19 complications. The inmate had entered the DOC system on July 31, 2018, the agency said. It was the same day that Hannon was arraigned in Sweetman’s murder.

Hannon’s arrest and death brings mixed emotions, said Lisa O’Neil Guerci, who was raised in the cult, but escaped with her young daughter more than 30 years ago.

“Nothing good comes from a cult except the insight you gain when you leave,” O’Neil Guerci said in an interview Thursday. “I look back and feel sorry for everybody. With Hannon’s death, unless Sorek comes to justice, justice has not been done.”

O’Neil Guerci fled the cult when she was 26 years old, she said. By that point, she had never held a regular job unless it was within the financial empire Schacknow and Sweetman had built and never graduated high school because she was forced to leave, she said.

Although she is now an accomplished writer and has a job and a regular life, she is in the process of obtaining her GED to make up for being forced to drop out of school at 17.

“I wanted to be a writer, but cult leaders don’t want people to be free-thinkers,” she said.

According to his arrest warrant, Hannon lured Sweetman to Minery’s construction shop in Plainville in July 2004.

New Britain police investigated the discovery of a human leg found in the area of Shuttle Meadow Golf Club in August 2004, an arrest warrant said. The state medical examiner determined the leg had been severed with a sharp object likely during a homicide, police said. But the case remained open for years without an identity of the person.

Although Hannon had told federal investigators about his role in the homicide in 2006, the information was never provided to New Britain police, according to the warrant. A decade later, a lieutenant who had been part of a team of detectives who solved homicides of unidentified people found in New Britain, was checking NAMUS, a national database for missing persons, when she discovered that Sweetman had disappeared around the same time the leg was found, an arrest warrant said.

DNA provided by Sweetman’s son confirmed the leg belonged to his father, the warrant said. New Britain police interviewed Hannon and Minery in 2016 and 2017 who provided conflicting stories about who committed the homicide, blaming each other for the crime, the warrant stated.

Both men said after Sweetman was beaten and incapacitated, they stuffed his body into a freezer, the warrant said. Minery later used a saw to cut off Sweetman’s arms, legs and head, and buried the remains in at least two locations, the warrant stated. Sweetman may have been alive when he was placed in the freezer, Minery told police, according to the warrant.

Detectives found Sweetman’s torso buried under a garage in New Britain that at one time belonged to Minery after they reviewed Federal Bureau of Investigation documents in 2016, the warrant said.

https://www.ctinsider.com/news/article/Man-77-accused-of-killing-CT-cult-leader-dies-16791935.php

Anti-vax protests: 'Sovereign citizens' fight UK Covid vaccine rollout

Alistair Coleman and Shayan Sardarizadeh
BBC Monitoring
January 18, 2022

Alpha Men Assemble members are encouraged to attend arduous training sessions dressed in black

Opposition to Covid vaccinations has come in many forms, but none stranger than the "sovereign citizen" defence.

It uses defunct ancient English law to try to challenge regulations.

Some anti-vaccination protesters outside schools and hospitals have used this to hand out fake legal documents to teachers, parents and health workers.

Others have sought to remove Covid patients from intensive care wards, citing non-existent "common law" empowering them to do so.

They also accuse the government of "vaccine genocide" in videos shared on social media.

Some groups have even held training camps for their members. Images have emerged of black-clad men being coached in "direct action" techniques.
No basis in law

Followers of "sovereign citizen" and "freeman on the land" conspiracy theories wrongly believe they possess the legal power to bring leading politicians, civil servants and scientists before so-called "common law courts".

They allege "crimes" over Covid restrictions and vaccinations, even though such claims have no basis in law.

But that has not deterred a newly-formed group calling itself Alpha Men Assemble, which combines anti-vaccine and sovereign citizen beliefs.

It has been holding training sessions in several UK locations where volunteers prepare for "direct action", such as breaking through police lines, marching formations and sparring.

Alpha Men Assemble members are trained in various confrontation techniques

Launched on the Telegram chat app in mid-December, the group has amassed 8,000 members, and posts footage of training sessions online.

According to the Daily Mail, at a recent training session in Staffordshire activists were urged to "hit vaccine centres, schools, head teachers, colleges, councillors and directors of public health in every area".

The group has described itself as "free thinking men and women living as sovereign beings under common law". They say that they reject violence and are in favour of "body autonomy".

Its training events, it says, are "non-combative and are in no way to be linked to any militia or extremism".

We asked the Alpha Men Assemble group for comment, but have not yet received a response.

• On Telegram, Alpha Men Assemble frequently reference "sovereign citizen" and "freeman on the land" beliefs
• Direct action and threats

In December, two Covid patients were taken out of hospitals in Liverpool and Milton Keynes, against the advice of doctors and nurses.

Video of the incident in Liverpool's Aintree University Hospital shows activists boasting of their presumed legal jurisdiction as "common law constables". They told staff and police they were under "open arrest". A man was later arrested in connection with the incident.

Activists filmed themselves attempting to remove a Covid patient from Liverpool's Aintree University Hospital

There was a similar incident last year in Ireland when an elderly Covid patient was removed from a hospital and taken home by a man citing a combination of anti-vaccine and sovereign citizen beliefs. The patient was returned to hospital two days later, and eventually died.

Conspiracy-laden criminal complaints have recently been filed with police in the UK and also the International Criminal Court, alleging "genocide" and "depopulation" via vaccinations.

Anti-vax activists have also picketed schools, hospitals, politicians' homes, police stations, vaccination centres and the homes of celebrities who have publicly supported vaccines. Politicians and journalists have been "served" with fake legal papers.

In August, a group attempted to "seize" Edinburgh Castle, claiming sovereignty over the landmark under Magna Carta. They told police they rejected "fake acts and statutes" that were "made up by paedophiles". One person was arrested.

Police study papers handed to them by activists who failed to take over Edinburgh Castle
What do sovereign citizens believe?

The sovereign citizen movement originated in anti-government protests in the US in the 1970s and rose in prominence along with the militia movement in the 1990s. It was in that decade that the UK version of the movement surfaced.

• What is the US 'sovereign citizen' movement?
• The mystery of 'legal name fraud'

British believers think that they can opt out of laws with which they do not agree, based on a clause - or, as they term it, Article 61 - of Magna Carta.

The clause describes a process of electing representative barons who had the power to seize property in order to redress grievances. It was struck from Magna Carta within a year of its signing and, like much of the document, has no legal standing today.

King John of England signed Magna Carta in 1215 AD

UK sovereign citizen activists often cite obscure terms such as "legal name fraud" and "wet signatures", and organise on social media.

Volunteers are encouraged to attend training to qualify as "common law constables", which they falsely believe grants powers akin to, or even higher than, the police.

Activists believe that government-issued documents such as birth certificates and driving licences are "legal fictions".

An online "common law court" allows followers to register as "living men and women". It also hands out identification documents to volunteers and provides so-called legal advice and services, for a range of fees.

An online "common law court" issues IDs and services to sovereign citizen followers

"There is no such concept in our law as a sovereign citizen," said the Law Society's Ellie Cumbo.

Some followers have learned this the hard way, finding out in court that their beliefs don't form a legal defence from criminal charges.

• Why Magna Carta won't exempt you from Covid rules
• Tax dodger's freeman on the land defence fails

Among these is a hairdresser in Bradford who was fined thousands of pounds after citing Magna Carta in an attempt to stay open during lockdown.

A tattoo artist who insisted on keeping his business open during Covid restrictions also eventually lost his case.

Some businesses have used a misleading notice found on the internet to justify staying open
What do the 'writs' contain?

Sovereign citizen activists have also issued fake legal "writs" calling for the recipient to stop promoting or administering Covid vaccines. These threaten prosecution for violating the Nuremberg Code against human experimentation.

They urge "all constables and sovereign men and women" to arrest these figures "on sight and without delay".

One sent to the BBC's disinformation reporter Marianna Spring said she was being served with a "notice of liability for harm and death".

The BBC's Marianna Spring received this bogus writ in 2021. The text baselessly threatens legal action.

Ms Cumbo said: "These bogus writs have no legal validity, and in many cases do not even seem to involve or resemble a claim that would be recognised by the courts.

"Historically, writs were used to start any civil claim against someone else, but today this has to be done via a claim form issued under the authority of the relevant court."


https://www.bbc.com/news/59870550

CultNEWS101 Articles: 12/28/2021 (ultra-Orthodox, Israel, Legal, Russia, Father Sergiy, Covid, Falun Gong, Misinformation)

ultra-Orthodox, Israel, Legal, Russia, Father Sergiy, Covid, Falun Gong, Misinformation

Times of Israel: Berland's son-in-law, follower named as suspects in cold case murders linked to sect

"The son-in-law of convicted sex offender Eliezer Berland and another follower of the extremist Shuvu Bonim sect were named on Monday as two of the suspects in the cold case murder and suspected murder tied to the cult.

The names of the two were permitted to be published after a ruling by the Jerusalem Magistrate's Court.

The first suspect was named as Tzvi Tzucker, Berland's son-in-law who served as head of the ultra-Orthodox sect's "religious police." He left the sect a few years ago amid the allegations of sexual abuse against his father-in-law.

Tzucker has denied all involvement in the killings.

The second suspect was named as Baruch Sharvit, a member of Berland's cult. According to Channel 13 news, Sharvit has admitted to investigators that he killed 17-year-old Nissim Shitrit and has implicated other suspects.

Earlier this month, Kan news reported that Sharvit met with Berland in the interrogation room, where the sect leader instructed his follower to provide information to the investigators.

According to the report, Sharvit then admitted to playing a role in the murder of Shitrit as well as the killing of 41-year-old Avi Edri. Sharvit was said to have additionally incriminated other suspects.

Shitrit was allegedly beaten by the sect's "religious police" four months before he disappeared in January 1986.

In a documentary broadcast by Kan in 2020, one of Berland's former disciples said that the religious police murdered the boy, dismembered him and buried his body in Eshtaol Forest near Beit Shemesh. His remains were never found and the case was never solved.

Edri was found beaten to death in Ramot Forest in the north of Jerusalem in 1990."

AP News: Russian coronavirus-denying monk given prison sentence

"A rebel Russian monk who castigated the Kremlin and denied that the coronavirus existed was convicted Tuesday on accusations of encouraging suicides and given a 3½-year prison sentence.

The monk, Father Sergiy, was arrested in December 2020 on charges of inciting suicidal actions through sermons in which he urged believers to "die for Russia," breaching the freedom of conscience and making arbitrary moves. He rejected the accusations and his lawyers said they would appeal Tuesday's ruling by Moscow's Ismailovo District Court.

Father Sergiy reacted to the verdict with a biblical "Do not judge and you will not be judged."

When the coronavirus pandemic began, the 66-year-old monk denied its existence and denounced government efforts to stem the pandemic as "Satan's electronic camp." He has spread the long-debunked conspiracy theories about COVID-19 and described the coronavirus vaccines being developed against COVID-19 as part of a purported global plot to control the masses via microchips.

The monk urged followers to disobey the government's lockdown measures and holed up at a monastery near Yekaterinburg that he founded and had dozens of burly volunteers, including veterans of the separatist conflict in eastern Ukraine, help enforce his rules while the prioress and several nuns left."

New York Times: Those Cute Cats Online? They Help Spread Misinformation

"On Oct. 2, New Tang Dynasty Television, a station linked to the Chinese spiritual movement Falun Gong, posted a Facebook video of a woman saving a baby shark stranded on a shore. Next to the video was a link to subscribe to The Epoch Times, a newspaper that is tied to Falun Gong and that spreads anti-China and right-wing conspiracies. The post collected 33,000 likes, comments and shares.

The website of Dr. Joseph Mercola, an osteopathic physician who researchers say is a chief spreader of coronavirus misinformation online, regularly posts about cute animals that generate tens or even hundreds of thousands of interactions on Facebook. The stories include "Kitten and Chick Nap So Sweetly Together" and "Why Orange Cats May Be Different From Other Cats," written by Dr. Karen Becker, a veterinarian."

" ... Videos and GIFs of cute animals — usually cats — have gone viral online for almost as long as the internet has been around. Many of the animals became famous: There's Keyboard Cat, Grumpy Cat, Lil Bub and Nyan Cat, just to name a few.

Now, it is becoming increasingly clear how widely the old-school internet trick is being used by people and organizations peddling false information online, misinformation researchers say.

The posts with the animals do not directly spread false information. But they can draw a huge audience that can be redirected to a publication or site spreading false information about election fraud, unproven coronavirus cures and other baseless conspiracy theories entirely unrelated to the videos. Sometimes, following a feed of cute animals on Facebook unknowingly signs users up as subscribers to misleading posts from the same publisher."

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