Inside The Cowboy Industry Of ‘Cult Deprogramming’

SERA BOZZA

Boss Hunting

October 26, 2020

In the 1970s, America quite literally lost its mind. Doomsday cults, satanic sects, and saffron-robed gurus were exerting undue influence upon thousands of Americans with fatal consequences. Desperate families paid a pretty penny for rogue operators to infiltrate cults and rescue their brainwashed loves ones by any means necessary. It spawned the entirely new, highly lucrative, and dubiously ethical industry of ‘cult deprogramming.’

Vigilante ‘deprogrammers’ continue to operate today via covert means and legal loopholes. And their services are in high demand. Cult expert and former cult member himself, Steven Hassan, estimates that over 5,000 cults operate today in the United States alone.

What defines a destructive cult

Psychiatrist Robert Jay Lifton, defined destructive, totalitarian cults, as having three key metrics:

1. A charismatic, authoritarian leader, who employs
2. Coercive persuasion to gain absolute influence over followers, using
3. Economic, sexual, emotional, physical or financial abuse and harm.

And yes, the definition can extend to radical political groups, multilevel marketing schemes, and self-help seminars. Even your mate who tried to sign you up to Herbalife.

Cult life (and death)

Fears surrounding absolute devotion to a cult, and its leader are not unfounded.

• The Manson Family – 1969 California, USA Charles Manson ordered his members to carry out gruesome murders. Explored in Tarantino’s “Once Upon a Time… In Hollywood.”
• The People’s Temple – 1978, Jonestown, Guyana Reverend Jim Jones ordered 900 of his members to commit suicide by drinking cyanide-laced Kool-Aid. Upon which Leonardo DiCaprio produced this harrowing documentary.
• Heaven’s Gate – 1997, San Diego, USA Marshall Applewhite and 38 of his followers committed suicide to reach a UFO spacecraft.
• NXIVM – 2020, New York, USA Keith Raniere, head of a cult based on the forced sexual abuse of women, was sentenced to 120 years in prison after a New York Times investigation prompted authorities to scrutinize its inner workings.

It is near impossible to change someone’s mind about a cult because they have been indoctrinated into an “us versus them” mentality. In the past, they may have isolated in remote compounds, but today they can just exist entirely in their own echo chambers on the internet.

If an individual does not leave voluntarily, the only other option is to forcibly remove them.

By whatever means necessary

Over the decades, U.S. judges routinely granted parents and cowboy deprogrammers the authorization to (re)kidnap their children without a hearing.

Ted “Black Lightning” Patrick, was dubbed “The Father of Deprogramming.” His skin was in the game after saving his own son from a cult known as The Children Of God. He deprogrammed over two thousand clients via abduction (daylight kidnappings with the assistance of his henchman), snapping (inflicting mental, emotional, and physical abuse to undo the cult’s brainwashing), and releasing (a process of freeing an individual from their trancelike state).

US courts backed Patrick’s argument that, by “artful and deceiving” means, cults were robbing people of their First Amendment Rights to think and choose.

Cult deprogrammers (used to) make serious bank

Although it didn’t crack the highest-earning jobs list – not to mention Patrick had US$60 million in lawsuits pending against him by 1979 – cult deprogramming is highly lucrative. Can families put a price on the freedom of their loved ones?

In the Colombrito vs. Kelly case of 1978, one deprogrammer received a US$25,000 fee (inflating to US$100,000 today and approximately AU$140,000.) It is a niche market, with just a handful of operators carrying out thousands of conversions to date. However, the industry had to go underground following the monumental court case in 1995, Scott vs. Ross.

Deprogrammer Rick Ross was duped by Jason Scott, who faked his deprogramming and pressed charges. Scott’s case was picked up by a powerful backer.

The Church of Scientology, growing frustrated with the anti-cult movement, funded Scott’s civil suit in 1995. It bankrupted Ross and the Cult Awareness Network (CAN). Scientology bought the CAN assets and logo and runs it as a front for their own organisation. The case ended the lawful use of involuntary cult deprogramming.

How cult deprogramming works today

“Exit counselling” has since replaced coercive cult deprogramming, yet consists of many of the same players. Ross compares his counselling sessions to an intervention. It spans three to four days, in eight-hour lengthy sessions, alongside families and loved ones. However, by law, it must be voluntary.

The subject can leave at any time, and the cults have clocked on to it. Cults and questionable self-help groups train their members to sense it coming. Many parents enlist psychologists in covert operations to assist them in gaining conservatorship powers. Through conservatorship, they can explore more coercive measures…

Cult deprogramming techniques used to change someone’s mind

Alongside discrediting the authority of the cult leader and presenting contradictions in the group’s ideology, a strong emphasis is placed on education.

Margaret Singer, PhD psychologist advocates for “showing them how their own decision-making power had been taken away from them.” It can include:

• Naming the group’s indoctrination techniques, and helping the victim to reference the ways they were used against them during their indoctrination period.
• Asking thoughtful questions, prompting the victim to think in a critical, independent way, such as “How can the group preach X, but exploit Y? And then providing significant praise when they do.
• Reintroducing objects and individuals from the victim’s pre-cult past to prompt an emotional connection.

What is the measure of success?

Cult brainwashing techniques can permanently damage an individual’s cognitive ability, and not everyone snaps out of it. Harvard psychiatrist, Dr John G Clark, told the New York Times, ”the destructive effects of cult conversions amount to a new disease in an era of psychological manipulation.”

Cult deprogrammers and exit counsellors measure their success by the individual’s ability to think critically and exercise free will, which can take years of counselling to achieve.

https://www.bosshunting.com.au/culture/inside-cult-deprogramming/

(Cult)ivating Understanding

What cults can teach us about the need for belonging

Keating Reid, Opinion Editor

McGill Tribune

October 30, 2018

Along with serial killers and Cold War conspiracy theories, few topics reliably elicit as much morbid fascination as cults. There’s a near compulsive readability to the Wikipedia entries for Jonestown, the Manson Family, and the Branch Davidians that, as far as midterm procrastination is concerned, can’t be substituted for more wholesome online histories. While their stories each combine a measure of conspiracy and murder, part of the allure of researching cults is the processes of indoctrination their members undergo. The actions of cult members make headlines, but the motivations behind joining such groups remain obscure.

If loneliness constitutes vulnerability to cults, university campuses are by no means safe havens from feelings of isolation. And of course, if one considers the average McGill student obtaining a vague degree en route to a vague future occupation, there’s something undeniably fascinating about the clarity of purpose exhibited by cult members.

In spite of these potential draws, cults are surrounded by a remarkably-durable mythos. The popular idea of a cult—a group of mesmerized followers, preyed upon by a preternaturally-persuasive leader—masks an even more uncomfortable reality: It doesn’t require ‘brainwashing’ for people to act in ways that outsiders find unthinkable.

Among the most unsettling cult histories bound for cable miniseries fame is that of the Branch Davidians, an apocalyptic Christian group led by David Koresh, whose two-month standoff with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) in 1993 was a flashpoint for cults’ prominent bearing in North American consciousness. The violent affair began with the ATF’s attempted execution of a search warrant at the Mount Carmel Centre ranch on Feb. 28. It remains unknown which side fired the first shot, but on Apr. 19, 50 days after the standoff began, the ATF made their final assault. Seventy-two Branch Davidians died in the chaos that ensued, including Koresh.

Though the Branch Davidians are a more recent example, no group has contributed more to the popular imagination of cults than Peoples Temple and its leader, Jim Jones. Jones started Peoples Temple in 1955, preaching an eccentric blend of pentecostal Christianity and Marxism. In 1977, facing allegations of physical abuse and fraud, Jones and several hundred Peoples Temple members fled the United States to establish a community in Guyana. When California Congressman Leo Ryan visited Jonestown in 1978 to investigate allegations of abuse, Jones ordered his security forces to kill Ryan before instructing the Temple’s members to commit mass suicide. Armed guards distributed fruit juice spiked with cyanide. Most members drank it. On Nov. 18, 1978, 909 people died, the highest single-day death toll for Americans until Sept. 11, 2001.

Decades before the Branch Davidians, the 909 deaths in Guyana horrified the United States. It was not just the huge death toll that made the Jonestown massacre so chilling; that one man could convince hundreds to commit suicide was unfathomable. The events stoked a prevalent Cold War anxiety: Mind control.

In the paranoid Cold War era, the idea of villainous Marxists brainwashing Americans was stewing in pop culture well before Jonestown. Over the course of the Korean War, thousands of American prisoners of war petitioned the government to cease the conflict, and 23 even refused repatriation. The appeal of communism eluded American officials, and a series of outlandish confessions obtained from captured American soldiers spurred suspicion of the North Koreans’ use of mind control tactics. The growing hysteria provided the fuel for the horrific MKUltra experiments that were conducted at McGill and elsewhere. Deviations from American ideological norms were censored at an unprecedented rate in the 20th century, and the politics of paranoia provided the basis for the attempted development of real psychological warfare.

The appeal of explaining subversive behaviour through brainwashing is that it draws a clear line between the ‘afflicted’ and everyday individuals, refuting the implication that we, in our normal mental states, are vulnerable to exploitation. The mind control explanation for cult behaviour risks obscuring the more pressing question of what these groups provide their members, as well as the power of less fantastical mechanisms of behaviour-shifting. According to Mike Kropveld, director of Info-Cult, sensational explanations like mind control underestimate the power of simple social pressure. Kropveld spoke with The McGill Tribune in Info-Cult’s office, located in Montreal’s Mile End.

“Some people like this brainwashing imagery, just because it tends to convey a simplistic formula,” Kropveld said. “At the same time, for some people, it also gives them the sense that ‘I’m not really responsible, I was brainwashed.’ Now what some people [think is] going on are ‘techniques of influence,’ which I lean toward, as well as socialization. I think sometimes [these are] not given credence, just because they don’t have that magical energy.”

Founded nearly 40 years ago, Kropveld’s group researches alleged cults—though Kropveld has reservations about the word given the gravity of its connotations and its broad scope of definition—and provides support services to former members. In 1980, students from Hillel McGill founded Cult Project, Info-Cult’s predecessing group, in response to the Jonestown massacre. It set out with the purpose of investigating young people’s specific susceptibility to groups like Jones’. Today, it is the only group of its kind in Canada.

Socialization—the process by which new members change their behaviour to conform to the norms of a group—can account for much of how group membership affects individual behaviour. Members adopt new ways of seeing the world by osmosis, and while it’s not the mind control seen in movies like The Manchurian Candidate or Zoolander, it can shape and limit how members make life decisions.

“[Socialization] is different,” Kropveld said. “The group doesn’t force you, it leads you […] down a certain path, but they’re only giving you one path to walk down. You’ve got choices, but you don’t have many options.”

The Branch Davidian tragedy at Waco points to a failure of the brainwashing theory for addressing the realities of extremist groups. Rick Ross, the self-described ‘cult expert’ and ‘deprogrammer’ consulted by the FBI during the siege, conceived of Koresh’s followers as victims of mental capture, rather than true believers in Koresh’s apocalyptic prophecies. Ross suggested that the FBI aggressively criticize Koresh’s personal shortcomings to break his brainwashing spell over his followers, which would lead the Davidians to surrender. The tactic proved totally ineffective. Ross failed to consider that the group, abusive as it was to many members, for others, fulfilled fundamental emotional needs; or that, even after the supposed end to the Cold War two years prior, his apocalyptic readings of the Bible might be intellectually persuasive. Members of the group were not forced or tricked into believing Koresh’s radical, apocalyptic reading of Christianity; they were drawn to it.

“The need to believe and the need to belong in something are very important, which can lead some people to get involved in groups that [have…] very closed and very extreme, simplistic views of the world and how people should be treated,” Kropveld said.

The needs to believe and belong can also inform an understanding of Peoples Temple. Racial segregation shut Black Americans out of civic life in late-‘50s Indiana. Jones was radically anti-racist for his time, railing against the evils of Jim Crow from the pulpit. He heavily recruited from Indianapolis’ black community and, importantly, he knew how to talk to politicians.

“White leaders continued agreeing to meet whenever black ministers asked, and, afterward, nothing changed—except when Jim Jones was involved,” Jeff Guinn wrote in his nonfiction account of the Peoples Temple, The Road to Jonestown. “White officials came to Peoples Temple and followed through on promises made there about minor issues like pothole repair or more up-to-date school textbooks, perhaps, but such things were significant compared to the complete failure of black ministers to get anything at all for their congregants [….] Far from mistrusting [Jones] because of his race, they considered it an advantage. He preached like a black man and got things done like a white one.”

Jones wasn’t just a charismatic leader or a con man—he provided meaningful support for people with legitimate needs. This was the key to his success: Jones identified a vulnerability and exploited it to his own ends. Imagining members as brainwashed automatons glosses over the fundamental reasons why groups like Peoples Temple exist.

CBC Radio One’s podcast Uncover: Escaping NXIVM explores the thorny nuances of why people join such groups. The series focuses on Sarah Edmondson, a former member of the self-help group and alleged sex-cult NXIVM. The group made headlines last year when The New York Times published an interview with Edmondson in which she recounted her experiences as a high-level NXIVM member. She was one of a select few NXIVM members invited to join Dominus Obsequious Sororium// (DOS), an all-female subgroup within NXIVM, whose rituals involved being branded with NXIVM founder Keith Raniere’s initials. Uncover follows Edmondson’s process of leaving the group behind, both physically and psychologically.

Josh Bloch, the show’s host, spoke to the Tribune about the fraught nature of ascribing blame in NXIVM’s nebulous and unusual world.

“It was really frustrating how people would jump to conclusions about people’s intentions or roles in the group,” Bloch said. “As a team, we would certainly debate stuff, change our minds, and learn new information [that] would take us off on a whole other course [….] If everything was too cut-and-dry, it might lack the nuance and the complexity that’s necessary when you’re doing a deep dive and a deep investigation. You should end up in messy places.”

Brainwashing explanations lack this nuanced approach. CBC’s podcast looks past the worn stereotype of cult members as glassy-eyed robots: When Edmondson discovered NXIVM, she was a motivated go-getter working as an actress in Vancouver, British Columbia.

Uncover dives into what NXIVM provided for Edmondson. NXIVM preached self-improvement as a vehicle to change the world. If their message reached a critical mass of followers, they claimed, it could usher in a new era of enlightened, compassionate thought.

“When there’s chaos and you feel like you want to make the world a better place, when somebody offers you that opportunity, it makes sense,” Kathleen Goldhar, one of the show’s producers, said in an interview with the Tribune. “It’s the same reason [why] I give to the women’s shelter in my community, because I want to do something for a cause that I feel like matters. They found people [for whom] that’s a high priority, and they convinced them that trickle-down humanitarianism made sense.”

The mixture of noble goals and life-shattering results makes Edmondson’s culpability a knotty issue. She was a high-ranking member, and a true believer in NXIVM. Like Bloch, Goldhar emphasized the importance of avoiding any pretenses to certainty. People and their motivations are too complex to draw any bright lines between victim and perpetrator.

"I think what I’ve figured out [is that] the reason [that] cults exist is the reason that religion exists, that groups exist, that political parties exist. It’s because we want to belong, and it’s just a stronger, more manipulative way of making people feel like they belong."

“The truth is, we never came to any final decisions about anybody. I never figured out Sarah fully [and] I never figured out Keith fully,” said Goldhar. “I think what I’ve figured out [is that] the reason [that] cults exist is the reason that religion exists, that groups exist, that political parties exist. It’s because we want to belong, and it’s just a stronger, more manipulative way of making people feel like they belong.”

For members, cults seem to fill the gaps of normative membership in society. Leaders prey upon the discontent and the lonely and provide them with a sense of belonging. As the overflowing registry at McGill Mental Health can testify, the typical McGill student is no stranger to feelings of displeasure and alienation. In providing a reassuring sense of community and purpose, cults hold a specific appeal for young adults. There are serious problems in the systems we inhabit, and, though enrolling in a cult is frequently a path to exploitation, examining their appeal can help illuminate these existing problems. In almost every case, however, these groups provide something lacking from conventional societal membership. Othering cult members as ‘brainwashed’ neglects to consider what exactly these groups are providing that society isn’t. As far as membership is concerned, Kropveld holds one hard and fast rule:


“Beware of anyone with easy answers.”

http://www.mcgilltribune.com/cultivating-understanding/

Obituary: Rev. Michael Rokos, Episcopal priest

​

The Rev. Michael George Rokos, a retired Episcopal priest who served in Baltimore parishes and led Czech organizations, died of cancer Aug. 30 at MedStar Union Memorial Hospital. The Mayfield resident was 71.

Michael Rokos ​served as ​The Cult Awareness Network (​CAN​)​ president from late 1989​ - October 1990​.

​"​CAN declared bankruptcy after a jury found that CAN conspired to violate the civil rights and religious liberties of Jason Scott, a Pentecostalist, who had been forcibly kidnapped and subjected to a failed deprogramming by Rick Ross, a CAN-referred deprogrammer and others."

​"​The court ordered CAN to pay a judgment of US$1 million. The large award was intended to deter similar conduct in the future; the court noted that the defendants were unable to appreciate the maliciousness of their conduct towards the deprogrammee, and portrayed themselves, throughout the entire process of litigation, as victims of the alleged agenda of the plaintiff's attorney, Church of Scientology attorney Kendrick Moxon.​"​

​"​In 1996, CAN went bankrupt and its assets were bought by a coalition of organizations and individuals, including Scientologists.​"​

​https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cult_Awareness_Network​

Jacques Kelly
The Baltimore Sun
September 3, 2017

The Rev. Michael George Rokos, a retired Episcopal priest who served in Baltimore parishes and led Czech organizations, died of cancer Aug. 30 at MedStar Union Memorial Hospital. The Mayfield resident was 71.

Born in Chicago and raised in Mayfield, he was the son of George Rokos, an attorney, and his wife, Dorthea Wildeson, a homemaker. He was a 1964 graduate of Baltimore City College and earned a bachelor’s degree at the Johns Hopkins University. He was a 1972 graduate of Virginia Theological Seminary. As a child he was active in the Church of the Redeemer.

Bishop David K. Leighton ordained him to the priesthood in 1973. He was assigned to the Church of the Ascension in Silver Spring, St. Thomas in Garrison Forest, the Church of the Resurrection in Joppa, Grace Memorial Church in Darlington; and St. Margaret’s in Parkville, where he retired in 2014. He also served at Christ Church in Wilmington, Del.

“He had a dedication of the betterment of his parishioners,” said his husband, Gene-Michael Addis. “He had a deep understanding of the challenges of a modern day life.”

Rev. Rokos was also a strong advocate for and member in local national and international Czech organizations. He was a past president the Sokol Baltimore, the Bohemian National Cemetery in Armistead Gardens and American Friends of the Czech Republic.

“With the fall of Communism in what was then Czechoslovakia, he began an extensive search for long-lost relatives and for the original Rokos grist mill that was the forerunner to the Rokos Rye Bakery here in Baltimore,” said his husband. “Rokos Bread and Rokos ‘Only Genuine’ Rye Bread were registered with the National Patent Office in 1905 and 1915.” The family bakeries were once located throughout East Baltimore.

Mr. Addis said he celebrated his 70th birthday in Prague surrounded by 38 of the relatives he connected with over the years. The event was held at a restaurant on the Charles River.

Rev. Rokos joined the American Friends of the Czech Republic and was its past president and a board member.

His family members were among the earliest immigrants from Bohemia. His ancestors also included members of the Klečka family.

Bishop Eugene Sutton and the Revs. Tony Lewis and David Ware will preside at a funeral Mass at 11 a.m. Wednesday at the Church of the Redeemer, 5603 N. Charles St.

Survivors include his husband, the general manager of the Lord Baltimore Hotel who has been his life partner for 35 years; a sister, Georganna Rokos of Cockeysville; and nieces and nephews.

jacques.kelly@baltsun.com

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/obituaries/bs-md-ob-michael-rokos-20170903-story.html

CultNEWS101 Articles: 12/25/2016

KKK, Faith Healing, Word of Life Christian Church, Rick Ross, The Temple of the Jedi Order, Psychic, ISIS, Jihad, Polygamy, FLDS, Heaven's Gate, legal, UK

​New York Times: ​

Inside the Ku Klux Klan, With an A&E Documentary Series

New York Times: Generation KKK,” an eight-part documentary series, beginning Jan. 10 on A&E, that burrows in with high-ranking Klan members and their families.

http://www.cultnews101.com/2016/12/inside-ku-klux-klan-with-a-documentary.html

GMA: AFTER 20 REPORTED DEATHS Local exec orders Cotabato faith healer to stop healing practice

"Citing reports, the vice mayor said that at least 20 patients who had undergone healing from Tungcua had died due to wrong medications."

“I instructed the families of those [who] perished to file charges against the faith healer. But they are hesitant. I don’t know what their reasons are,” he said.

http://www.cultnews101.com/2016/12/after-20-reported-deaths-local-exec.html

Observer-Dispatch: Pastor, brother sentenced in Word of Life case

Are allegations by Irwin justified?

As part of Tiffanie Irwin's efforts to withdraw her guilty plea Monday, she described a number reasons why she believed she should be able to take her case to trial.

Her accusations include: that she was denied a fair trial and a fair judge, that her plea was coerced as a result of the requirements of her plea offer, that the case's top prosecutor violated a gag order and that a grand jury witness's testimony was "so prejudicial" it should have caused the case to be thrown out.

The grand jury witness was not identified in court, but motions previously filed by Irwin's attorney, Kurt Schultz, indicate that Cult Education Institute founder and Executive Director Rick Ross is the expert in question. Irwin alleged that Ross is a "convicted felon" and alleged that he was called to testify to show the Word of Life Christian Church is a cult.

http://www.cultnews101.com/2016/12/pastor-brother-sentenced-in-word-of.html

The Guardian: Jedi order fails in attempt to register as religious group

The Temple of the Jedi Order, members of which follow the tenets of the faith central to the Star Wars films, sought charitable status this year, but the Charity Commission has ruled that it does not meet the criteria for a religion under UK charity law.

http://www.cultnews101.com/2016/12/jedi-order-fails-in-attempt-to-register.html

Palm Beach Post: Magistrate rejects new trial for psychic Rose Marks on fraud charges

"After a nearly month-long trial in 2013, a jury convicted Marks of 14 counts of fraud for taking millions from heart-broken customers. They testified they believed Marks’ claims that she had connections to the after-life that would help them overcome their personal tragedies."

http://www.cultnews101.com/2016/12/magistrate-rejects-new-trial-for.html

Indian Express: IS 'brainwashing' children to attack Europe

"The Islamic State group is providing children apps to access violent jihadi websites and offering rewards, if young recruits say they were willing to attack monuments in Europe."

http://www.cultnews101.com/2016/12/is-brainwashing-children-to-attack.html

Salt Lake City Tribune: Polygamist defendants in food stamp fraud promise to obey judge to stay out of jail

"Defense attorneys on Tuesday told a federal court judge that their clients, in order to stay out of jail, will be willing to check with the judge before following any questionable orders from Warren Jeffs, president of the polygamous Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saint."

http://www.sltrib.com/home/4731175-155/polygamists-in-food-stamp-case-go

FANZINE: CURIOUS: AN INTERVIEW WITH LIVING REPRESENTATIVES OF HEAVEN'S GATE

"Heaven’s Gate, a Christian/sci-fi amalgam founded in the 1970’s by Bonnie Nettles (Ti) and Marshall Applewhite (Do) claimed, and still claim, via their website, that what happened was not suicide, just a process that had to be undertaken to catch a ride on a UFO that was trailing behind the comet Hale-Bopp."

http://www.cultnews101.com/2016/12/curious-interview-with-living.html

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Pastor, brother sentenced in Word of Life case

The pastor of a Chadwicks church accused of calling a counseling session that led to the death of one teen and injury of another tried to evade her sentencing Monday, claiming that her case was improperly handled.

December 19, 2016
By Observer-Dispatch

UTICA - The pastor of a Chadwicks church accused of calling a counseling session that led to the death of one teen and injury of another tried to evade her sentencing Monday, claiming that her case was handled improperly.

Word of Life Christian Church Pastor Tiffanie Irwin, 30, who has not admitted to any criminal wrongdoing in court, attempted to withdraw her previous Alford plea to first-degree manslaughter and second-degree assault in the October 2015 death of Lucas Leonard, 19, and severe injury of Christopher Leonard, now 18.

In doing so, she claimed she was denied a fair trial and judge, that her plea was coerced, that the case's top prosecutor violated a gag order and that a grand jury witness's testimony was "so prejudicial" it should have caused the case to be thrown out.

Oneida County District Attorney Scott McNamara meanwhile, said Tiffanie Irwin's actions illustrated "how manipulative she is."

Irwin started her sentencing by saying she was "deeply sorry" about what happened to Lucas and Christopher Leonard. She argued that the beating was a spontaneous event and that she was "incapable of reacting" to what she saw.

"I have been denied my rights to a fair trial, to a fair and impartial jury, and a fair and impartial judge," Irwin said. "I was forced to plea so that my friends Linda and David Morey and my brother Joseph Irwin could enter their pleas. When our offers were changed so they could not accept their offers unless I pled guilty, I was forced to give an Alford plea. I wish to withdraw my plea which was coerced."

Irwin has been accused of leading the counseling session and the "authoritarian" church with a combination of mind control and belief that she could communicate with God. She said she wanted to withdraw her plea and take her case to trial so she could "set the record straight."

Dwyer, after a period of back-and-forth with Irwin, told her that she had not established any legal reason for her to be able to withdraw her plea.

"I think you've demonstrated to everybody that your statement of remorse is just that: a statement," Dwyer said. "There's no feeling attached to it. That's my opinion."

She was sentenced to a total of 12 years in state prison. Her brother Joseph Irwin also was sentenced Monday to a total eight years in state prison on charges of first-degree gang assault and second-degree assault.

Kristel Leonard Lindsey - the victims' oldest sister - addressed the court prior to sentencing.

"The only solace I have is I am not God," Lindsey said. "I do not get to choose who will go and who will stay, who will be martyred and who will continue to fight here. Luke's frank, courageous heart and buoyant spirit triumphed. Without a doubt, Tiffanie had absolute authority over the disorderly rage that ended with Luke's death. I spent several years under her personal control. What she did between Oct. 11 and 12, 2015, has given new meaning to the expression, 'Even the devil comes as an angel of light.' I am disgusted that I ever accepted Tiffanie to be my pastor, my spiritual leader."

Lindsey also addressed Joseph Irwin, describing him as the church's "enforcer" and requested that he be prohibited from ever seeing her or her family again.

Joseph Irwin spoke directly to Lindsey during plea proceedings; he said he would have changed everything if he could have.

"I'm sorry that I didn't stop it that day and I'll have to live with that for the rest of my life," he said.

McNamara said the Irwin siblings - the two "most culpable" people in the church - are going to serve less time than co-defendant Bruce Leonard, father of the victims, who admitted to whipping the teens with an electrical cord and was sentenced to 15 years in state prison. Tiffanie Irwin led the counseling session while Joseph Irwin punched the teens and admitted to knowing that Lucas Leonard was "bleeding profusely" prior to his death, McNamara said.

"(Tiffanie) dropped the bomb," McNamara said. "She caused the explosion and as with any group leader, they can get people to do stuff without giving the exact order. We've seen movies to that. We've seen real-life examples of that. She called the code red. It was understood if Bruce Leonard wanted to go to heaven, he had to get his children under control. That's what he needed to do. So I feel bad for him, I feel bad for the Leonard family. They are all victims of the Irwins."

Defense attorney Kurt Schultz, meanwhile, said he was now under a "self-imposed gag order" as he works on appealing Dwyer's decision in order to take his client's case to trial. He said he expected to file the appeal sometime this week.

Are allegations by Irwin justified?

As part of Tiffanie Irwin's efforts to withdraw her guilty plea Monday, she described a number reasons why she believed she should be able to take her case to trial.

Her accusations include: that she was denied a fair trial and a fair judge, that her plea was coerced as a result of the requirements of her plea offer, that the case's top prosecutor violated a gag order and that a grand jury witness's testimony was "so prejudicial" it should have caused the case to be thrown out.

The grand jury witness was not identified in court, but motions previously filed by Irwin's attorney, Kurt Schultz, indicate that Cult Education Institute founder and Executive Director Rick Ross is the expert in question. Irwin alleged that Ross is a "convicted felon" and alleged that he was called to testify to show the Word of Life Christian Church is a cult.

Oneida County Scott McNamara said that the witness - who he did not name - didn't give his opinion on whether the church was a cult, but instead explained how authoritarian groups could control people.

"We've seen that historically with people like Charles Manson and Jim Jones, hence the saying: 'Getting someone to drink the Kool-aid,'" McNamara said. "Most people don't understand that concept without it being explained by someone who would have some superior knowledge. That's why that person was called, regardless of whether he's a convicted felon or not. The question I would say back to Tiffany is this: In the future, should she be denied the ability to testify because she is a convicted felon?"

As to the alleged violation of the case's gag order, McNamara said the case's gag order initially started out as a code of ethics for all attorneys to follow that prohibited them from discussing the facts of the case. He called her accusations that he didn't abide by it a "total fabrication" and noted he got permission from the judge before talking to the media.

Irwin's attorney, Kurt Schultz, meanwhile, maintains otherwise. He is working on appealing the judge's decision.

"I am firmly convinced and told by the judge that there was a gag order in place since the inception of the case," Schultz said. "Her whole point today was that she was coerced into a plea so her remaining co-defendants could enter the plea, they would not accept it unless she fell on her sword first."
http://www.uticaod.com/news/20161219/pastor-brother-sentenced-in-word-of-life-case

Was grand jury witness a 'cult specialist' in Chadwicks Church case?

Why did a so-called "cult specialist" and "deprogrammer" testify before a Oneida County Grand Jury in the Word of Life Christian Church case and what impact did that testimony have on the grand jury?





By Micaela Parker
Utica Observer DispatchDecember 19, 2016


UTICA - Why did a so-called "cult specialist" and "deprogrammer" testify before an Oneida County grand jury in the Word of Life Christian Church case and what impact did that testimony have on the grand jury?

An October motion filed by the attorney of the church's Pastor Tiffanie Irwin - who is scheduled to be sentenced today - sought to exclude the testimony of Rick Ross at trial. But because Irwin pleaded guilty, it has rendered the discussion moot for now.

Meanwhile, an attorney associated with the case said there are other issues at play with how plea offers extended to Irwin and some of her co-defendants were handled.

Irwin pleaded guilty in October to third-degree manslaughter in the death of Lucas Leonard and felony second-degree assault for the beating of brother Christopher Leonard in connection with a counseling session at the Chadwicks Church on the evening of Oct. 11, 2015.

Nine people were charged with varying degrees of involvement in the beatings.

Because of an ongoing gag order, attorney Kurt Schultz declined to comment on his motions in the public document, which was obtained by the Observer-Dispatch.

"The opinion of a self-proclaimed 'cult expert,' who appears to have only a high school diploma, has never been accepted in a New York court and is by its nature novel," Schultz wrote in his motion. He added that there is "no official discipline of cultic studies" and alleges that the witness is a "convicted felon and has a history of psychiatric treatment."

He also wrote that the "study of religious cults and coercive persuasion" is, as a matter of law, "insufficiently scientific" to be presented to a jury.

The motion states that the witness testified before the grand jury, but it does not provide any explanation regarding the substance of his testimony.

Oneida County District Attorney McNamara declined to comment, saying it would be a felony crime under the penal code for him to disclose who testified at a grand jury or the substance of such testimony.

But in a responding answer to Schultz's motion, something called an expert witness disclosure, McNamara describes Ross as the founder and executive director of the Cult Education Institute. The document further stated that "it is anticipated that he will testify consistently with his grand jury testimony."

Ross' professional resume is available on the Cult Education Institute's website, which states that he has been "accepted" as an expert witness in the U.S. Federal Court and 10 states and submitted testimony in another four states - none of which are New York. It also identifies a number of presentations he has given at various conferences, as well as books and publications he as authored concerning cults.

Attorney Frank Policelli, who represented defendant Traci Irwin - the pastor's mother - said a person could speculate "a million different reasons" why Ross was called. He said the witness never gave his opinion to the grand jury as to whether he thought the church was a cult.

"I think they wanted to give the impression that this church was a cult," Policelli said. "(Oneida County District Attorney Scott McNamara) came right out and said that. They put out a witness that talks about cults, never gives an opinion that this church is a cult, and calls another witness to come out and give the impression that this could be a cult to her. They got their indictment."

Once a defendant pleads guilty, things are "pretty much final," Policelli explained, despite any concerns about how things were handled in the grand jury.

"Unless you could challenge the voluntariness of the plea, whatever errors happen in the grand jury don't matter anymore," he said. "You never have an avenue for an appellate court to review it because usually whatever errors take place in the grand jury are usually cured at the trial. So if there's no trial and somebody pleads then any errors that occur in the grand jury are essentially moot. 'Why don't you just go to trial if you're complaining?' That's going to be the response."

In order to be called as an expert witness, an attorney has to prove that there are questions that require expertise. In order to prove someone is an expert, a 'curriculum vitae' or professional resume containing their degrees, honors and certifications need to be provided.

"I'm not sure if he was called as an expert, but why his relevancy is questioned is you have to prove there is a field that you need expertise on that has experts," Policelli said. "There's a whole area of the law where you have to disclose your expert disclosures, provide a CV of the expert and what's the field he's an expert in - that was never provided (at the grand jury.)"

Policelli said the broader issue of the Word of Life Christian Church case is multiple defendants having "packaged plea bargain deals." In the case, four defendants - Tiffanie Irwin, her brother Joseph Irwin, Linda Morey and her son David Morey - were given an offer: All four must accept the pleas or all four of them would have to go to trial.

All four of them opted to take the plea offer.

Policelli described that plea contingency as "problematic," noting that the Supreme Court has not defined the scope of constitutional rights in the plea-bargaining process.

"It certainly is an issue that needs to be explored as to where you draw the line between fair plea bargaining and coercion," Policelli said. "That's something we really need to look into."

Follow @OD_Parker on Twitter or call her at 315-792-5063.

http://www.uticaod.com/news/20161219/was-grand-jury-witness-cult-specialist-in-chadwicks-church-case

Anti-Cult Group Dismembered As Former Foes Buy Its Assets Network Forced Into Bankruptcy After Legal Battle

By Laurie Goodstein

Wash Post staff writer
December 1, 1996

BARRINGTON, Ill.--For 20 years, the Cult Awareness Network ran the nation's best- known hot line for parents who grew distraught when an unconventional religious group they neither trusted nor understood suddenly won the allegiance of their children. From its offices here in a Chicago suburb, the network (known as CAN) answered more than 350 telephone inquiries a week, counseled relatives at conferences attended by thousands, and gave news interviews to everyone from small- town daily newspapers to "Nightline." As CAN's influence rose, so did the ire of its foes, who were furious at being depicted as dangerous cults. 

In particular, Church of Scientology members fought CAN with a barrage of lawsuits. One high-stakes suit, handled by a lawyer who has frequently represented the church, succeeded, and a jury ordered CAN to pay as much as $1.8 million. The group filed for bankruptcy. 


Now CAN's assets are up for sale, and last week its name, logo, Post Office box and telephone number were finally sold to the highest bidder: a Los Angeles lawyer named Steven L. Hayes, who is a Scientologist. Hayes says he is working with a group of people "united in their distaste for CAN" who plan to reopen the group so it "disseminates the truth about all religions." "It kind of boggles the mind," said David Bardin, an attorney who has represented CAN in Washington. "People will still pick up the CAN name in a library book and call saying, 'My daughter has joined the Church of Scientology.' And your friendly CAN receptionist is someone who works for Scientology."

It is a turn of events applauded by the Church of Scientology, whose literature calls CAN "a hate group in the tradition of the KKK and the neo-Nazis." The Rev. Heber Jentzsch, president of the Church of Scientology International, said in an interview: "I just don't think a hate organization has a right to operate in america with impunity, and obviously the courts feel the same way." Hostile takeovers are nothing new in the corporate world, but this is an exceptional tale of the hostile take- over of a nonprofit organization. The anti-cult advocacy group is gradually being dismembered and absorbed by its adversaries, who attorneys say have deftly outmaneuvered CAN in the courts. CAN's fate also highlights the crippled state of what was once a prominent nationwide movement that for years kept america's unor- thodox religious groups on the de- fensive. For years CAN's charges of cult mind-control and brainwashing helped shape the public's impressions of groups like Scientology, the Unification Church, the Hare Krishnas, Boston Church of Christ, Transcendental Meditation and others. But with each passing decade, these religious groups have become increasingly mainstream and even institutionalized, opening new houses of worship, buying universi- ties and other properties, attending interfaith events. Now it is the anti- cult camp that no longer has an institution of its own.

Next up for auction could be 270 boxes of CAN files that former staffers say are stuffed with confidential information about current and former cult members, efforts to extricate them and private testimonies of anguish and abuse. Kendrick L. Moxon, the lawyer who has frequently represented Scientologists, is actively pursuing a purchase of these files, says the trustee handling the bankruptcy. 

"The fear [is] that this list of information could be bought by the highest bidder," said Bob Grosswald, a Long Island dental supply salesman who contacted CAN when his son joined the Church of Scientology, ~And could only be used to harass people, to make people feel uncomfortable, and to further damage the relationships people have to family members still inside these cults. How a court could even consider selling such a thing is beyond me." The modern anti-cult movement was born in the 1960s when American youth were experimenting with Eastern religions and alternative spirituality. The Citizens Freedom Foundation, CAN's predecessor, became a nonprofit group in 1978, the year that 9I.~ followers of the Rev. Jim Jones died in a mass suicide at the People's Temple compound in Guyana. In 1986 the group changed its name to CAN. The next year, Cynthia Kisser, who had turned to CAN when her younger sister joined an obscure Bible-based group, was named executive director.

 From its suite on the ground floor of a Tudor style building it shared with a few accountants, CAN took telephone inquiries from around the world about hundreds of controversial groups. Every request for help, whether from a relative or reporter, a congressman or police officer, was logged and filed. Aside from Satanic groups, more callers asked about Scientology than about any other group, according to a 1992 telephone log that CAN supplied to Congressional Quarterly. But CAN did not just supply information. It also gave some parents. references to self-styled "deprogrammers," whom CAN maintained were skilled at extricating devotees from cults by systematically challenging cult teachings and undermining beliefs. But there were repeated cases of deprogrammers convicted for using force or other criminal means to wrest their targets away from the cults. The CAN board articulated a policy advocating only "legal methods" of deprogramming, but the stigma of associating with criminals left CAN vulnerable to its detractors. 

The Scientology magazine Freedom last year devoted a special issue to CAN, headlined: "The serpent of hatred, intolerance, violence and death." An inside story called CAN's executive director Kisser "the mother of the serpent" and purported to expose her past as a topless dancer, which she has denied. The magazine highlighted alleged deprogramming excesses and quoted scholars de- fending new religions such as Scientology. "The time has come to do something about the Cult Awareness Network and its anti-religious crusade," Freedom concluded. "This organization has plagued the American people for too long." Beginning in 1991, CAN and its local affiliates and staff were hit with a series of lawsuits filed by several dozen members of the Church of Scientology and others. In one week in 1992, Scientologists filed 12 suits against CAN, Kisser said. 'Td open the door, a process server would hand me a suit, I'd say thank you, close the door, fax it to the attorney," said Kisser, a thin, intense woman who speaks at a machine-gun clip. "Then another knock would come on the door. It was ridiculous." Most of the suits were civil rights claims, according to attorneys on both sides. People who identified themselves in the lawsuits as Scientologists alleged that the group denied them membership or participation in CAN conferences. Others sued because CAN would not allow them to volunteer in its national of- fice here. Some self-identified Scien- tologists sued after they attempted to form local CAN chapters and use the CAN letterhead, and the national CAN office refused to recognize them. Kisser said many of these were "cookie-cutter lawsuits," in which only the plaintiff's name was changed. Moxon, whose law firm filed many of the suits against CAN, said: "What would you do if you had a religious belief and somebody was intentional- ly trying to destroy your church and destroy your belief and destroy your family? I'm a lawyer. People hired me to go to court and vindicate their rights. What could they be expected to do when there's somebody out there who's bent on destroying them?" 

Many of these lawsuits were dismissed, but CAN was cannibalizing its $300,000 annual budget to defend itself, and the five-member staff, only one of whom worked full time, grew increasingly absorbed by the litigation, Kisser said. What's more, she said, CAN's insurance carrier refused to renew its policy because of all the lawsuits, and no other insurer would agree to cover the group. 

CAN struck back in 1994 with a countersuit against the Church of Scientology, 11 individual Scientologists and the Los Angeles law firm of Bowles and Moxon. The group's "malicious harassment" suit alleged that the Church of Scientology orchestrated the filing of 45 unfounded and frivolous lawsuits in an attempt to drive CAN into bankruptcy. CAN's suit was dismissed by the Cook County Circuit Court, but an appeal is pending in the Illinois Supreme Court. 

The lawsuit that succeeded in driving CAN into bankruptcy involved an 18-year-old from Bellevue, Wash., named Jason Scott. In 1991, Scott's mother hired a "cult deprogrammer" and two assistants in an attempt to get him to renounce his membership in the Life Tabernacle Church, a Pentecostal group. Scott alleged in the suit that he was kidnapped for five days at a beach house, handcuffed, gagged with tape and forced to watch video- tapes about religious cults. Scott feigned conversion, and when his deprogrammers took him to a restau- rant, he ran off and went to police. In late 1993, the county prosecutor brought charges against the deprogrammer. who was acquitted. But the case lived on in civil court. The lawyer who took the case on Scott's behalf was Moxon, a Sciento- logist and a frequent attorney for the church in high-profile cases, who has been sued by CAN for allegedly filing malicious lawsuits.

This time, Scott sued not only the deprogrammer and his two assistants, but also CAN. Scott maintained the woman who referred his mother to the deprogrammer did so as a local CAN volunteer. The Scott case essentially put the anti-cult movement on trial. Testifying for the prosecution, Anson Shupe, a sociologist at Indiana-Purdue University, told the jury that CAN's persecution of Scientology was born of the same irrational big- story that Americans earlier directed toward Baptists, Methodists, Irish Catholics, Jews and Mormons. "Are you saying the anti-cult movement is a cult?' Moxon asked. "It has all aspects of it, yes," Shupe replied. 

A jury found all the defendants liable and awarded Scott more than $4 million in damages, CAN was ordered to pay as much as $1.8 million; the group has appealed. Paul Lawrence, an attorney for CAN, acknowledges that Scott suffered an "unfortunate" deprogramming attempt. But CAN "did not deserve to be swept up" in the case because the volunteer who referred Scott's mother to the deprogrammer did so without CAN's knowledge, he said. "It is extremely unusual for a non-profit organization to be hit with punitive damages based on the actions of a volunteer member," said Lawrence, who is president of the American Civil Liberties Union in Washington state. "This is a dangerous precedent for a wide range of non- profit associations .... Most non- profits have tens or thousands of members out there acting in a way that the nonprofits can't hope to monitor."

Several nonprofit groups, including Mothers Against Drunk Driving, have filed friend-of-the-court briefs in the case. 

In the meantime, CAN filed for' Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in October 1995, hoping to develop a reorganization plan that would allow it to keep operating while pursuing the appeal. CAN's main creditor is Jason Scott. Moxon, Scott's lawyer, contested CAN's plan in bankruptcy court, and the judge refused to approve it. In an attempt to protect its assets, CAN filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy last June, which meant that it transferred control of its assets to an independent trustee. The trustee is Philip R. Martino, a plain-speaking Chicago attorney. "CAN doesn't exist," Martino said in an interview. 'whatever power CAN had is now mine." 

The CAN Staffers were last in their office here on June 22, when Martino phoned to say he was coming over. He brought a locksmith who changed the locks. he told the staff to take only their personal belongings and leave. Kisser took photographs of her son and her collection of turtle statues given to her over the years by supporters as a reminder to "go slow and stick your neck out." She was not allowed to remove her nine appointment diar- ies; Martino considered them CAN assets. 

Martino sold CAN's name and logo, telephone number and P.O. box--the essence of its identity-- along with CAN's office furniture and computers (stripped of their hard drives) for $20,000. CAN tried to contest the sale, but dropped the attempt this week after the judge required the group to post a $30,000 bond first. Martino says he put CAN's name-brand assets on the auction block only because Kisser herself asked to buy them. Her highest bid was $19,000. 

"I have an asset to sell. It's a name," Martino said. "I sell it to the highest bidder. What the bidder does with it is not my concern. It can't be my concern. Congress didn't make it my concern. And if I made it my concern, I would be rewriting the bankruptcy law." 

£ The attorney who bought CAN's identity, Steven Hayes, said in an interview that he represents a group of several people he cannot name without "permission." He said they put up money of their own and money "from this country and other places." Hayes said he is a Scientologist, not an employee of the Church of Scientology. Hayes also had sued CAN in the early 1990s on behalf of several Scientologists who wanted to attend CAN's national conference, according to CAN attorneys. Hays said his group intends to re-vamp CAN so that "religions that have been attacked in the past would have an opportunity to at least show what they believe the truth to be." The anti-cult movement has now turned to the Internet to share information. A small meeting of anti-cult activists gathered at a Newark hotel earlier this month to discuss how best to carry on the cause, but the meeting was marred when a coterie of Scientologists showed up uninvited, several participants say. Cynthia Kisser is suing the Church of Scientology for libel. She says she was never a topless dancer. Scientologist Jentzsch, for his part, says that Kisser is "in the business of spreading the bubonic plague, and she feels bad that some- one stopped her." Little remains of CAN now but 600 feet worth of files. 

CAN's trustee, Martino, says that Moxon has already mentioned his interest in bidding for those. Martino said he won't sell the files until names and personal information are removed, a process that he estimates will cost about $50,000, to be paid by the buyer. 

People who were heavily involved with CAN could ask to have their names removed, Martino said. "Scientology. will pay anything to get their hands on those files," said Robert Vaughan Young, a former Scientologist who served as a church spokesman for 20 years before he quit and became a church critic. "We always figured that CAN was the nexus for all the rest of the problems [Scientology had]," he said. "So the idea of getting the files is similar to the KGB being able to buy the files of the CIA."

NXIVM Officials Exposed In Computer Hacking Court Case

Blake Ford Hall
Hacked News
October 18, 2015

A former member of the secret NXIVM corporation has exposed internal computer hacking.

Recent court documents state that officials within the company hacked the computer of the late Edgar M. Bronfman Sr. According to court documents Bronfman’s daughter, Clare W. Bronfman implanted the key-stroke logger virus onto her father’s computer. The virus allowed officials within NXIVM to covertly monitor Edgar M. Bronfman’s email communications with clients, business associates and world leaders, including US Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.

Claire W. Bronfman is the 36 year old heiress to the extensive Seagram Company business holdings. She a horse ranch owner and the self -described NXIVM operations director. At the time of this article, she had not responded to the press with any comments. The virus allegedly implanted on her father’s computer monitored all his communications for about a year.

Kristin Keeffe is the former NXIVM member making the allegations. She had stated that NXIVM officials engaged in various types of computer hacking and also plotted to have adversarial opponents of the corporation lured to Mexico, where they would be imprisoned. Keeffe parted ways from NXIVM in February 2014, but was known to have been tied to the corporate inner circle with Keith Raniere, NXIVM’s original founder.

Keeffe left attempting to help with the cult deprogramming of Nancy L. Salzman, the former NXIVM president.

In the telephone transcript, Kristin Keeffe is quoted as saying the following :

“In the three and a half years leading up to where I left, I was a spy. And I went to great lengths to make them think I was going along with things with the exception of trying to deprogram Nancy and a couple of other people that l was close to that were not close to Keith.”

The transcript makes a variety of allegations, that are being scoffed at by attorney for NXVIM, Stephen R. Coffrey, who said this about the telephone transcript.

“As to the allegations contained in the self-serving submissions of an indicted defendant, we do not intend to comment on something that purports to be an certified transcript of a staged conversation.”
All accusations made by Kristin Keeffe are backed up by a telephone transcript and encrypted emails from March 2015. It the complete conversation between  Keeffe and Barbara J. Bouchey, a former NXIVM board member that left the company in 2009.

Bouchey is currently fighting criminal charges, alleging her co-conspiring with three other individuals that gained unauthorized access to the NXIVM corporate website. Bouchney claims that NXIVM has her named in 13 other lawsuits, including filing criminal complaints against her, as retribution for leaving the organization in 2009.

All this is made more confusing with the cult-like reputation of the NXVIM corporation, which promotes a kind of humanitarian awareness power structure. The organization utilized a program of training called ESP, or Executive Success Program and has sued cult deprogramming expert Rick Ross for his involvement with the corporation.

Apparently the NXIVM is a hodge-podge mix of Scientology and Landmark / EST marketing cults.

http://hacked.news/2015/10/nxivm-officials-exposed-in-computer-hacking-court-case/

Legal papers: NXIVM officials probed finances of 6 federal judges, Senator Schumer, others

Albany Times Union
Brendan J. Lyons
September 20, 2015

Albany

A former close confidant of Keith Raniere, founder of the NXIVM corporation, claims top officials in the secretive organization used a Canadian investigative firm or other means to sift the financial records of six federal judges and U.S. Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., according to court records.

The former NXIVM insider, Kristin M. Keeffe, said that Seagrams heiress Clare W. Bronfman, who oversees NXIVM's operations, ordered the financial probes at the direction of Raniere, 55. The six judges whose financial records Keeffe alleges were analyzed have all presided over cases involving NXIVM or its perceived adversaries and critics.

The allegations by Keeffe, 45, are outlined in emails attributed to her that were filed recently in Albany County Court in a case involving Barbara J. Bouchey, a financial adviser and former NXIVM executive board member charged with hacking into the corporation's computer system. Bouchey has pleaded not guilty and is fighting the computer trespass charge, which her attorneys said is baseless.

Keeffe was a legal liaison for NXIVM and for many years was part of Raniere's inner circle at the Albany-based corporation, which specializes in "human development" training, according to federal court records.

The judges whose financial records that Keeffe claims were targeted include four federal judges in Albany: U.S. District Chief Judge Gary L. Sharpe; U.S. Magistrate Randolph F. Treece; U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Robert E. Littlefield Jr., and U.S. Senior Judge Thomas J. McAvoy. The judges all have presided over cases in which NXIVM was a party or had an interest in the litigation. Keeffe did not say in her email when the alleged searches took place.

Keeffe alleges the corporation also conducted financial research on two federal judges in New Jersey: U.S. District Judge Dennis M. Cavanaugh and U.S. Magistrate Mark Falk, both of whom have presided over a pending lawsuit filed in 2006 by NXIVM against Rick Ross, a self-described cult tracker. NXIVM's lawsuit accuses Ross of publishing — without authorization — protected materials from its training programs. NXIVM has denied it is a cult.

In the New Jersey case, Ross has fought back against NXIVM and, in court filings, accused the corporation of hiring a New York investigative and security firm, Interfor, to conduct background checks on Ross, including obtaining details of his banking records and personal relationships. A report attributed to Interfor, whose president, Juval Aviv, is a former Israeli intelligence officer, was filed in U.S. District Court in connection with the litigation. The nine-page report includes Ross's Social Security number, date of birth, medical and psychological history and details from his personal checking account and telephone records.

It's unclear how the banking information listed in Interfor's report was obtained. In her email, Keeffe alleged that a small Canadian investigative firm, Canaprobe, was hired to conduct a "bank sweep" on Ross. A telephone listing for a company called Canaprobe Investigation in Montreal was disconnected. The company's owner could not be reached for comment.

"The long and short of it is that there has never been any definitive proof or determination about how exactly they came to get it," said Peter L. Skolnik, a New Jersey attorney who represents Ross, referring to the banking records listed in Interfor's report. "They haven't denied going through Ross' garbage, but on the other hand Ross had testified that he never threw any of those phone bills or banking records into his garbage."

In court filings, NXIVM has accused Interfor of going beyond the scope of their agreement in investigating Ross. Interfor, in court filings, said that it did not use illegal tactics to investigate Ross and that NXIVM officials, including Keeffe, were aware of what was being done. The company also said NXIVM officials did not object when Interfor provided two detailed reports on Ross in 2004 and 2005. Interfor also noted that NXIVM initially paid Interfor's legal fees to fight a subpoena that Ross served on the investigative firm in August 2006, after NXIVM had received Interfor's reports on Ross.

Keeffe "closely supervised Interfor's investigation of Ross through numerous telephone calls and frequent meetings," according to a response by Interfor that's filed in U.S. District Court in New Jersey. "No action on the Ross investigation was taken by Interfor without Keeffe's express approval."

Keeffe, in the email attributed to her in Albany County Court files, claims that NXIVM also obtained the financial records of George R. Hearst III, publisher and CEO of the Times Union; Rex Smith, the newspaper's editor and vice president, and James M. Odato, a former Times Union reporter who wrote numerous stories about NXIVM. The Times Union has extensively covered NXIVM, and in 2012 published a series — "Secrets of NXIVM" — which included one expert describing NXIVM as an "extreme cult."

Bronfman, 36, declined to comment on Keeffe's allegations. Raniere did not return a telephone call seeking comment.

Keeffe broke away from NXIVM in February 2014 and is in hiding, according to correspondence and conversations attributed to her in court records filed in Albany County. She initially went to a domestic violence shelter with the assistance of a State Police investigator, Rodger Kirsopp, who built criminal cases against four people accused of illegally hacking into NXIVM's computer system, according to court records.

Keeffe used an encrypted email system to send information about her allegations to NXIVM's attorneys and to her former NXIVM associates, including Bouchey. The criminal case against Bouchey relates to a nearly two-year State Police investigation that targeted four people: a NXIVM critic, Bouchey and two of her former NXIVM associates. They were all charged with low-level felonies for allegedly gaining unauthorized access to NXIVM's computer servers using accounts and passwords of two former NXIVM clients.

The state attorney general, Saratoga County district attorney and Albany County district attorney all declined to prosecute the case, which was eventually presented to a grand jury by a special prosecutor in Albany County.

Keeffe's defection from NXIVM signals the first time that someone at her level in the organization has turned on Raniere and shared information about the organization's alleged inner dealings. The February email attributed to Keeffe was initially sent to two of NXIVM's longtime attorneys, Stephen R. Coffey and Pamela A. Nichols, who are with the law firm O'Connell and Aronowitz in Albany.

"I am guessing Clare never disclosed to either of you the depths she went to, as directed by Keith, to obtain financial records for leverage against every potential anti NX (NXIVM) party," Keeffe wrote in the email. "This included getting records for every Judge in every NX (NXIVM) related case."

In the email, Keeffe said that she also "forwarded all the Canaprobe transactions to a third party gmail account for safe keeping as they came in."

The email thread indicates Keeffe forwarded it on Feb. 26 to Bouchey, who has pleaded not guilty to the felony charge filed against her in February.

Reached Monday, Coffey, whose firm has represented NXIVM for years, said he was not familiar with the court filings that contain Keeffe's email, so the Times Union forwarded a copy of the documents to his office.

"Well, let me see, I may get back to you and say I'm not going to say anything," Coffey said on Monday. "I will tell you this — it's not a warning: Kristin Keeffe has some significant difficulties. Aside from the emails, there's some real issues with her."

On Wednesday, Coffey, after reviewing a copy of the email, said he would not comment further on the matter.

The emails were filed Sept. 9 in Albany County Court by attorneys for Bouchey, who was indicted Feb. 27 on one count of computer trespass. Bouchey's attorneys, including Mark J. Sacco of Schenectady, filed two motions recently seeking to have the indictment dismissed. One of the motions accuses Kirsopp, who consulted with NXIVM's attorneys numerous times during his criminal investigation, of distorting facts to build a case against Bouchey.

Kirsopp did not respond to a request for comment.

Sacco's court filings include an email from Ben T. Myers, a computer technician and NXIVM contractor, that indicates Myers provided Bouchey with the sign-on and password information of a former NXIVM student, Svetlana Kotlin, and instructed Bouchey to use the information. The indictment against Bouchey accuses her of using Kotlin's sign-on information to access NXIVM's computer system without authorization on one occasion in January 2014.

The criminal case against Bouchey and another former NXIVM member, Toni F. Foley, who was previously Raniere's girlfriend, is being prosecuted by Holly Trexler, a former Albany County assistant district attorney serving as special prosecutor. Felony computer trespass charges also are pending against Joseph J. O'Hara, an imprisoned NXIVM critic who once did consulting work for the organization. In an unrelated criminal case, O'Hara was sentenced in July 2013 to three years in federal prison for his conviction in a bribery case involving a public school district contract in El Paso, Texas. He is serving his sentence at a federal prison in Brooklyn.

A fourth defendant in the computer trespassing case, John J. Tighe, 58, of Milton, pleaded guilty last November to felony computer trespass charges. Tighe, who once published a blog called Saratoga in Decline that included critical postings about NXIVM, is serving five years and 10 months in federal prison on child pornography charges. The illegal materials were discovered on Tighe's computer after State Police seized it during their investigation of the computer trespassing allegations. In the state case, Tighe was sentenced to a year in jail and is serving that term concurrently with his federal sentence.

Bouchey and Foley have pleaded not guilty to the charges. It's unclear whether O'Hara has been arraigned. Trexler, the special prosecutor, did not return a telephone call seeking comment.

More than a year after the criminal probe began, NXIVM filed a federal lawsuit in October 2013 alleging unauthorized access of its confidential information by O'Hara, Tighe, Foley, Odato and another journalist, Suzanna Andrews, who writes for Vanity Fair magazine.

The federal lawsuit was thrown out last Thursday by a U.S. District Court judge in Albany.

Attorneys for the defendants asked a federal judge to dismiss the case on the basis that the complaint was not filed within the required two-year period after NXIVM discovered the alleged unauthorized access. In last week's ruling, U.S. District Senior Judge Lawrence E. Kahn said that Bronfman, a member of NXIVM's executive board, acknowledged during testimony in an unrelated bankruptcy case — more than two years before the lawsuit was filed — that NXIVM suspected intrusions of its computer servers, including by Tighe.

NXIVM's lawsuit accused Tighe, a vocal critic of the corporation, of using the computer access to gain information about NXIVM's private events, such as annual picnics and training seminars, and that he would show up and harass its members. During his guilty plea in Albany County Court last November, Tighe admitted trespassing on NXIVM's servers "50 to 60" times, he told the judge.

Raniere has described himself as the "philosophical founder" of NXIVM, according to a State Police report. He founded NXIVM in 1998, shortly after Consumers' Buyline, his multimillion-dollar discount buying club in Halfmoon, collapsed under allegations it was a pyramid scheme. Raniere admitted no wrongdoing and paid the state about $40,000 in settlement fees after an investigation by the state attorney general's office.

blyons@timesunion.com • 518-454-5547 • @blyonswriter

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