Hiram Ricker & Sons v. Students Inter. Meditation Soc., 501 F. 2d 550 - Court of Appeals, 1st Circuit 1974

501 F.2d 550 (1974)

HIRAM RICKER & SONS, Plaintiff-Appellee,
v.
STUDENTS INTERNATIONAL MEDITATION SOCIETY, Defendant-Appellant.

No. 73-1273.

United States Court of Appeals, First Circuit.

Heard June 6, 1974. Decided July 17, 1974.

551*551 552*552 George R. Halsey, Boston, Mass., with whom Robert I. Deutsch and Ruboy, Deutsch & Krasnow, Boston, Mass., were on brief, for appellant.

Enid M. Starr, with whom Bernard A. Dwork and Barron & Stadfield, Boston, Mass., were on brief, for appellee.

Before COFFIN, Chief Judge, McENTEE and CAMPBELL, Circuit Judges.

McENTEE, Circuit Judge.

This is a diversity action based on a contract. Plaintiff-appellee Ricker owns a 2500-acre resort complex in Poland Springs, Maine, which includes lodgings, a golf course and a beach. At the beginning of 1970, only the golf course and a single adjacent building, the Poland Springs Lodge, were actually in use and open to the public. In February 1970, representatives of the defendant-appellant Society contacted Ricker about taking over some of the unused facilities from June 28 to July 26 for a course to train new instructors of transcendental meditation.^[1] After some negotiation, Ricker agreed to furnish rooms, facilities and three vegetarian meals and a snack per day for the course participants.^[2] In exchange, the Society was to pay Ricker based on a specified schedule of room rates and the number of persons who would attend. The Society would be responsible for the headcount necessary to determine its final bill. The training course was held at the Poland Springs complex on the dates scheduled. The Society paid Ricker a total of $185,000 in a series of payments, some in advance and some during the course.

Ricker brought this action seeking $77,508.36 as the balance allegedly due on the contract.^[3] Alternatively, Ricker sought the same amount on the theory of quantum meruit. In response, the Society counterclaimed for return of the $185,000 in payments already made. At trial, Ricker presented evidence tending to show that more persons attended the training course than were accounted for in the Society's payments. Ricker also presented evidence that the Society improperly reduced some of the agreed-upon room rates as it made its calculations. The Society presented evidence to rebut these assertions. With respect to its counterclaim, it also presented evidence tending to show that the rooms and dining facilities which Ricker provided were dirty and inadequate. Finally, the Society raised the issue whether under Maine law Ricker could recover at all under the contract or in quantum meruit, in view of its apparent failure to obtain certain licenses required by statute.^[4]

The district court submitted all issues to the jury. With respect to licenses, it instructed:

"... if you should find from the evidence in this case that the plaintiff was not licensed under the statutes that I have just read to you ... you would be warranted in finding for the defendant on the claim 553*553brought by the plaintiff against the defendant." (Emphasis added.)^[5]

The jury returned a verdict for Ricker in the amount of $65,780.00 and rejected the Society's counterclaim. The court entered judgment on the verdict, adding $9,494.16 in interest.

The Society raises a variety of issues on appeal. We will consider them in an order somewhat different from that set forth in the briefs.

Offer of Settlement—The Society contends that the district court improperly admitted evidence of an offer to settle Ricker's claim. However, we hold that the evidence to which the Society objects was not an offer to settle within the meaning of the rule calling for exclusion.

The precise testimony was this. Saul Feldman, the president of Ricker, became increasingly dissatisfied with the size of the periodic payments the Society made to him during the one-month training course. Feldman felt that more persons had attended the course than the Society would concede. On July 26, the last day of the course, he called on Jerry Jarvis, a Society executive. At this time, pursuant to their contract, Feldman anticipated receipt of the final payment. He testified:

"[Jarvis] passed me a yellow sheet of paper saying, `This is what we owe you. If you agree and sign a release absolving us from any and all damage and all future bills we will pay you.' It was $44,000."

Counsel for the Society moved to strike this testimony on the ground that it was an inadmissible offer of settlement. The court refused. Whereupon the yellow sheet itself was received in evidence and read to the jury by Ricker's counsel, again over objection. Nothing on the sheet referred to an offer of settlement. It was entirely a series of calculations, which concluded that the Society owed Ricker a final bill of $44,163.25.

It is, of course, true that evidence of settlement negotiations is generally inadmissible. On the other hand, there is a "well-recognized exception regarding admissions of fact as distinguished from hypothetical or provisional concessions conditioned upon the settlement's completion." NLRB v. Gotham Indus., Inc., 406 F.2d 1306, 1313 (1st Cir. 1969). See generally 4 Wigmore, Evidence § 1061 (Chadbourn rev. 1972). In the instant case, the yellow sheet handed to Feldman on the final day of the course represented the Society's "unconditional assertion" of what it thought it actually owed Ricker based on the contract. See 4 Wigmore, supra, at 34. It was not a hypothetical or conditional sum intended only to forestall the additional costs of litigation. Indeed, although Ricker was unhappy about the size of the early payments, until it received the Society's final payment offer of $44,000, it could not determine whether it had an actual controversy with the Society. The rule excluding offers of settlement is designed to encourage settlement negotiations after a controversy has actually arisen. It also prevents admission of evidence that does not represent either party's true belief as to the facts. Neither policy would have been served by excluding Feldman's testimony about the Society's final payment offer, or the yellow sheet on which that offer was calculated.

Hearsay Objections—As indicated earlier, Ricker did not handle the registration of course participants. Instead, it was to rely upon the Society's headcount in determining the final bill under the contract. During the course, however, Feldman became suspicious of the Society's tally because he seemed to be 554*554 serving far more meals than warranted. Therefore, on three occasions he asked several of his maintenance employees to go around from building to building, counting the number of persons occupying each room. According to Feldman, they reported their findings to him in note form, indicating more guests than the Society asserted.^[6] Feldman said the notes were destroyed and that later, from memory, he compiled tables of upward "adjustments" to the figures the Society had submitted to him. These adjustments were admitted into evidence over objection.

As both parties agree, the tables of adjustments compiled by Feldman were hearsay.^[7] They were based on reports to him by maintenance employees who themselves were not present in court to testify. Ricker asserts that the evidence was nonetheless admissible under the business-records exception to the hearsay rule. 28 U.S.C. § 1732 (1970). We disagree. A crucial aspect of the business-records exception is that entries be prepared as a regular part of the business. "The entry offered must of course be a part of a series of entries or reports, not a casual or isolated one." 5 Wigmore, Evidence § 1525 (3d ed. 1940) (emphasis in original). See Palmer v. Hoffman, 318 U.S. 109, 63 S.Ct. 477, 87 L.Ed. 645 (1943). Otherwise, there is no basis for the presumption of reliability which is at the heart of the exception. The room-check here by Ricker's maintenance employees was hardly the kind of regular, systematic business activity which is encompassed by the exception. The method they employed, see note 6 supra, hardly warranted a presumption of reliability. Moreover, another requirement of the exception is that entries be made contemporaneously with the transaction. 5 Wigmore, supra, § 1526. Here, Feldman made the entries, from memory, at least a week after the maintenance employees last reported to him. For this reason also, there is no basis for a presumption of reliability. Therefore, the exhibits were improperly admitted. Instead Ricker should have called the maintenance employees as witnesses.

Ricker alternatively contends that even if there was error it was harmless. Again, we disagree. The documentary listing of purported "short" counts by the Society was likely to have a profound effect on the jury's factfinding. This was the strongest evidence supporting Ricker's contention that the Society cheated in counting the number of course participants. A new trial is therefore warranted.

Licenses—Although the preceding holding requires at least a new trial, we also must consider the licensing issue raised by the Society because this could preclude a judgment for Ricker in any event. As we indicated earlier, the court submitted to the jury the question of whether Ricker possessed certain licenses required by Maine statutes at the time the training course was held. Specifically these were the "victualer's" license, Me.Rev.Stats.Ann. tit. 30, § 2751 (1973 Supp.),^[8] and the sanitation license, Me.Rev.Stats.Ann. tit. 22, § 2482 (1965).^[9]Moreover, by using the phrase 555*555 "you would be warranted" the court's instruction allowed the jury to find for Ricker even if it was not properly licensed at the time of the course.

The Society contends that this was an error in two respects. First, it asserts that the evidence conclusively established that Ricker did not have either type of license during the course, with one exception.^[10] Therefore, it claims that the question was improperly submitted to the jury. Second, the Society contends that under Maine law the absence of the licenses absolutely precluded recovery by Ricker either on the contract or in quantum meruit. Therefore, it claims additional error in the jury instruction which permitted a verdict for Ricker even if it had no licenses.

We agree with the first contention. It is clear from the record that Ricker's victualer's license expired on the Tuesday after the first Monday in May 1970. The expiration date is established by statute, see Me.Rev.Stats.Ann. tit. 30, § 2752 (1973 Supp.), and expressly stated on the face of the license itself. Feldman testified that he thought the license, which was issued in December 1969, was valid for at least a year. But his assumption, even if in good faith, cannot validate an otherwise invalid license. Similarly, the present record conclusively establishes that with two partial exceptions, Ricker did not have sanitation licenses for any of its buildings used by the Society. See note 10, supra. Therefore, there was no reason for the court to have submitted these questions to the jury.

The issue of whether the absence of these licenses precluded any recovery by Ricker is far more troubling. Maine law controls this question and the Maine court has not spoken on the subject since 1897, when it decided Randall v. Tuell, 89 Me. 443, 36 A. 910. There, the court construed a victualer's-license statute virtually identical to the one now in effect.^[11] It held that a hotel-owner who failed to obtain such license was barred from recovering $28 on a contract with a woman he boarded for two weeks. Although the licensing statute itself did not provide for this ancillary consequence, the Maine court said:

"It is the general doctrine, now settled by great weight of authority, that where a license is required for the protection of the public, and to prevent improper persons from engaging in a particular business, and the license is not for revenue merely, a contract made by an unlicensed person in violation of the act is void." Id. at 445, 36 A. at 910.

The Randall court examined the legislative purpose behind the victualer's-license statute and concluded that it was intended to protect the public rather than to raise revenue. Therefore, the unlicensed hotel-owner did not recover. See alsoStanwood v. Woodward, 38 Me. 192 (1854).

Four years after Randall, the Maine court relied upon it in holding that an unlicensed insurance broker could not recover commissions he had earned under an employment contract. Black v. Security Mut. Life Ass'n, 95 Me. 35, 49 A. 51 (1901). In addition, the Maine court has cited Randall with apparent approval in four other decisions, the most recent being in 1964. Thacher Hotel, Inc. v. Economos, 160 Me. 22, 197 A.2d 59 (1964); Lipman v. Thomas, 143 556*556 Me. 270, 61 A.2d 130 (1948); Donahue v. City of Portland, 137 Me. 83, 15 A.2d 287 (1940); Hinckley v. Giberson, 129 Me. 308, 151 A. 542 (1930).^[12]

Yet even though the Randall decision has never been repudiated or modified since 1897, we are unclear whether the Maine court would apply it today to the facts of the instant case so as to preclude recovery by Ricker either on the contract or in quantum meruit. A number of factors contribute to these doubts.

The most significant one is the extremely large sum of money involved in the present litigation. The Randall decision barred recovery of $28. Even giving due weight to inflation, clearly the equitable considerations are far different in the instant case where the Society seeks to bar recovery of $65,780 plus interest. Moreover, if Randall did control, the Society logically could argue for return of the $185,000 it had earlier paid on the contract. Thus, Ricker could lose at least $65,780—and possible more than $250,000—simply for its failure to comply with two licensing statutes which expressly provide for combined penalties of not more than $150. See Me.Rev. Stats.Ann. tit. 22, § 2487 ($100 maximum); id. tit. 30, § 2751 ($50 maximum).^[13]

The Maine court has never faced this sort of situation.^[14] However, a leading commentator, reviewing the holdings of other jurisdictions, has summarized them as follows:

"It must be remembered that in most cases the statute itself does not require these forfeitures. It fixes its own penalties, usually fine or imprisonment of minor character with a degree of discretion in the court. The added penalty of non-enforceability of bargains is a judicial creation. In most cases, it is wise to apply it; but when it causes great and disproportionate hardships its application may be avoided. It is true that the method of avoidance may be by specious distinctions. It may be denied that the statute in the case is for the protection of public health and morality; [footnote omitted] or the court may find that the specific transaction was only sporadic and exceptional and that the unlicensed plaintiff was not really carrying on the business or profession. [footnote omitted]" 6A Corbin on Contracts § 1512, at 714-15 (1962) (emphasis added).

Putting aside the cases applying "specious distinctions," we note two separate methods by which courts in other jurisdictions have avoided unduly harsh application of Randall-type rules. First, they have simply made an equitable exception to such rules in the interest of justice. "Justice requires that the penalty should fit the crime; and justice and sound policy do not always require the enforcement of licensing statutes by large forfeitures going not to the state but to repudiating defendants." 6A Corbin, supra, at 713. Thus, in John E. Rosasco Creameries, Inc. v. Cohen, 276 N.Y. 274, 11 N.E.2d 908 (1937), the New York court held enforceable a contract for $11,000 even though the plaintiff milk dealer was unlicensed. Among its reasons, the 557*557 court noted that "if the contract is declared unenforceable, the effect will be to punish the plaintiff to the extent of a loss of approximately $11,000 and permit the defendants to evade the payment of a legitimate debt." More recently, the California Court of Appeal similarly declined, despite the fact of no license, to invalidate a $40,000 contract. The court stressed the equitable considerations:

"Despite the illegality of the contract, plaintiff should not be denied relief. The rule requiring courts to withhold relief under the terms of an illegal contract is based on the rationale that the public importance of discouraging such prohibited transactions outweighs equitable considerations of possible injustice as between the parties. [citations omitted] However, the rule is not an inflexible one to be applied in its fullest rigor or under any and all circumstances. A wide range of exceptions has been recognized. [citations omitted] Where the public cannot be protected because the transaction has already been completed, no serious moral turpitude is involved, defendant is the one guilty of the `greatest moral fault,' and defendant would be unjustly enriched at the expense of plaintiff if the rule were applied, the general rule should not be applied. [citation omitted] In such circumstances, equitable solutions have been fashioned to avoid unjust enrichment to a defendant and a disproportionately harsh penalty upon the plaintiff. [citation omitted]"

Southfield v. Barrett, 13 Cal.App.3d 290, 294, 91 Cal.Rptr. 514, 516 (1970). See also Fomco, Inc. v. Joe Maggio, Inc., 8 Cal.Rptr. 459, 356 P.2d 203 (Cal.1960), vacated on other grounds, 55 Cal.2d 162, 10 Cal.Rptr. 462, 358 P.2d 918 (1961); Schloss v. Davis, 213 Md. 119, 131 A.2d 287 (1957). Second, at least two courts have allowed unlicensed plaintiffs to recover the reasonable value of their work, relying on equitable considerations presented by the facts. See Wood v. Black, 60 So.2d 15 (Fla.1952); Gatti v. Highland Park Builders, 27 Cal.2d 687, 166 P.2d 265 (1946); cf. Crawford v. Holcomb, 57 N.M. 691, 262 P.2d 782 (1953) (dictum). This alternative would not necessarily require an explicit exception to the Randalldecision because there the Maine court did not consider the possibility of a restitutionary remedy. Thus, it is possible under Maine law that even if Ricker cannot recover on its contract with the Society, it could still recover in quantum meruit.^[15]

Of course, the fact that other jurisdictions have declined to enforce Randall-type rules in extreme situations such as the present one would not necessarily affect our interpretation of Maine law if the Maine court had expressed a desire to enforce Randall strictly in all situations. Instead, however, the Maine court itself has not precluded recovery on a contract for failure to possess a license since its decision in Black in 1901. Also, although Randall was cited with apparent approval relatively recently in Thacher Hotel and Lipman, supra, it is significant that the citations in both of these cases came as the court was distinguishing Randall,declining to extend its holding to newer fact situations. Thus, it is considerably uncertain whether the Maine court would extend Randall to this case, and if not, which of the alternative approaches outlined above it might follow. In sum, Randallcannot, in our view, be deemed a clear precedent controlling the instant case.

In this situation the wisest course would be to certify the license issue to the Maine court for decision, pursuant to Me.Rev.Stats.Ann. tit. 4, § 57 (1973 Supp.) and Maine Rule of Civil Procedure.^[16] Therefore, in reversing 558*558 the judgment and remanding for a new trial because of the hearsay error, we instruct the district court first to certify to the Supreme Judicial Court of Maine the question of whether Ricker's failure to comply with the Maine statutes on victualer's licenses and sanitation licenses bars its recovery of any judgment against the Society either in contract or in quantum meruit. In so certifying, it may frame the question in such manner as it deems appropriate and should also ask any additional related questions it deems necessary in order to instruct the jury as to the applicable principles of Maine law. Hence it may wish to inquire whether and to what extent a Maine jury would be entitled to consider the lack of either license in determining whether there was substantial performance of any contract. Obviously, if the Maine court determines that recovery is barred on both grounds, then there will be no need for a new trial.^[17]

Reversed and remanded for further proceedings not inconsistent with this opinion.

[1] The Society is a nonprofit California corporation, the purpose of which is to spread the teachings of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, an exponent of transcendental meditation. The Maharishi was also named as a defendant in Ricker's complaint, but the district court directed a verdict in his favor at the close of Ricker's evidence. Ricker does not appeal that decision.

[2] There was no formal contract. Instead, the basic agreement was embodied in certain correspondence admitted into evidence. Some modifications were made subsequently and several others were disputed at trial.

[3] This figure is taken from Ricker's amended complaint. Initially, Ricker sought $76,899.36.

[4] Although this case was brought in the District Court for the District of Massachusetts, the parties agree that the law of Maine governs the substantive issues in the case. The contract was largely negotiated in Maine and wholly executed there.

[5] The court further said:

"I instruct you that it will be your duty, and your duty alone, from the evidence before you to determine whether or not the plaintiff was licensed and, if so, is he then entitled to be paid for any balance of the contract? If you find he was not licensed and therefore he is not entitled to be recompensed you will find for the defendant or you would be warranted in finding for the defendant." (Emphasis added.)

[6] "The housekeepers or housemen who are in charge of each building, when they made their inspections, would let me know if every bed in that house was used or if there was some beds that were not being used. I believe they arrived at that by observing the beds and the bedding and by looking in the closet or in the bathroom to see if there were two toothbrushes or two different size shoes or different kind of clothes, and they would—when they made their three checks, they would say, `All beds are being used except' and they would note the exception, that two beds, one not used, or three beds, one not used."

[7] Strictly speaking, it was double hearsay. Feldman's entries themselves were a form of hearsay. The information from employees on which he based those entries was separate hearsay.

[8] 2751. License required

No person shall be a common innkeeper, victualer or tavernkeeper without a license, under a penalty of not more than $50."

[9] 2482. License; required

No person, corporation, firm or copartnership shall conduct, control, manage or operate, for compensation, directly or indirectly, any catering establishment, or establishments preparing foods for vending machines dispensing foods other than in original sealed packages, or any eating or lodging place, recreational or overnight camp, unless the same shall be licensed by the department."

Note that this statute requires a separate license for each building, while the victualer's license is obtained by the individual operating such buildings.

[10] Midway through the course, two of the seven buildings were inspected and received sanitation licenses. However, one of these licenses was made "conditional" because of health hazards found on the premises. The other buildings used by the Society never had a license during the entire course.

[11] The only difference was that the former statute omitted the words, "or tavernkeeper." See n. 8 supra.

[12] In Thacher Hotel, the court distinguished Randall in holding that a hotel-owner's recovery on a management contract was not precluded by an alleged defect in compliance with a liquor-license statute. Similarly, in Lipman, the court distinguished Randall in holding that a poultry supplier's recovery on a sales contract was not precluded by its failure to file a certificate required by statute. The Lipmancourt said of Randall: "[T]he decision is based on public policy and the prohibitory character of the statute." 143 Me. at 274, 61 A.2d at 132. Speaking generally of the cases it was distinguishing, the court added, "The purpose of the statutes involved in these cases would be wholly thwarted unless the contracts were held void, and are not therefore decisive of the case at bar." Id. at 274-275, 61 A.2d at 132. The citations of Randall in Donahue and Hinckley were largely collateral to the holdings in those cases.

[13] This assumes, of course, that the Randall decision on victualer's licenses applies by analogy to sanitation licenses. The Maine court has never so held.

[14] The precise amount at stake in the Black case, supra, is not stated. However, the insurance commissions there could hardly have amounted to the extremely large sums involved here.

[15] The Gatti court stressed that plaintiff had "substantially complied" with the licensing requirement at issue there. In the instant case, at least with respect to the victualer's license, it can be argued that Ricker substantially complied based on the fact that it had a valid license at the time it negotiated the contract with the Society. See Latipac, Inc. v. Superior Court, 64 Cal.2d 278, 49 Cal.Rptr. 676, 411 P.2d 564 (1966).

[16] The considerations on when to certify recently set forth by the United States Supreme Court in Lehman Bros. v. Schein, 416 U.S. 386, 94 S.Ct. 1741, 40 L.Ed.2d 215 (Apr. 29, 1974) and by the Maine court in White v. Edgar, 320 A.2d 668 (Me.1974), fully support certification in the instant case.

[17] Although several other issues were raised by the parties, we do not reach them in light of our disposition.

https://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=950422326849004173&q=Maharishi&hl=en&as_sdt=3,39

• Transcendental Meditation (225)
• Transcendental Meditation-financial (39)
• Transcendental Meditation-legal (37)

Larkin v. MAHARISHI FOUNDATION USA, INC., Dist. Court, ND California 2016

KIMBERLEY LARKIN, Plaintiff,
v.
MAHARISHI FOUNDATION USA, INC., a Massachusetts Corporation, and Does 1-20, inclusive, Defendants.
Case No. 3:15-CV-01661 MEJ.
United States District Court, N.D. California, San Francisco Division.

April 11, 2016.
ORDER RE DISMISSAL
MARIA-ELENA JAMES, District Judge.

Pursuant to the Stipulation filed by the parties on February 4, 2016, this matter is ordered dismissed.

PURSUANT TO STIPULATION, IT IS SO ORDERED.

https://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=1011389041099613065&q=Maharishi&hl=en&as_sdt=3,39&as_vis=1

• Transcendental Meditation (225)
• Transcendental Meditation-financial (39)
• Transcendental Meditation-legal (37)

Transcendental Meditation: Yogic Flying

Amit Singh
May 9, 2013

Yogic Flying was introduced in 1976 by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, the world's foremost scientist of consciousness, who has brought to light the knowledge of India's ancient Vedic tradition. Yogic Flying is a natural extension of the Transcendental Meditation program, which Maharishi introduced in the mid-1950s and which has become the most widely practiced and thoroughly researched program of self-development in the world.

Yogic Flyers use a simple, natural technique that has its origin in the oldest continuous tradition of knowledge on earth, the ancient Vedic tradition of India — specifically, a branch of the ancient Vedic Literature known as the Yoga Sutras of Maharishi Patanjali. These students are actually rising up into the air in a series of blissful hops.

California Middle Schools Promote Hindu Religious Practice of Transcendental Meditation

Laurie Higgins
Illinois Family Institute
January 8, 2015

TM Related Articles

Next time you hear about some arch-defender of the a-constitutional “wall” of separation between church and state whose knickers are in a twist because a school allows ten seconds of silence during which students may pray, remember this story:

NBC News reported that for four years, four San Francisco middle schools have been using the Center for Wellness and Achievement in Education’s Quiet Time program which teaches Transcendental Meditation (TM) to 11-14-year-olds. Students spend 15 minutes twice a day meditating, with at least one school even extending the school day to accommodate TM.

Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, disciple of Guru Dev (aka Swami Brahmananda Saraswati), repackaged Hinduism in a form more acceptable to Western minds and brought it to American hippies in the 1960s and 1970s. Disciples of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi publicly and deceitfully claim that TM is solely a scientific method of relieving stress, conveniently omitting any mention of the religious dimensions of the program and practice.

Decades ago when I became a TMer and my husband a TM teacher, mantras—the word repeated soundlessly during meditation—were  assigned during an “initiation” ceremony called a puja. Initiates were asked to bring a piece of fruit, a new handkerchief, and flowers to the ceremony which was conducted in a darkened, incense-infused room in front of a de facto altar. The TM teacher would them begin the ceremony which was conducted in Sanskrit, which meant the initiate had no idea what was being spoken.  After becoming a TM teacher, my husband learned the Sanskrit words spoken during the ceremony:

To LORD NARAYANA, to lotus-born BRAHMA the Creator to…GOVINDA, ruler among the yogis…to SHANKARACHARYA the redeemer, hailed as KRISHNA and BADARAYANA, to the commentator of the BRAHMA SUTRAS I bow down. To the glory of the LORD I bow down again and again, at whose door the whole galaxy of gods pray for perfection day and night…GURU [Dev] in the glory of BRAHMA, GURU in the glory of the great LORD SHIVA, GURU in the glory of the personified transcendental fullness of BRAHMAN, to Him, to SHRI GURU DEV adorned with glory, I bow down…with Brahman ever dwelling in the lotus of my heart…to That [Brahman], in the form of Guru Dev, I bow down.

At various points during the ceremony, the teacher would pause and ask the initiate for one of the gifts they were asked to bring which the teacher would then place on the altar. At the end of the ceremony, initiates were given their mantras, which, as it turns out, are the names of Hindu gods.

Initiates were ordered not to tell their secret mantras to anyone. Eveventually I learned that mantras were assigned according to the initiate’s age. Mine was “aing” which is a mantra intended to honor the Hindu goddess of Saraswati.

Administrators in the four California middle schools, which are located in violence-prone communities, claim that all sorts of positive effects have resulted since students began meditating, obviously suggesting that TM is the cause of such effects. These claims raise important questions:

1. Is TM the cause of these positive effects, or is it simply being quiet for 15 minutes twice a day that accounts for the reduction in student misbehavior?
2. Would resting or napping for 15 minutes twice a day have the same effects?
3. If it is legal and appropriate for public schools to promote and teach Hindu meditative/prayer practices, is it legal and appropriate for schools to promote and teach Muslim prayer practices, Kabbalistic meditative practices, and Christian prayer practices?
4. If the possibility of a reduction of problematic behaviors justifies the formal implementation of Hindu religious practice in public schools, will public schools permit the implementation of other religious practices in order to determine their efficacy in positively affecting school climate?

For years, the TM organization has been plagued by criticism for deception like its failure to acknowledge its religious nature or promises of superpowers (siddhis) like Yogic flying. Over 35 years ago, Maharishi told his disciples that by attending longer residential courses during which attendees would meditate for extended periods of time and receive additional magic words (i.e., sutras), they would start levitating and shortly thereafter flying. Of course, the TM organization profited from these longer courses.

Well, here we are decades later and to my knowledge, no TMer is flying. You can find amusing videos online of TMers still “hopping.” Well, you can find videos of hale and hearty men “hopping” whilst huffing and puffing. I’ve yet to see a video of an elderly woman “hopping.”

There are also criticisms of the studies the TM organization touts regarding its efficacy as well as more serious concerns about potential risks to mental health. For more information about TM from a former meditator, click HERE.

In the interest of parental rights, I hope the administrators in these California middle schools will reveal to every parent the criticisms of Transcendental Meditation leveled by many.

In the interest of intellectual consistency, I hope those virulent opponents of 10 seconds of silence in public schools during which students may pray (but are not taught prayer practices) will direct their virulence to schools that teach repackaged Hinduism to students.

And in the interest of fiscal transparency and accountability, I hope some public watch dogs will find out how much local, state, and/or federal money is lining the pockets of the Center for Wellness and Achievement in Education.


https://illinoisfamily.org/education/california-middle-schools-promote-hindu-religious-practice-of-transcendental-meditation/

Manson family members speak out 50 years later in shocking doc, recall meeting cult leader: 'I felt accepted'

Stephanie Nolasco
Fox News
August 9, 2019

The women who followed hippie cult leader Charles Manson are coming forward 50 years after the gruesome murders that shocked the nation during the summer of 1969.

Oxygen is airing a new two-hour documentary titled “Manson: The Women” on Saturday, Aug. 10, which aims to explore how one of the most daunting madmen in American history charmed his way into the lives of the women who formed his family. It features interviews with four women who belonged to Manson’s circle, including Dianne “Snake” Lake, Catherine “Gypsy” Share, Sandra “Blue” Good and Lynette “Squeaky” Fromme.

Members of the Manson Family, as his followers were called, slaughtered five of its victims on Aug. 9, 1969: actress Sharon Tate, who was 8 1/2 months pregnant, coffee heiress Abigail Folger, celebrity hairdresser Jay Sebring, Polish movie director Voityck Frykowski and Steven Parent, a friend of of the property’s caretakers. The murders took place at Tate’s home while her husband, director Roman Polanski, was out of the country at the time.

The next night, a wealthy grocer and his wife, Leno and Rosemary LaBianca, were stabbed to death in their home across town. The killers scrawled such phrases as “Pigs” and a misspelled “Healter Skelter” in blood at the crime scenes.

The anniversary of the murders has sparked several films including “The Haunting of Sharon Tate” with Hilary Duff; “Charlie Says” with Matt Smith – of “Doctor Who” fame – as Manson; “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood” directed by Quentin Tarantino and starring Brad Pitt and Leonardo DiCaprio; and “Tate,” starring Kate Bosworth as the ’60s starlet, which has no set release date at the moment.

In an advance copy sent to Fox News, the women shared how they felt like outsiders in society during 1967's Summer of Love, before Manson, who portrayed himself as a hypnotic messiah, embraced them with open arms.

Manson, a petty criminal who had been in and out of jail since childhood, surrounded himself in the ‘60s with runaways and other lost souls during the heyday of the hippie movement in California. Though he was in his mid-30s, Manson began collecting followers — mostly women — who likened him to Jesus Christ. Most were teenagers and many were at odds with their families.

“I was born in France,” explained Share, 76, in the film. “My mother was taken by an officer and raped [during the war]. She took her own life. And then I was adopted by American parents. My mother who adopted me got cancer and died when I was 16. She took her own life also because she thought she might be a burden. And then I was estranged from my stepfather… I really didn’t have a place of my own. It was pretty torturous, you know, this loneliness of not having anyone to ever count on.”

“I was 18 and then my dad threw me out,” shared Fromme, 70. “We had started to argue. He just didn’t want the interaction with me. It wasn’t that I was contesting all the time… My father and I argued about just a definition of a word or something — something really silly. And then he said, ‘You get out of this house and never come back.’ I took him at his word. I did cry because I just thought that it’s pretty final… We were all looking for a family. Loyalty from a family we related to.”

“I had so many respiratory things going on — two tracheotomies by the time I was 1,” said Good, 75. “My mother did not want me to survive the many operations I had. I know that for a fact. She conveyed it daily… I never saw fulfillment or happiness in the people I looked up to. None of them were happy. Many of them were alcoholics.”

Dianne Lake, who became the youngest member of the group at age 14, was raised by hippie parents and met Manson through her mother, who had befriended him while he visited a house farm commune. She was instantly smitten by the charismatic Manson, then 34, who played guitar and sang songs. Lake’s parents granted her permission to live on her own and she instantly joined “the family.”

“Charlie was extremely loving and I felt welcomed,” she recalled. “He took me in that night and he made love to me like I never experienced it before. In a way that made me feel like a woman… I remember thinking that I wanted Charlie to only love me and marry me. I was disenfranchised. I didn’t feel like I belonged anywhere and they invited me to come live with them. So I stayed with them.”

The other women described being instantly captivated by Manson.

“I went to Topanga Canyon [Calif.] and that’s where I first met Charlie,” said Good. “He looked at my throat. And he traced his finger around my tracheotomy scar. He said, ‘Your mother wanted you dead ‘cause she was jealous…. You’re not weak.’ His brilliance was permeating my whole being. My mind was pretty much blown just by his voice, by his demeanor, by the happiness and the brightness.”

Share said she encountered Manson driving “an old, beat-up Chevy with four girls in it.”

“He was the most confident person I have ever run into,” she said. “He was fun-loving. Everybody seemed peaceful and happy. Charlie… came onto me really, really strong. I felt accepted. I just felt like… it was kind of a dream come true. I was an orphan so I was really looking for a family.”

The “family” eventually established a commune-like based at Spahn Ranch outside of Los Angeles, where Manson manipulated his followers with drugs, oversaw orgies and subjected them to bizarre lectures.

Lake said the free love turned violent when the man she worshipped raped and sodomized her.

“[He] left me in tears and bleeding,” she recalled. “He said something to the effect of, ‘That’s the way we do it in prison.’ … I don’t know how to describe it. I’m afraid for my own life, but at the same time, I’m still looking for his approval.”

By the summer of 1969, Manson, who had musical ambitions and had met both Beach Boy Dennis Wilson and music producer Terry Melcher, had failed to sell his songs. He became obsessed with Beatles music, particularly “Piggies” and “Helter Skelter,” which he interpreted as forecasting the end of the world. He insisted a race war would destroy the planet.

“I was cooking one night,” said Share. “He came to me and said the Black Panthers know where we are and they might attack us at any time… I really, truly believed that my survival was staying with Charlie because he knew how to maneuver all this.”

According to testimony, Manson sent some of his devotees out on the night of Tate’s murder with instructions to “do something witchy.” While the women in the documentary were never charged in connection to the grisly slayings, they expressed mixed feelings on the horrific tragedy.

“I didn’t feel bad that these people were dead,” said Fromme. “I didn’t even know they were alive. But as far as killing goes? I wasn’t ready for killing.”

“I felt very, very sad for the victims,” said Share. “I was so shut down during that time. It’s just horrible. I just can’t imagine how horrible their families feel. I feel very sad for them. I also feel sad for the young people that were turned into murders.”

Manson was arrested three months after the murders. After a trial that lasted nearly a year, Manson and three followers – Susan Atkins, Patricia Krenwinkel and Leslie Van Houten – were found guilty of murder and sentenced to death. Another defendant, Charles “Tex” Watson, was convicted later. All were spared execution and given life sentences after the California Supreme Court struck down the death penalty in 1972.

Atkins died behind bars in 2009 at age 61 from a brain tumor. Krenwinkel, Van Houten and Watson remain in prison. Fromme tried to assassinate President Gerald Ford in 1975, but her gun jammed.

“I wanted to stay with the girls,” recalled Fromme. “With Charlie. With everybody that was inside.”

She served 34 years in prison and was paroled in 2009. Manson died in 2017 after nearly a half-century in prison at age 83 from natural causes.

Over the years, the killings have inspired several movies, TV shows and books. Shock rocker Marilyn Manson, in particular, borrowed part of his stage name from the infamous cult leader.

Share believes those still behind bars should be released.

“I feel like when someone has gotten their mind back and they’ve done everything they could to make up for the horrible things that they’ve done when they were a kid, then it’s time to do a little forgiving and let them not die in prison,” she explained.

“There’s people that have done 50 time worse and they’ve gotten out,” claimed Good. “They’re being used politically… Gotta have a scapegoat.”

But Lake, a born-again Christian, had other thoughts.

“If they really had remorse, they would waive their parole hearings so that the families of the victims don’t have to relive this experience over and over,” she said.

“Manson: The Women” airs August 10 at 7 p.m. on Oxygen. The Associated Press contributed to this report.

https://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/manson-family-members-speak-out-50-years-later

What's wrong with a Chicago public high school teaching transcendental meditation? Plenty, critics claim.

HANNAH LEONE
CHICAGO TRIBUNE
JULY 26, 2019

Students at a Chicago high school were led into a room with shades drawn and door windows papered over, lit only with candles and scented by incense. They were handed flowers and told to pay attention to instructors, according to one student’s account.

Jade Thomas, an incoming sophomore at Bogan Computer Technical High School, said instructors “chanted in a foreign language" and “threw rice, seasonings and oranges in a pan in front of a picture of a man.” She described the ritual, which she said involved a “secret mantra,” to a rapt audience at a Chicago Board of Education meeting Wednesday.

At one point, Jade said, "they tell us to place the flowers in the pan with everything else, and they ended the song. I felt uncomfortable because I didn’t know what they were saying or who the man was in the picture.”

The program, which brings transcendental meditation into schools, was developed by filmmaker David Lynch’s foundation. Known for movies including “Blue Velvet” and the “Twin Peaks” TV series, Lynch also is a longtime proponent of the meditation practice.

At Bogan on Chicago’s Southwest Side, the program, known as Quiet Time, is run through a partnership with University of Chicago’s Urban Labs, which is evaluating its effectiveness, according to a Chicago Public Schools official.

The university’s crime and education labs are working with CPS and the David Lynch Foundation “to test whether providing youth with training and time to practice Transcendental Meditation can help youth reduce their toxic stress, succeed in school, and stay safe,” according to the Urban Labs website.

Lynch’s program bills itself as a way to help youths, especially in low-income urban areas, cope with traumatic stress that can result from living in poverty, among violence and with fear, and can hinder health and learning.

Urban Labs is testing a version of Quiet Time that involves two daily 15-minute meditation sessions "to generate evidence about whether TM can improve outcomes for Chicago’s most vulnerable youth.”

Jonathan Guryan, faculty co-director of the University of Chicago’s education lab, said the program began three years ago at Gage Park High School and has since expanded to Bogan, Daniel Hale Williams Preparatory School of Medicine, Bowen High School, Percy L. Julian High School and TEAM Englewood Community Academy High School. Urban Labs and CPS worked together to identify schools in neighborhoods with high rates of poverty and violence, and where school leadership was interested in having the program. Within each school, classrooms were randomly selected, Guryan said.

The David Lynch Foundation provides full-time instructors, and sometimes students or teachers also may lead sessions, he said.

But Jade, the Bogan student, told the school board that the program “has caused me and many other students discomfort."

“The program is training us to practice different religious beliefs that I go against, and my family does too,” she said. “My mother, my brother and I are here to get this removed from our school.”

Officials familiar with the program said it’s not religious and noted that a letter to parents included a consent form they had to sign for their children to opt out.

Jade described what she called an initiation ritual in which instructors took her and her friend into the Quiet Time classroom and turned all the lights out. After the ritual, students were told to keep their mantras a secret, she said.

Jade described the twice-daily sessions as mandatory but said she did eventually stop going.

“If you talk during this quiet time, they will threaten to drop your grades,” Jade said. “This program should be removed from any public school because it is religious and forces students to do things they don’t understand or agree with.”

CPS and Urban Labs officials said the program is not mandatory, and students who don’t participate have other options for 15-minute quiet periods. Students were offered the chance to opt out, and about 14 percent did so, Guryan said.

But Jade’s mother, Deborah Thomas, said the letters sent home explaining the practice were misleading.

The district’s chief education officer, LaTanya McDade, told the board she had personally checked out the Quiet Time program at Bogan and asked questions about it.

“None of this was shared with me,” McDade said. “... I would like to personally follow up on it and investigate the matter and address it accordingly.”

Another speaker, Dasia Skinner, said she learned about Quiet Time while working as a substitute teacher at Bogan during the past school year. Though she had no firsthand knowledge of the program, she said she spoke to more than 60 students about it and that they shared similar accounts.

“When I talked to students about it, I discovered some shocking news," Skinner said.

She said students described a “weird” ritual in which they were taken to a dark room where a Quiet Time facilitator led them through a ritual she perceived as Hindu-based.

“When you close your eyes and meditate on the guide, this is considered prayer or religious worship,” Skinner said, asserting it amounts to a violation of the separation of church and state.

“All of this was done without parents’ knowledge or the students’ understanding,” Skinner said.

But the Lynch Foundation website says the practice is meditation, not a religious practice.

“It does not involve any religion, philosophy, or change in lifestyle,” the website states. Hundreds of schools, both public and private, have adopted the meditations, according to the foundation.

Guryan said researchers have started a preliminary analysis but are uncertain whether they’ll continue evaluating the program in the upcoming school year.

So far, students trained in transcendental meditation have violent crime arrest rates about 65% to 70% lower than their peers and have reduced blood pressure, he said.

Christine Laadimi, an international baccalaureate history teacher who has worked at Bogan for 13 years, said the meditation program has also led to fewer arguments in school.

When she has sat in on sessions, she found them peaceful, starting with the ringing of a bell and 30 seconds to say a mantra and get into a meditative state of mind, she said.

“I’ve never had any religious undertones at all,” Laadimi said.

Laadimi said students can choose to meditate or simply to put their head down. The whole school is quiet during the 15-minute periods, whether or not they’re all meditating, she said.

“From the main office to the security guards, every single classroom is quiet during that whole time,” she said.

At other times during the day, students can choose to do their own meditation in designated Quiet Time rooms and talk to a meditation adviser.

Laadimi said her classes are always excited to meditate, and no students have come to her saying they felt uncomfortable.

“Our students are going, going, going so much during the day, they’re on their phones, using their Chromebooks,” she said. “Twice a day, 15 minutes, where they can just be quiet and give their brain a rest is really a good processing time for the students.”
hleone@chicagotribune.com
Hannah Leone

Hannah Leone reports on Chicago Public Schools for the Tribune. She spent a year covering crime scenes overnight and previously covered breaking news and courts in the west suburbs. She worked at newspapers in Washington, Oregon and Idaho before joining the Tribune in 2016. She lives in Rogers Park, where she enjoys running along the lake.

https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/breaking/ct-chicago-high-school-quiet-time-meditation-david-lynch-bogan-20190725-72so6zr2gvganb2c54k4eq24zm-story.html

The Woman Who Inspired 'Dear Prudence' Opens Up About World Peace, the Influence of the '60s and Why Kids Today Love the Beatles

M.B. ROBERTS 
Parade
August 9, 2019

The Beatles’ muse still believes in world peace.

Prudence Bruns, 71, has several claims to fame. First, she’s the daughter of film director John Farrow and actress Maureen O’Sullivan, as well as the younger sister of actress Mia Farrow. Second, she’s a teacher and passionate advocate of Transcendental Meditation who studied with the TM guru, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi in Rishikesh, India, back in the late 1960s. It’s at Maharishi’s retreat in 1968 where Prudence’s fellow students included all four members of the Beatles. Third, her behavior during the retreat led John Lennon to write the song “Dear Prudence,” which appeared on the Beatles’ White Album. So, who is the flesh and blood woman behind the song that Rolling Stone named as No. 63 on its list of “100 Greatest Beatles Songs”? And what’s the story behind the famous song? Parade caught up with Bruns to find out.

You met the Beatles at Maharishi Mahesh Yogi’s retreat in Rishikesh, India, in 1968, where you’d traveled with your sister, Mia, to learn Transcendental Meditation. Were you starstruck?

No, I’d been around famous people before. It wasn’t a big deal to me but I liked them a lot, especially John and George. They came into my room one night to play a song and I could hear them outside on the patio at night playing. But really, I was so focused on getting the most out of my time there. It was my dream to go to India and study with a person who really knew about this meditation. I was pretty extreme.

That’s why John wrote the song, which starts out, “Dear Prudence, won’t you come out to play/Dear Prudence, greet the brand-new day.”

Right. People over the years would have these reasons why I was Dear Prudence that were completely off the wall and almost disturbing, like I was a heroin addict or I lost my mind or all these crazy reasons why John wrote the song. It bothered me in a sense but it seemed over my head, like what can I do about it. I’d tell people, well I had to stay in my room. Nobody believed that I didn’t have an affair with him. I couldn’t tell people. But it all came about because I stayed in my room by myself for five days straight. I hadn’t gone to the bathroom or slept. I didn’t eat. I was trying to see where [meditation] would take me.

And you’ve stayed with meditation all these years?
Yes, I’m back teaching now. At Sofitco Studios, a fitness studio in Santa Rosa Beach, Florida.
What do you love so much about TM?

TM is a yogic meditation but what’s different about it is that it has been streamlined and simplified for those of us who are busy and can’t give our whole lifestyle over to changing how we are and what we’re doing. It makes it so that in just a short period of time you can go extremely deep inside and tap into a part of the mind that is foundational. It’s just silent. It’s like, the ocean has a surface and as you get deeper it becomes less active. And if you can get incredibly deep, it’s still. So the same with the mind. You can get to this part of the mind that is still, but it’s not inert. It’s actually very creative. And so, it’s wonderful. You can actually experience that. Anybody can.

Your memoir, Dear Prudence: The Story Behind the Song,came out in 2015. Why did you decide to write the book so many years (nearly 50!) afterJohn Lennon wrote that song about you?

It was because of my grandson. We’d moved down to Florida and my daughter lived next door. At a certain point when my grandson was in high school, he came over and said, “OK, Grandma, you have to come to my school and speak to my friends.” It surprised me because at that point, I was getting used to accepting myself as being old and kind of irrelevant. I forgot I was Dear Prudence, because my older daughter and son—they were the generation after the Baby Boomers—and their interest in The Beatles was zip.

But there’s been a revived interest in the Beatles among kids and twentysomethings, don’t you think?

Yes, absolutely. Especially with [the game] Guitar Hero. Then you even have little kindergartners knowing all the Beatles songs. Anyway, being Dear Prudence really never mattered. Then when I went to my grandson’s school, it was like one of the Beatles came to see his friends. There were about 30 kids and they all came rushing up and gathered around me with all this respect. I was completely stunned.

Was it your link to the Beatles they were excited about?
Besides the kids noticing the Beatles and actually knowing every song they did and the words to every song, one of the kids asked a question that stood out. “Why did John and the Beatles think there could be such a thing as world peace?” I mean, they really believed there could not possibly be such a thing! This shocked me. It was sad, but it meant that they were actually listening to us. For us, we didn’t listen to anybody over 30!  But grandparents? Forget about it. So that they were actually listening and hearing The Beatles and that message was a real wake-up call.

What was the message?
That there can be world peace. I told them, you’re wrong. Just because you don’t see it doesn’t mean we can’t achieve it. I explained to them that if enough of us live more consciously rather than every man for himself, really caring about our culture and our humanity then we can have peace. It was very powerful and that’s when I decided I had to tell my story. I’m Dear Prudence, one of the many that went through the ‘60s. We brought yoga in and the whole perspective of green and organic and all that came in to our culture.

https://parade.com/909308/m-b-roberts/dear-prudence-lyrics-prudence-farrow/

Raniere's 'inner circle' shared disdain for paying taxes

Robert Gavin
Albany Times Union
August 5, 2019

BALLSTON SPA — Nearly a dozen members of disgraced NXIVM leader Keith Raniere's "inner circle" shared the purported self-help guru's penchant for trying to dodge taxes, records show.

The 58-year-old Raniere and at least 10 past and present loyalists have faced state and federal tax liens totaling more than $715,000 over the past two decades — the majority of which remain unpaid, according to court documents filed in the Saratoga County clerk's office, as well as records filed in New Jersey and Alaska.

Raniere, a former Halfmoon resident known within NXIVM as "Vanguard," not only avoided paying taxes but encouraged his flock of devotees to do the same, according to testimony at the federal trial in Brooklyn that ended last month with his conviction on all counts.

Raniere faces life in prison after being convicted of sex trafficking, forced labor, racketeering and more. The racketeering charges included several underlying acts, one of which was identity theft related to Raniere's use of a credit card belonging to his late lover and confidant, Pamela Cafritz, after her death in 2016.

"Why did he use Pam Cafritz's credit card after she was dead to fund his lifestyle? To avoid paying taxes," Assistant U.S. Attorney Moira Penza told the jury in her closing statement. "Because he didn't want to take that money into his own name, because the defendant was obsessed with not paying taxes."

Cafritz herself faced tax liens of $15,796 in 2011 and $15,721 in 2010. She paid both before her death.

Penza told jurors, "The ultimate goal for the company was zero tax. That was the ultimately goal for the defendant as well."

And records show it was a goal many of Raniere's closest associates tried to mirror.

At the trial, Penza and her fellow prosecutors Tanya Hajjar and Mark Lesko showed jurors a list of 25 Raniere associates in NXIVM that they described as his inner circle. Some of the individuals have since left the organization; three testified against Raniere.

Two of the women on the list were "first-line slaves" in Raniere's secret master/slave group, known as Dominus Obsequious Sororium (DOS) or The Vow, in which the women had his initials branded into their pelvic areas by a cauterizing pen.

The NXIVM leader's efforts to avoid tax responsibilities did not keep him from facing a $41,991 judgment from the state tax commission in 1998, the year he started NXIVM. The bill was paid.

Court records show past and present Raniere associates faced the following tax judgments:

Kathy L. Russell: The NXIVM bookkeeper and Raniere co-defendant hasn't paid federal tax liens of $4,150 in 2019 in Saratoga County and several federal tax liens in Alaska: $36,714 in 2012, $5,575 in 2012, and $9,631 in 2006, according to to the Recorder's Office in Anchorage. Russell paid a state tax lien of $2,830 in Saratoga County in 2013. Russell, who pleaded guilty to a felony charge to resolve her case, is awaiting sentencing.

Karen Unterreiner: A high-ranking NXIVM official tied to Raniere since attending RPI decades ago, she still owes a New Jersey state tax lien of $97,118 from 1999, according to the county clerk's office in Mercer County, N.J. Unterreiner paid a $47,711 New York tax lien filed in Saratoga County in 2000.

Dawn Morrison: Identified at trial as a high-ranking NXIVM official, she still owes federal tax liens of $151,341 this year, $8,066 in 2009, and $13,243 in 2003.

Lauren Salzman: The daughter of longtime NXIVM president Nancy Salzman and a former first-line DOS "slave" who testified against Raniere still owes federal tax liens of $32,548 from 2017. She paid federal tax liens of $23,210 from 2011, and state tax liens of $1,651 from 2008 and $157 in 2017.

Kristin Keeffe: NXIVM's formerly devoted legal liaison, who has a son with Raniere, left NXIVM abruptly in 2014. She incurred federal tax liens of $29,466 in 2018 and $16,638 in 2009, and a state tax lien of $22,213 in 2013.

Monica Duran: Identified during the trial as a first-line DOS "slave," she still owes a state tax lien of $2,195 from 2018.

Jim Del Negro: The high-ranking NXIVM official faced tax liens of $2,486 in 2014 and $202 in 2013. He paid both.

Barbara Bouchey: A former high-ranking NXIVM official who became a primary target for the group's ire owed a tax lien of $10,205 in 2011 before paying it.

Barbara Jeske: This NXIVM official faced a whopping $126,953 federal tax lien from 2008 that remained unpaid when she died in 2014.

The Times Union reached out to attorneys for Salzman and Russell and to Unterreiner, Morrison, Duran and Del Negro for comment. None could be reached. In 2012, the Times Union reported that Bouchey and Susan Dones, a former NXIVM trainer, testified in sworn depositions that Raniere told his close associates to go "off the grid" and avoid paying taxes.

Dones said in the deposition that Jeske had bragged "about the fact that she's off the radar with the IRS and has not paid taxes for years," and added, "I believe Barbara Jeske has adopted Keith's views of taxes."

Bouchey said in a deposition: "There were a number of people in the group who he encouraged to ... get off the grid, meaning not to have a tax ID number, not to file their tax returns, so he had strong opinions about things that I think the government would take issue with."

The group's disdain for paying tax was raised at various times during Raniere's trial. One former insider testified that when NXIVM students paid for classes with cash, the money was placed in a drawer in Unterreiner's desk under the category of "Scholarship Admin."

Asked why, the insider — a Mexican woman who spent nearly two years confined to a room in her family's Halfmoon townhouse — testified, "The point was to not pay taxes on the cash. So the cash
would not be on the books."

Former NXIVM accountant James Loperfido testified that while attending NXIVM's annual "V Week" — an annual week-long celebration on Lake George to celebrate Raniere's Aug. 26 birthday — NXIVM officials showed a documentary that claimed taxes were unconstitutional.

"Did that concern you?" Lesko asked Loperfido.

"Very much," he replied. "I asked if I could at the end of movie — once I understood what the film was about — if I could address the audience. And I was worried that the documentary was showing a one-sided slant on this idea of not having to pay taxes because of constitutional issues."

"Were you allowed to address the crowd?" the prosecutor asked Loperfido.

"No," he said.

https://www.timesunion.com/news/article/Raniere-s-inner-circle-followed-his-lead-in-not-14133803.php

Grace Road unlikely to end in Fiji any time soon - expert

RNZ
August 5, 2019

The jailing of a South Korean cult leader for imprisoning hundreds of followers in Fiji is unlikely to end their plight.

The leader of Grace Road Church, Shin Ok-ju, was jailed for six years last week.

To her followers, Fiji was the promised land, and hundreds moved to endure ritual beatings and forced labour at Grace Road's network of businesses in Fiji.

An expert in Korean cults, Ji-il Tark from Busan University, said those businesses had extensive links with the Fiji government.

He said with the group ostracised in South Korea, the remaining followers will likely be keen to stay in Fiji.

"The Grace Road Church seems to have strong supporters and connections in the Fijian government. They also have a place to stay and businesses, they may think that Fiji is, indeed, the promised and safe land."

https://www.rnz.co.nz/international/pacific-news/395993/grace-road-unlikely-to-end-in-fiji-any-time-soon-expert