Journalist Heather Robinson interviewed me a few weeks ago for this article. We spent 90 minutes talking about my book but also about how half the country thinks the other half is in a cult and that half of the country is right. I hope current members come across this article and can free themselves.
A listener of the podcast reached out to tell me that in 2010 she was recruited by a friend to join an "esoteric group" in NYC, but was spooked by all the secrecy requirements. Luckily she didn't go. I confirmed for her that her friend is in fact a member of the Gans Cult. The whole experience left her uneasy and Im grateful that speaking out has helped her to gain some closure.
The NXIVM whistleblowers -- Sarah Edmondson and Anthony Ames -- who also star in HBO's The Vow, interviewed me for their podcast. I hope you can listen to some or all.
Sharon created a make-believe world for herself. She believed she was –– I heard her say this –– a character in a "Shakespeare tragedy." In her final performance, Sharon plays King Lear. In her adaptation of the classic, she bequeaths zilch to her two biological children because they "betrayed" her. Instead (as first reported on these pages) she leaves her multimillion dollar estate –– all of it stolen money –– to her looney step-son and other assorted bootlickers.
Apparently fearful of testifying under oath and turning over School's financial records, defendants Greg Koch, Lorraine Imlay, Minerva Taylor, Ken Salaz, OSG LLC, and the Estate for Sharon Gans have moved to dismiss the class action lawsuit brought against them for unpaid wages and fraud. Plaintiffs are claiming in the suit that they were duped into paying OSG monthly fees to labor for no pay for the sole benefit of School and Sharon and OSG.
School claims that the suit is nothing more than a "shakedown" brought by people who are "apparent[ly] disappoint[ed] in how their lives turned out." Sounding an awful lot like Sharon (who tormented and publicly humiliated her followers), the School defendants denigrate the former members saying that they "seek to blame their apparent lack of self-improvement upon OSG and other study group participants." Finally, and in complete contradiction to what they told me for 23 years, School argues that the aims of School –– to evolve/improve –– are "impossible to measure" and "wholly subjective," and that plaintiffs have sour grapes.
The motion is now before the Honorable Justice Lori S. Sattler.
