Tag: cults

‘Sex cult’ leader who preached Islamic sermons while surrounded by scantily-clad women dubbed his ‘kittens’ is jailed for 8,500 years in Turkey for child abuse, rape and fraud

A Turkish sex cult leader and televangelist who preached Islamic sermons while surrounded by scantily-clad young women has been jailed for more than 8,500 years in prison for child abuse, rape and fraud following a retrial.

Adnan Oktar, 66, is known for holding theological discussions while surrounded by glamorous women who he dubbed his ‘kittens’.

He was sentenced last year to 1,075 years in prison after being found guilty of ten separate charges including child sexual abuse, leading a criminal gang, rape, blackmail, fraud, political and military espionage and causing torment.

This ruling was overturned earlier this year by an upper court. 

But following a retrial, the high court in Istanbul yesterday sentenced Oktar to 8,656 years in prison – an eightfold increase to his previous sentence.

The court held Oktar responsible for the crimes committed by his disciples as he was the head of the cult. Ten others were also sentenced to lengthy prison sentences. 

Oktar, who had pleaded not guilty, welcomed the final ruling, saying it is ‘God’s will’. 

‘We have full confidence in our state,’ Oktar said, reports Hurriyet newspaper. ‘We are happy with the decision. God made the decision. There are good days in our lives. 

‘Islam will dominate the world. Turkey will also be a beautiful country. May the decision be beneficial.’

A number of women who have since left the cult told his trial that they were subjected to sexual slavery. One woman testified that Oktar had sexually assaulted her and forced the women to take contraceptive pills. 

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Collapsed crypto trading firm CEO was 28-year-old, Harry Potter obsessed ‘polycule’ member

As the implosion of crypto exchange FTX continues, new claims about the “gang of kids” responsible for the $US32 billion disaster are emerging — with allegations of amphetamine use and a freewheeling, 10-person “sexual polycule” inside the luxury Bahamas penthouse that served as the doomed operation’s headquarters.

Sam Bankman-Fried, 30, is now facing criminal investigation in the Bahamas, as well as regulatory probes in the US, over the collapse of FTX and around 130 affiliated entities, including controversial trading firm Alameda Research.

Attention is now turning to the central role of Alameda and its CEO Caroline Ellison, 28 — Mr Bankman-Fried’s rumoured sometimes-girlfriend — a Harry Potter obsessed, amphetamine-using, Stanford mathematics graduate.

FTX is alleged to have secretly transferred up to $US10 billion of customer funds to Alameda to fund risky cryptocurrency trades prior to its collapse.

According to a bombshell report by CoinDesk, Ms Ellison and Mr Bankman-Fried were part of a “cabal of roommates” who ran the crypto empire and “dated” each other, while living in a $US40 million penthouse in the Bahamas’ exclusive Albany resort.

Many of the 10 roommates, including Ms Ellison, are Mr Bankman-Fried’s former co-workers from trading firm Jane Street, while others he met at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Also living in the house were FTX co-founder and chief technology officer Gary Wang and director of engineering Nishad Singh. “All 10 are, or used to be, paired up in romantic relationships with each other,” CoinDesk reported.

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Leah Remini testifies Church of Scientology faked rape claim against ex-member Paul Haggis

Actress Leah Remini testified Monday that the lawsuit accusing Oscar-winning director Paul Haggis of rape was fabricated by the Church of Scientology — telling Manhattan jurors “it is Paul who is the victim here.”

“The purpose of Scientology lawsuits is just to destroy your life,” Remini said, appearing via video link from Beverly Hills, with an Emmy Award statue visible in the background.

Lawyers for Haggis, 69, called the “King of Queens” star to the stand in his trial over the suit from former publicist Haleigh Breest, who alleges he raped her in his Soho apartment after a film premiere on Jan. 31, 2013. The “Crash” director has denied the accusation, claiming the encounter was consensual.

He claims the suit is part of a vendetta by Scientology for speaking out against the church when he broke with it in 2009 after three decades of membership.

Remini — arguably one of the most prominent ex-Scientologists — told the court about the repercussions of disavowing the church and acted as a character witness for Haggis.

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How the QAnon Queen Funds Her Cult: ‘She’s Scamming People’

Despite escaping the cultlike grasp of the so-called QAnon Queen of Canada months ago, two of her closest former followers had their bank accounts closed and say they may lose their children’s college funds after working for their former sovereign.

On Sept. 3, Corey and Daisy, who are married, received a letter in the mail from their bank that said they were now “an unacceptable risk” and their accounts would be closed. Earlier in the year, Romana Didulo, the self-described “queen,” had used their bank accounts to raise over a hundred thousand dollars for the cross-country RV tour of Canada she’s currently on. 

After opening accounts at a new bank, Daisy said the institution told her she could lose as much as $8,000 CAD ($5,952 USD) in government contributions from their education savings plans. They’re trying to fight it but don’t have high hopes. 

“I’m probably going to lose my children’s education fund because of it,” Daisy, who asked that her last name be withheld to protect her children from retribution, told VICE News. “We weren’t prepared for that happening. It is horrible because she [Didulo] cost us money.” 

For months, Didulo used the couple as her personal bank account. The queen either can’t or refuses to use her own. Since she was kicked off typical crowdfunding sources, like GoFundMe, her followers have to send donations via electronic transfer. She posted Daisy’s email on Telegram numerous times—without permission, according to Daisy—and asked followers to send money to her account. 

“She would just do it. She’s the queen, so she doesn’t need to ask permission from anyone or ask me if it’s OK,” Daisy said. “What was I supposed to say? I was already committed at that point.” 

In total, Didulo raised more than $142,000 CAD ($105,726 USD) during a two-month period earlier this year, according to documents seen by VICE News. And she spent even more, including tens of thousands on hotel rooms paid for in her followers’ names. They once kept a $300-a-night room booked just in case Russian President Vladimir Putin showed up.

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A Former Member of the JFK QAnon Cult Tried to Kidnap Her Own Children

When Samantha Ricks was kicked out of the JFK-QAnon cult led by Michael Protzman at the beginning of December, she was already in a downward spiral. 

A couple of weeks later, Ricks was accused of substance abuse by the woman who had taken her family in. Then, child protective services said she had exposed her children to “inappropriate sexual behavior.” Three days before Christmas, Oklahoma Child Protective Services knocked on her door and took her 6-year-old daughter and 5-year-old son into foster care. 

Ricks then raged online about how child protective services was secretly trafficking children. She accused everyone, including those who tried to help her, of collaborating to take her children away from her, beliefs founded in QAnon conspiracies about global child sex trafficking rings that are reinforced by extremist groups who have made it their mission to prey on vulnerable parents.

After months of spreading misinformation, lashing out at everyone around her, and even fundraising, Ricks took matters into her own hands. 

What happened next was the culmination of her extremist views and desperate outlook: On August 8, Ricks tried to kidnap her own children. 

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Inside the QAnon Queen’s Cult: ‘The Abuse Was Non-Stop’

As the woman he believed to be the true queen of Canada sat in a nearby RV, a man dressed in a camo shirt and hat delivered a rousing speech to the 40 people who’d come together in a Peterborough, Ontario, park, ready to arrest the city’s entire police department. 

“Today we are going to turn the members of the Peterborough Police Station over to the U.S. Special Forces Military, the Canadian Military, and the Global Military Alliance who will be here to pick them up once we detain them,” he said to the crowd.

With a megaphone in hand and dozens of other loyal subjects chattering excitedly behind him, he marched upon the Peterborough Police station. The group felt unstoppable. After all, they had the backing of their queen, a figure spawned from the online QAnon movement. Earlier in the week, she’d told her thousands of Telegram followers that the cops needed to pay for their crimes: enforcing COVID restrictions and infringing on their freedom.

But the station’s locked door promptly thwarted their quest for justice. They pleaded with the police through the megaphone to come outside to be arrested. When that didn’t work, they made their way behind the station, where they once again yelled at closed doors.

Then a car of officers pulled into the parking lot for a shift change, and the group’s leader made his move. “You guys are involved in the COVID crimes, and I’m placing you under arrest,” he said. 

“Actually, you are,” a nearby cop responded.

A melee quickly broke out. As two cops grabbed the first conspiracy theorist and threw him to the ground, another follower tackled some of the officers. Through sobs and screams, the crowd started chanting “Stand down.”

In the end, three people would be arrested, two of whom were charged with assaulting a police officer. The day marked a clear escalation for the so-called queen and her followers,  who had never resorted to violence for their sovereign before. 

Her military forces never did arrive.

The “queen” in question, Romana Didulo, is an internet personality who claims to be the one, true leader of Canada, waging a secret war against a cabal of pedophilic elites. But her mythos has moved far beyond typical QAnon musings and into the truly bizarre. She now claims to be an extraterrestrial spiritual leader with access to secret, New Age healing technology. She also routinely threatens to execute her enemies—as well as anyone who disobeys her. Yet to her followers, she’s the ultimate defender of the weak, a harbinger of a better age. 

“She is, I would say, one of the most dangerous QAnon influencers within the movement, if not the most dangerous,” Alex Mendela, an associate analyst at Alethea Group, an organization that monitors disinformation including the QAnon movement, told VICE News. “Inevitable confrontation might end up becoming violent. She very much dehumanizes and desensitizes her audience to violence.” 

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Resurfaced Documentary Uncovers Accusations of Child Abuse Against Former Mormon President Gordon B. Hinckley

The documentary The True Story of Mormon President Gordon B. Hinckley and its accusations against Mormon Church leadership has not been seen by the public in almost 30 years — until now.

In late May, the Utah County Sheriff’s Office announced an investigation into “ritualized child sexual abuse” in 3 different Utah counties. Following that announcement, The Last American Vagabond (TLAV) produced a series of 5 articles focused on the sheriff’s investigation, as well as claims of child sexual abuse in Utah at large, and within The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS).

In our 5th report we investigated the history of claims of child abuse within the Mormon Church. From the Pace Memo to Paperdolls, accusations of various church members and officials participating in and/or covering up organized sexual abuse of children are not hard to find in LDS history.

On the heels of our reporting on these historical accusations, The Associated Press dropped a bombshell of an investigation which is causing headaches for the LDS. Their reporting shows that church leadership used their “help line” to cover up reports of pedophilia.

The AP obtained almost 12,000 pages of previously sealed records from a child sex abuse lawsuit against the Mormon Church in West Virginia. These documents and testimony from victims make it clear that the so-called help line can “easily be misused by church leaders to divert abuse accusations away from law enforcement and instead to church attorneys who may bury the problem, leaving victims in harm’s way.”

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