32 ICSA TODAY
than 800 groups receive that kind of funding. The law is
very open regarding the kinds of religious or non-religious
groups that can receive that money. However, there are
some lines in the sand: ‘If a religious or philosophical
community, or individuals acting on behalf of the
community, commits violence or coercion, makes threats,
violates children’s rights, violates statutory discrimination
prohibitions or in other ways seriously violates the rights
and freedoms of others, society may be denied grants or
grants may be suspended. Grants may also be refused
or reduced if society encourages or provides support for
violations mentioned in this section.’” (OnlySky, 04/03/22)
Leader of polygamous Jerusalem Cult found dead in
prison cell
“A polygamous cult leader was found dead in his cell at
the Ayalon Prison in Ramle on Friday morning, the Israel
Prisons Service said. Paramedics that were rushed to the
scene declared Daniel Ambash dead after resuscitation
efforts had failed. The prison service says Ambash’s family
was informed of his death and that the circumstances
would be examined. In 2013, Ambash was sentenced to 26
years in prison on 18 charges ranging from sexual offenses,
abuse of minors, incarceration and sadistic violence in
what has been described as one of the most shocking
abuse cases in the country’s history. He was slated to be
freed in 2037. According to Channel 12 news, the parole
board had been due to convene next week to deliberate
Ambash’s request for an early release. A Bratslav ultra-
Orthodox Jew, Ambash headed what came to be known
as the ‘Jerusalem Cult.’ He was married to six wives and
had 14 children, who were all kept by Ambash and his
assistants in slavery conditions, forcibly confined and
routinely punished with rape, electric shocks and beatings.”
(The Times of Israel, 06/10/22)
La Luz del Mundo church leader pleads guilty to sex
abuse charges
“Just days before his long-awaited trial was set to start,
La Luz del Mundo leader Naason Joaquin Garcia
pleaded guilty Friday to sexually abusing girls from his
congregation, a stunning reversal for a man who followers
believe is an ‘apostle’ appointed by God. Originally facing
36 charges, Garcia at the last minute took a plea deal that
called for him to admit to three counts, the state attorney
general’s office announced Friday: two counts of forcible
oral copulation involving minors and one count of a lewd
act upon a child who was 15 years old. ‘Today’s conviction
sends a clear message that sexual exploitation is never
acceptable in California. We will hold you accountable if
you break the law,’ Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta said in a news
release issued late Friday afternoon. Garcia, he said,
abused his authority to ‘take advantage of children,’ while
relying on his underlings ‘to groom congregants for the
purposes of sexual assault.’ ‘Today’s conviction can never
undo the harm,’ Bonta declared, ‘but it will help protect
future generations.’ Garcia, 53, had publicly maintained
his innocence for years. His unexpected plea change
came during an unannounced hearing Friday, which was
only disclosed after the fact in a news release.” (LA Times,
06/05/22)
Larry Ray victim details torture, sex abuse inflicted by
Sarah Lawrence ‘cult leader’
“The woman who Larry Ray allegedly forced into
prostitution told jurors at his Manhattan federal court
trial Friday that she turned over to the accused sex cult
leader some $2.5 million paid by johns—and detailed the
physical and mental abuse he allegedly subjected her to
for years. Claudia Drury, who testified under her real name,
briefly addressed the four years she worked as a prostitute
at the direction of Ray while being questioned by
prosecutor Danielle Sassoon. The former Sarah Lawrence
College student said she worked seven days a week,
meeting up to five johns a day at New York City hotels
while she worked as a prostitute for Ray and his alleged
cohort, Isabella Pollok. Drury also detailed the physical
abuse Ray subjected to her [sic]. ‘He slapped me in the face
so hard I fell over. Pulled my hair. Strangled me. Suffocated
me. Hit me,’ she said. Ray also repeatedly threatened her,
she testified, at one time suggesting he could have her
kidnapped and sent to the Middle East. ‘He threatened to
put me in jail numerous times. He threatened to kill me
on a memorable occasion. He threatened to cut my face.
He threatened to have me abducted and dropped in the
Middle East. He threatened to blackmail people I knew,’
Drury said.”(NY Post, 03/18/22)
Lev Tahor cult leaders Nachman Helbrans and Mayer
Rosner sentenced to 12 years
“A federal judge has sentenced Lev Tahor cult leaders
Nachman Helbrans and Mayer Rosner to 144 months
(12 years) in prison followed by 5 years of supervised
released for the 2018 Shabbos kidnapping of two
children who escaped the cult. Back in November of 2021,
Helbrans and Rosner were found guilty on all six charges
they faced, including conspiracy to travel with intent to
engage in illicit sexual conduct, and conspiracy to commit
international parental kidnapping. Several other Lev Tahor
cultists have been arrested in connection with the case,
including brothers Yoel, Yaakov, and Shmiel Weingarten,
who were picked up by Guatemala authorities earlier this
year. They are expected to be extradited to the United
States to face charges and a trial. Three others in the
United States are reportedly cooperating with authorities.”
(The Yeshiva World, 04/02/22)

VOLUME 13 |ISSUE 3 |2022 33
EXPOSED: The trendy life coach group accused of
fleecing and threatening its trusting middle-class
devotees, as victims sucked into a sinister ‘personal
growth’ programme issue a chilling warning
“A life coaching group that uses LinkedIn to target
hundreds of middle-class recruits is accused of abusing,
exploiting and fleecing vulnerable victims. Former
members said Lighthouse International Group
‘groomed’ them with promises they would find personal
fulfilment and a dream career through its up to £100-an-
hour mentoring programmes. But they say they ended
up in thrall to its leader Paul Waugh, who lives in a
£2 million country estate, drives a Range Rover with
plates bearing the initials of his group and boasts of
‘numerous’ celebrity friends and of being ‘very connected’
in government. New recruits, who are often vulnerable
because of divorce, depression or previous abuse, are
assigned a mentor who becomes like a ‘brother’ to them
and to whom it is claimed they are encouraged to share
their ‘innermost secrets’ in sessions which are recorded
and stored by the group’s leaders. But these turn into
‘abusive relationships’ with members later ‘pressured’ into
‘investing’ tens of thousands of pounds, often by taking
a loan which plunges them deep into debt, without
any formal written financial agreement or receipt, it is
alleged. Some members asking for their money to be
returned were reminded their innermost secrets had been
recorded in coaching sessions—which made them feel
as if they were being threatened. In one case, a mother
says she remortgaged her family home to help raise over
£200,000 for her two sons to invest in the group, which
they were promised would be repaid. She says she has
not received a penny back. Ex-members said they were
told to isolate themselves from friends and family who
criticised Lighthouse, with the group’s leaders even urging
husbands to sue wives and children to sue their parents.
An environmental consultant who questioned the value of
mentoring with other members said she was left ‘terrified’
and in tears after Mr Waugh bombarded her with abuse
during a two-hour phone call. When she later politely
emailed requesting a refund on her £25,000 investment,
Mr Waugh refused and reminded her that the group had
recordings of her describing the ‘long-term sexual abuse’
she suffered as a child—which she felt was a threat.
Lighthouse strongly denies this was the intention, saying it
referenced the recordings to ‘remind [her] of the level and
extent of work Lighthouse had done with her.’” (The Daily
Mail, 04/19/22)
Mindfulness meditation reduces prosocial reparative
“A series of studies have uncovered a causal relationship
between mindfulness meditation and decreased feelings
of guilt. The findings have been published in the Journal
of Personality and Social Psychology. Several studies have
found that mindfulness meditation draws people’s focus
inward and reduces negative emotions. But some negative
emotions provide useful social feedback. For example,
feelings of guilt help to push individuals to atone for their
transgressions against others. The new study provides
evidence that mindfulness can lead to undesirable
outcomes by dampening feelings of guilt. ‘I was interested
in doing this research because, after I started studying
meditation and meditating myself, I noticed that I was
using it as almost a default way of reacting to stressors,
said study author Andrew C. Hafenbrack, an assistant
professor at the University of Washington. ‘This was great
when I was overly ruminating or overreacting to some
minor problem, and is a powerful sleep aid. Sometimes,
however, this meant that I would meditate or focus on my
breath in situations that there was actually a significant
problem and it would have been better if I had faced it
directly and immediately.’” (PsyPost, 04/16/22)
Rev. David Morrier sentenced to probation for sexual
battery
“Morrier pleaded guilty to a single count of sexual
battery on the woman he was supposed to be counseling.
Prosecutor Jane Hanlin said the victim agreed to the
plea deal because, ‘What she wanted from Day 1 was to
be able to prevent him from hurting anyone else.’ But
after listening to the victim’s tearful impact statement, a
grim-faced Bruzzese told Morrier, 60, ‘That was the most
powerful victim impact statement I have ever heard. You’re
fortunate she agreed to this.’ …
“The woman told the court it was in 2010, her senior
year, that she finally felt safe enough to talk about the
abuse she’d endured earlier in life, but said it very quickly
turned into ‘a three-year nightmare of physical, emotional,
psychological, spiritual, sacramental and sexual abuse.
Instead of being present, listening and providing support
to me, my truth was woven into a dark narrative of Satanic
ritual abuse that I was forced to accept under threat of
his abandonment and through hours of gaslighting by
him and by a “specialist” I was taken off campus to see,’ she
said, her nine-page statement punctuated by sobs. ‘I was
guilted and shamed into agreeing to stay for graduate
school at Franciscan University because, as he said to me
on my graduation day, “If you don’t, it means that you are
throwing away all of the energy and effort that I have put
into caring for you. You need to stay to continue to receive
the treatment you need.” That treatment was not mental
health treatment. Instead of receiving therapy to address
my diagnosis of post-traumatic stress disorder, alcoholism,
and addiction, I endured upward of four-five deliverance
sessions, lasting two to four hours for the entirety of
summer of 2010 until I was told through “discernment by