Blinded by ‘faith’: 5 toxic groups that shocked Singapore and the world

From duping 20,000 people in Singapore in 2006 to part with their money in a Ponzi scheme to inciting more than 400 people to starve themselves to death to attain heaven, toxic and repressive groups can assume many forms but desire one thing – the blind faith of their followers.

The Straits Times scopes out five groups that have cheated, preyed on and caused the deaths of their victims.

1. James Phang’s Sunshine Empire in Singapore

James Phang Wah, founder of multi-level marketing company Sunshine Empire,

cheated about 20,000 Singaporeans of more than $180 million

in the country’s biggest Ponzi scheme in 2006.

A Ponzi scheme is a form of fraud in which belief in the success of a shell company with no sound financial backing is bolstered by the payment of quick returns to the first investors from money invested by later investors.

Phang, who was also a motivational speaker, claimed to have more than one million students worldwide. In a 2008 interview with The Straits Times, he said: “When I begin my seminars, my loyal participants would shout, ‘Father, I love you.’”

​The scheme promised sky-high yields through the company’s investment plan and tricked victims into buying 26,000 “lifestyle packages”, priced from $240 to $12,000.

Phang and his former director Jackie Hoo had also enriched themselves with at least $8 million through Sunshine’s multi-level marketing scheme.

Sunshine sold these packages at its plush Toa Payoh Central office for over 15 months, before it was raided by officers from the Commercial Affairs Department in November 2007.

Phang was sentenced to nine years’ jail and fined $60,000 in July 2010. He was described by the court as a man with “no principles, scruples and morals” for running a fraudulent company and faking accounts.

2. India’s fugitive spiritual leader Nithyananda

Self-styled “godman” Nithyananda is the 46-year-old founder of Nithyananda Dhyanapeetam – an organisation centred on yoga, meditation and Hindu teachings – initially in Bidadi, near Bangalore, in 2003.

He built a global presence around traditional Hindu practices, which emphasise the connectedness of the soul with the universe.

He is the subject of 2023 docuseries My Daughter Joined A Cult, which sheds light on how his followers are brainwashed.

Many of his fervent followers report that he has helped them manage stress and find peace through New Age lectures on mental clarity, which resonate with those seeking personal growth.

But his career has been marred by serious allegations of criminal activities, including sexual assault and abuse, leading to an international manhunt.

The spiritual figure has been a wanted man in India since 2010, after allegations of sexual assault and abuse surfaced, which he has denied.

He was caught on a video aired on Indian national television station, Sun TV, with an Indian actress in 2010. This led to a police inquiry.

In 2019, the police in Gujarat state said he fled India after choosing not to appear in several court hearings. Days before he left the country, a separate police complaint had accused him of kidnapping and confining children at his ashram in the western state of Gujarat.

That same year, he went on social media to announce that he had bought an undisclosed island off the coast of Ecuador, South America, and founded a fictional “sovereign” nation called Kailasa. As his whereabouts are unknown, he operates through social media and has 500,000 subscribers to his YouTube channel called Kailasa’s Supreme Pontiff of Hinduism Nithyananda.

He also wrote to the United Nations in 2021, claiming persecution and asking the world body to recognise Kailasa as a “Hindu nation”. The UN has ignored his numerous petitions.

3. South Korea’s Jeong Myeong-seok and his Jesus Morning Star spiritual group

Jeong Myeong-seok, founder of Jesus Morning Star (JMS), is a South Korean religious leader whose organisation has been widely condemned. He is now serving a 23-year prison sentence for sexual assault.

Founded in the 1980s, the group presents itself as Christian but its doctrines and practices diverge significantly from mainstream Christianity. For instance, Jeong positioned himself as a messianic figure with paranormal powers.

The group, which is based in South Korea, is secretive about its operations. A 2017 Australian ABC News online report said it operated 300 affiliated churches in the country and had more than 100,000 followers in its home base.

Jeong’s leadership has been characterised by a series of misdemeanours such as sexual exploitation, abuse of power and financial misconduct, leading to his imprisonment.

He was sentenced to 10 years’ jail in 2008 for sexual misconduct, and was released in 2018.

In 2022, new accusations arose, with more women coming forward to accuse him of sexual assault. This led to his re-arrest and further charges being brought against him.

In November 2023, South Korean prosecutors

sought a 30-year jail term for Jeong.

Yonhap News Agency reported on Nov 21, 2023, that Jeong had been accused of raping and sexually assaulting two female JMS followers multiple times between February 2018 and September 2021, and molesting another female follower.

He is

featured in a Netflix documentary series, In The Name Of God: A Holy Betrayal,

that premiered in March 2023. The docuseries features four South Korean cult leaders, including Jeong, and retreads the paths of former followers of shady religious groups.

4. US-based Gurumayi of the Siddha Yoga Movement

The New York-based Siddha Yoga Movement, a spiritual group that started in the 1980s, is now being sued by one of the United States’ most feared “legal eagles”, Ms Carol Merchasin of law firm McAllister Olivarius.

Ms Merchasin works to bring accountability to survivors of sexual misconduct in spiritual organisations.

She filed a lawsuit in November 2023 on behalf of several victims against Siddha Yoga Movement’s leader Gurumayi and the late founder of the group, Swami Muktananda. The case is still ongoing.

Muktananda, who died in 1982, has been accused of alleged sexual abuse and exploitation by his devotees. After his death, his disciple Malti Shetty, 69, took over the reins under the name of Gurumayi Chidvilasananda.

Gurumayi, meaning “mother-teacher” in Sanskrit, is also the spiritual adviser whom American author Elizabeth Gilbert writes about in her 2006 best-selling memoir, Eat.Pray.Love. The book was made into a hit 2010 Hollywood movie starring Julia Roberts and Javier Bardem.

The lawsuit filed by Ms Merchasin brings attention to long-standing allegations of abuse and misconduct within the Siddha Yoga community.

There are no numbers available on its main website as to how many followers it has, but the site lists dedicated national websites for eight countries, including Britain and Germany, and 14 city websites in the United States, such as Ann Arbor and Philadelphia.

Several victims, who claim to have suffered sexual abuse and exploitation under Muktananda and later within the community under Gurumayi’s leadership, are seeking justice for the trauma they endured while being part of the group.

While Gurumayi has not been directly implicated in the same types of abuse accusations that plagued Muktananda, the lawsuit seeks to hold her accountable for allegedly enabling an internal culture of repression, manipulation and abuse.

5. Paul Mackenzie, leader of the Good News International Church in Kenya

In one of the worst cult-related tragedies in recent history, self-styled pastor Paul Mackenzie, leader of the Good News International Church in Kenya, East Africa, was arrested and went on trial in August for

orchestrating a mass starvation

and murder of his followers in 2023.

He pleaded not guilty to manslaughter. A verdict has yet to be delivered as the trial is ongoing.

His group, which has been labelled a “doomsday cult” by the African media, was told that starving to death would lead the members to heaven before the world came to an end.

Many of the members dutifully obeyed, believing that they and their children would be saved.

More than 400 bodies have been exhumed

since April 2023, across thousands of hectares of forest.

In January, a Kenyan judge ordered Mackenzie and 30 of his group members to undergo mental health evaluations before being charged with the murder of 191 children, whose bodies were dug up in the Shakahola forest near Malindi, Kenya, where Mackenzie’s church is based.

Prosecutors say they will also be charging 95 group members for murder, manslaughter, terrorism and torture.

A lawyer for Mackenzie, who has been in custody since police started unearthing bodies in the forest in 2023, said the group’s leader is cooperating with the investigation.