My Story in the News
Lakaev v McConkey No. 2093 of 2018
Trial took place from 28 September to 12 December 2023
Supreme Court of Tasmania, Hobart, Australia
Final written submissions and replies were filed by 28 February 2024
VICTORY - Lakaev v McConkey No. 2093/2018
I am thrilled with the result of winning judgment in my favour in the Supreme Court of Tasmania. I fought this defamation court case for 5.5 years (as well as being sued by the plaintiff for three years previously).
This is a victory not only for myself and my family, but for all the survivors of this cult and their families and loved ones.
I am immensely grateful to his Honour Justice Stephen Estcourt AM for his astute intelligence and rigour while presiding over this trial and bringing justice once and for all to a criminal who has been a vexatious litigant against all those who have spoken the truth about her.
My thanks also go to his Honour's Associate Mr Nicholas Rae, the Court's Attendants, and transcribers for their time, effort, efficiency and patience managing a high volume of documentary evidence in a trial which spanned more than 10 weeks.
I encourage all victims of crime to step forward, speak the truth to police and keep any documentary, audio or video evidence safe and secure so that perpetrators can be prosecuted criminally with solid evidence and witness testimony.
Although my case was defamation in a civil trial, I truly believe that justice can be served on those who commit crimes. We just have to be willing and determined to persevere no matter what challenges are put in front of us.
The court system and the law are there to support us and will do so if we can provide what is required to prove the truth.
I have corresponded with the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA) to request that they now deregister the plaintiff who his Honour Justice Estcourt has ruled "unfit to practise as a psychologist and warrants deregistration".
My next step will be to contact the Australian Federal Police to request that they investigate the plaintiff for the international, commonwealth and state crimes she has committed including human trafficking, modern slavery, spiritual and violent extremism, assault and indecent assault, unlawfully obtaining financial advantage, fraud, and possessing, using and supplying an illicit substance.
Anyone who would like to come forward as a witness in a criminal case, please contact me on my email below or contact the police.
I would also like to thank the staff at the Hadley's Orient Hotel who accommodated my mother and me for almost three months during the trial and supported us every day and treated us like family.
I could not have asked for a more picturesque and friendly city than Hobart to spend what was a mentally and emotionally enduring time for both of us.
I would also like to sincerely thank my witnesses who bravely appeared via video link to share their experiences at the hands of the plaintiff and who supported me in my efforts to ensure our side of the story was vindicated.
I will continue my efforts in education about cults and coercive control, as well as now share my experience about defamation and the law.
Summary
His Honour Justice Estcourt AM described Lakaev as an "arrant liar" and stated in his Judgment, 1 March 2024:
211 When an unfavourable question was put to the plaintiff, (which were the vast majority of questions), the plaintiff would stall or prevaricate in such a way that it appeared to me to be a deliberate strategy for getting her bearings and thinking of a way to answer the question. Even then the answer given was never a direct answer. She was garrulous and excessively given to circular and unresponsive answers which often ran into minutes. Her evidence was uncomfortably replete with circumambages. It was also destructive of her credit generally in my view that in the Next Evolutionary Step brochure she rather deceptively claimed that she had been the managing director of a national training organisation, specialising in life and work skills, "an organisation that had trained, in excess of 12,000 people" when those skills and those people were principally in the context of courses in cocktail mixing, bar service and food and wine waiting. And her professional or academic qualification stated in that brochure was "B.App.Sc." only, when her qualification was a Bachelor of Applied Science (Agriculture) from the Hawkesbury Agricultural College – College of Advanced Education.
Conclusion as to credibility
276 I should be obvious from the observations I have set out above that I regard the plaintiff as a dishonest and unreliable witness and the people she called to give evidence as part of her case as not independent witnesses. Rather it appeared to me that those witnesses remain deeply loyal to the plaintiff and hence partial. The defendant on the other hand I regard as an honest and reliable witness and the people she called to give evidence as part of her case were not witnesses with whom she maintained any significant continuing relationship. It was not suggested to them that they were anything other than people who claimed a shared experience with the defendant.
The plaintiff had unlawfully battered the defendant and other persons and incited battery
288 Given that I accept the evidence of the defendant and her witnesses and reject that of the plaintiff and her witnesses where their evidence differs, for the reasons that I have explained above, it follows from the evidence of the defendant and her witnesses that I have set out in these reasons as to these issues, that I have no doubt that the imputations that the impugned passages bore and were understood to bear, in their natural and ordinary meaning, namely that the plaintiff had unlawfully battered the defendant and other persons and incited battery by persons of other persons, is absolutely true and is justified pursuant to the defence provided pursuant to s 25 of the Act. I so find and hold.
The plaintiff wrongfully indoctrinated people
297 This imputation is of course at the very heart of this action and I have no difficulty in finding that the plaintiff wrongfully indoctrinated people. Given her egregiously untruthful evidence that her group was not a cult in the sense in which that word is ordinarily understood, and the uncontroverted evidence of the defendant and her witnesses to the contrary, I have not the slightest doubt that the plaintiff knowingly and wrongfully indoctrinated people into her bizarre belief system. That her doctrine was bizarre can be seen from the material she produced around the various courses and workshops and from what she wrote in her book, much of which I have set out earlier in these reasons.
298 The philosophy obviously had attraction to seemingly otherwise intelligent and, in most cases, mature individuals, at least until some realised otherwise, however it is not part of my role to investigate the anatomy of a cult. Suffice it to observe that whether a person recognises that something is a cult depends on whether they have insight and that sometimes can be lost, I would think, if the person is comfortable with the beliefs and the lifestyle with which they are living and those things fill an emotional or psychological need they may have. Cult members do not have to be unhappy or feel threatened and they might not understand they were being indoctrinated or regard their group to constitute a cult at the time. That certainly accords with the tenor of the evidence of the defendant and her witnesses.
299 Given that I accept the evidence of the defendant and her witnesses and reject that of the plaintiff and her witnesses where their evidence differs, for the reasons that I have explained above, it follows from the evidence of the defendant and her witnesses on this issue that I have set out in these reasons, that I have no doubt that the imputation that the impugned passages bore and were understood to bear, in their natural and ordinary meaning, namely that the plaintiff had wrongfully indoctrinated people, is absolutely true and is justified pursuant to the defence provided pursuant to s 25 of the Act. I so find and hold.
That the plaintiff was a criminal
307 The evidence establishes that the plaintiff has never been convicted of a crime however to assert that someone is a criminal does not require proof of conviction of an offence if it is established that the person has engaged in conduct which is criminal in nature. The evidence in this case establishes, to my complete satisfaction, that the plaintiff has committed assault and indecent assault and incited others to commit those crimes. She has also unlawfully obtained financial advantage and has possessed, used and supplied an illicit substance. That she has not been convicted of those crimes is not to the point in the context of this imputation.
308 This imputation is in the main covered by the findings and holdings I have already made however, to the extent that it embraces additional matters, given that I accept the evidence of the defendant and her witnesses and reject that of the plaintiff and her witnesses in all cases where their evidence differs, this imputation is absolutely true and is justified pursuant to the defence provided pursuant to s 25 of the Act. I so find and hold.
That the plaintiff is unfit to practise as a psychologist and warrants deregistration
311 On the basis of the evidence in this case which bears on the plaintiff's character, her beliefs and her conduct, I find that imputations that the plaintiff is unfit as a person to practice as a psychologist and was guilty of abuse and physical assault of the defendant as to warrant her de-registration as a psychologist is, at the very least, substantially true. Whether the Australian Health Practitioner Registration Agency Psychology Board would, as a matter of fact, at the time of the publication of the impugned assertions have deregistered the plaintiff, or now, is not to the point.
312 In my judgment, no reasonable person with knowledge of the findings that I have made against the plaintiff in this action would take the view that she was a fit and proper person to remain registered by any licensing body to provide counselling and treatment to emotionally and/or psychologically vulnerable clients.
That the plaintiff is likely to suffer from narcissistic personality disorder and borderline personality disorder
314 No expert evidence was called to establish that the plaintiff had been diagnosed with either of these disorders but the pleaded imputation is not that she does, but that she is likely to. That imputation in turn was derived from the defendant's publication of the words "[c]ult leaders generally display the traits of a charismatic narcissist, with Antisocial, Borderline and Histrionic Personality Disorders". Interestingly the relevant imputation pleaded by the plaintiff was not that she was a cult leader but that "she had wrongly indoctrinated people".
315 In any event, I have found that the plaintiff was a cult leader as well as having wrongfully indoctrinated people. That she is "likely to" suffer from narcissism and personality disorders is, in my view, substantially true without the need for expert evidence. Terms such as schizophrenia, post- traumatic stress disorder, anxiety, depression and psychopath, which are all forms of psychiatric illnesses or disorders in the expert's lexicon of diagnoses, have become part of ordinary everyday language and it is no stretch of imagination that the ordinary person, understanding all of the evidence I have accepted against the plaintiff, might say of her – "she is likely to be a narcissist" or – "she is likely to have a personality disorder".
316 I find and hold that this imputation is substantially true.
That the plaintiff is a violent extremist
317 Again although, as with all of the pleaded imputations, this one has been admitted by the defendant in her defence, it is not inappropriate to look at the impugned passage. It is "A discussion of the Book as: 'a gripping account of the brutal impact of spiritual and violent extremism.'" The imputation cannot be accepted as being that the plaintiff is a political or religious terrorist. Her ideology, spiritual beliefs and physical practices were however, in my view, so far outside the mainstream as to warrant characterisation as extreme. And they were clearly attended by violence, both physically and culturally. The notion of teaching students on The Survivors courses to shoot firearms was not suggested as being for the purposes of shooting game for food. The clear implication from that practice was that survival in an apocalyptic event was that to survive, a student must know how to kill other human beings. This accords with the evidence of the defendant and Dr Del Rae.
318 I find and hold this imputation to be substantially true.
That the plaintiff misused her position as a psychologist to threaten the defendant
319 This imputation is established as absolutely true by the defendant's evidence on the issue, which I accept. Moreover, it is consistent with Ms Townsend's evidence that the plaintiff threatened to report her, as a psychologist, to the Department of Child Services as being an abusive parent. In that case, Ms Townsend's evidence, which I accept, was that the plaintiff went so far as to show her the letter that she threatened that she would send, before taking it back from her.
Conclusion and orders
320 It follows from all that I have said that each of the imputations from the impugned book passages, articles and online publications are true. I have differentiated between the terms "absolutely true" and "substantially true" only as a matter of qualitative emphasis. In each case, in my judgement, the imputations are substantially true (and true in substance and fact), such as to attract the defence of justification provided by s 25 of the Act (and the common law). There is no necessity for me to consider any other of the defendant's pleaded defences.
6 March 2024
Psychologist loses action over “bizarre” cult claims
By Stephen Murray, The Gazette of Law and Journalism
The founder of a New Age self-development community has lost a defamation action against a former member of the community who labelled her a cult leader and an extremist in a book detailing her experiences in the community, after the Tasmanian Supreme Court found a series of imputations were either absolutely or substantially true.
4 March 2024
‘Given to grandiosity’: Judge slams former ‘cult’ leader Natasha Lakaev as she loses Tas defamation trial
By Amber Wilson, The Mercury, Hobart
A former “cult leader” now living in the Huon Valley has failed in her latest defamation battle, with a Hobart judge slamming her as an “arrant liar” and finding all claims made about her were true.
13 December 2023
Lengthy defamation trial waged by ex-New Age leader Natasha Lakaev finally ends in Hobart court
By Amber Wilson, The Mercury, Hobart
Parading naked on a stage, shooting guns for a world catastrophe, and crawling from a pile of huge black mats: a strange and lengthy defamation trial in Hobart has finally drawn to a close.
13 November 2023
'Cult' love triangle culminated in bullying, suicide call, court hears
By Benjamin Seeder, The Examiner, Launceston
A love triangle involving an alleged cult leader and several of her disciples culminated in a five-hour self-help course session in which a woman was abused and bullied and later invited to kill herself, a court has heard.
9 November 2023
Witness refutes claim alleged cult leader abused members, gave drugs
By Benjamin Seeder, The Examiner, Launceston
A former member of the Universal Knowledge new age organisation has said he never saw alleged cult leader Natasha Lakaev striking or abusing her members, or demanding that they smoke marijuana during the courses they paid thousands of dollars to access.
10 October 2023
New Age leader denies she ‘bashed up every single woman’ who worked on her accounts
By Amber Wilson, The Mercury, Hobart
A former New Age leader has denied needing surgery on her hand because she’d used it repeatedly to bash her followers. A defamation trial in Hobart has now turned to the dark topic of violence.
3 October 2023
Ex-New Age leader defends genital-rubbing activity in personal development courses
By Amber Wilson, The Mercury, Hobart
Genital rubbing, soft porn, a “psychic horse-betting” scheme and red marks on the wrist – allegedly like Jesus Christ. A bizarre defamation trial continues in Hobart.
28 September 2023
Natasha Lakaev has sued author Carli McConkey for libel
By Benjamin Seeder, The Examiner, Launceston
The founder of a new age organisation has detailed the career damage she said she suffered after the publication of a 2017 book claiming that she was a cult leader that defrauded and abused her followers.
28 September 2023
‘I stand by everything that I have published’: Former New Age leader and member clash in court trial
By Amber Wilson, The Mercury, Hobart
A former New Age leader who wanted to start a new life in Tasmania has denied claiming she was the reincarnation of Jesus Christ. Her defamation trial has now started in Hobart.
16 May 2023
'Psychic horse-betting scheme': Ex-New Age acolyte airs astonishing allegations in Hobart court
By Amber Wilson, The Mercury, Hobart
More shocking allegations have been aired in a Hobart court by a woman who says she fell prey to a “doomsday cult” with a leader who claimed she could cure HIV and “came from the bird tribes”.
15 May 2023
‘Reincarnation of Jesus Christ’: Defamation trial waged by ex-New Age leader Natasha Lakaev begins
By Amber Wilson, The Mercury, Hobart
‘Reincarnation of Jesus Christ’: A defamation trial waged in Hobart by a former New Age leader has hit a roadblock, with her ex-follower attempting to have the proceedings struck out.
27 April 2023
Witnesses to appear via video link in upcoming defamation trial waged by former New Age leader
By Amber Wilson, The Mercury, Hobart
Ten interstate witnesses will give evidence by video link next month in a defamation trial waged by a former New Age leader who now calls Tasmania home.
3 April 2023
Alleged former ‘cult leader’ Natasha Lakaev now living in Tasmania sues ex-follower for defamation
By Amber Wilson, The Mercury, Hobart
A former northern NSW New Age leader now based in Tasmania’s Huon Valley is suing one of her ex-followers for defamation, with a lengthy trial soon to unfold. Inside the saga >>
1 Feb 2018
Carli’s Story: Exiting a Cult
By Sarah Steele, as told to Sarah for the Let's Talk About Sex Podcast.
Carli McConkey was a 21-year-old university graduate when she decided to attend the Mind Body Spirit Festival in Sydney, Australia, and came across the stand for Life Integration Programmes (LIP).
11 Oct 2014
Alleged cult leader to settle defamation claims out of court
By Chris Calcino, The Courier Mail, Brisbane
BROKE and faced with having to represent herself in a defamation lawsuit against some of Australia's most powerful media organisations, the leader of alleged Burringbar-based cult Universal Knowledge opted to settle out of court.
Psychologist loses action over “bizarre” cult claims
The founder of a New Age self-development community has lost a defamation action against a former member of the community who labelled her a cult leader and an extremist in a book detailing her experiences in the community, after the Tasmanian Supreme Court found a series of imputations were either absolutely or substantially true.
By Stephen Murray, The Gazette of Law and Journalism. 6 March 2024
Supreme Court of Tasmania
[2024] TASSC 8
Justice Stephen Estcourt
March 1, 2024
Dr Natasha Lakaev was described by Justice Stephen Estcourt as an “arrant liar” who indoctrinated her adherents in a “bizarre belief system”.
Lakaev, a registered clinical psychologist, sued Carli McConkey over her depiction as a cult leader in a book titled, The Cult Effect, published in July 2017, which detailed McConkey’s experience as a member of Lakaev’s New Age community, Universal Knowledge, which operated on NSW’s North Coast in the 1990s and 2000s.
The defamation action concerned specific passages from the book and passages from newspaper articles that are reproduced in the book, as well as published material from other sources including McConkey’s website, an article about a podcast, and material from McConkey’s Twitter and Facebook accounts.
The book details allegations of physical and verbal abuse, including the physical punishment of children; behavioural control through abuse and ostracism; financial exploitation of adherents; and other forms of bullying and manipulation.
Lakaev was also portrayed as claiming she was the reincarnation of Jesus Christ, one of a dozen members of an Intergalactic Council of the Universe, a member of a bird tribe from a different dimension, and in her past life, had been a Queen of Atlantis.
Lakaev pleaded the book, articles and websites conveyed imputations that she was a bully and had bullied McConkey; had unlawfully battered McConkey and other persons; had unlawfully incited others to batter people; had unlawfully obtained a financial advantage; had unlawfully used illicit drugs and had encouraged others to do so; had wrongfully indoctrinated people; had breached Australian industrial legislation; was a criminal; was unfit to practise as a psychologist; likely suffered from narcissistic personality disorder and borderline personality disorder; is a violent extremist; and misused her position as a psychologist to threaten McConkey.
McConkey pleaded defences of justification, contextual truth, statutory qualified privilege, honest opinion and common law qualified privilege. She denied that Lakaev had been greatly injured in her personal and professional reputation, given she was already likely to be shunned, avoided, ridiculed and despised. Representing herself, she cross-examined Lakaev for seventeen hearing days.
In a judgment delivered on Friday (March 1), Justice Estcourt was not persuaded by Lakaev’s evidence, saying that she paused in cross-examination to get her bearings, and demonstrated a lack of candour, leaving him persuaded that she was an “arrant liar”, and dishonest and unreliable, and her evidence, where it differed from McConkey and her witnesses, should not be accepted unless supported by truly independent evidence.
On the other hand, Justice Estcourt said he could not have been more impressed with McConkey’s evidence, saying she was not shaken in cross-examination and her demeanour was that of an honest witness who did not seek to gild the lily in cross-examination.
Justice Estcourt found the imputations that Lakaev was a bully and bullied McConkey absolutely true, and that Lakaev had unlawfully battered McConkey, others and had incited others to engage in battery. He found that Lakaev had unlawfully obtained a financial advantage through exploitation of income protection claims. He also found that Lakaev had unlawfully used illicit drugs and encouraged others to do so.
Justice Estcourt said the wrongful indoctrination claim was at the centre of the case, and found that Lakaev’s denial she ran a cult was “egregiously untruthful”, saying:
“I have not the slightest doubt that the plaintiff knowingly and wrongfully indoctrinated people into her bizarre belief system. That her doctrine was bizarre can be seen from the material she produced around the various courses and workshops and from what she wrote in her book”.
Even though Lakaev had not been convicted of any crime, Justice Estcourt found she had engaged in assault, unlawfully obtained a financial advantage, and possessed, used and supplied illicit substances, and the imputation that she was a criminal was absolutely true. He found that no reasonable person would take the view that she was a fit and proper person to be registered to give counselling and treatment to emotional and psychologically vulnerable clients.
Justice Estcourt found the imputations that Lakaev was likely to suffer personality disorders substantially true, as was the imputation she was a violent extremist.
As he found all of the imputations absolutely or substantially true, he did not consider the other defences. He rejected Lakaev’s submission that this was a case where a lesser amount of damages might be awarded.
Justice Estcourt awarded costs to McConkey, but noted as a self-represented litigant this would be limited to out-of-pocket expenses for the conduct of the case.
‘Given to grandiosity’: Judge slams former ‘cult’ leader Natasha Lakaev as she loses Tas defamation trial
A former “cult leader” now living in the Huon Valley has failed in her latest defamation battle, with a Hobart judge slamming her as an “arrant liar” and finding all claims made about her were true.
By Amber Wilson, The Mercury, Hobart. 4 March 2024
A former “cult leader” now living in Tasmania has failed in her latest defamation legal battle, with a Hobart judge slamming her as an “arrant liar” who “wrongfully indoctrinated people into her bizarre belief system”.
Natasha Lakaev, the former leader of NSW organisation Universal Knowledge, moved to Geeveston some years ago and is now the proprietor of bed and breakfast, The Bears Went Over The Mountain.
Her unsuccessful defamation claim against former acolyte Carli McConkey comes after a lengthy 34-day trial in the Supreme Court of Tasmania, which aired dozens of bizarre claims – including that Lakaev claimed to be a reincarnation of Jesus Christ, “one of 12 on the “Intergalactic Council of the Universe”, and that she’d been “a lady in waiting in Atlantis”.
It was also alleged Dr Lakaev claimed she came from the “bird tribes” from a different dimension and remembered all of her past lives.
During the trial, Dr Lakaev admitted that her personal improvement courses had included “genital rubbing” and the watching of porn, and told the court she had saved the life of her terminally-ill baby son by giving him herbal remedies.
Dr Lakaev denied during the trial that one of her sub-companies, Lightspeed, had been a “psychic horse-betting scheme”, but claimed instead it was a gambling system based on a “very clever mathematical system” by a “very intelligent” man, who had since died.
In his newly-published judgment, Justice Stephen Estcourt has ruled in favour of Ms McConkey, finding all claims she made about Dr Lakaev in her self-published book The Cult Effect, in newspaper articles reproduced within the book, and via social media posts, were either absolutely or substantially true.
Agreeing with Ms McConkey’s claims and finding her to be a truthful and reliable witness, he found it absolutely true that Dr Lakaev was indeed “a cult leader” who “wrongfully indoctrinated people into her bizarre belief system” and who physically assaulted her followers.
He also found it true that Dr Lakaev was a criminal, that she used and encouraged others in her cult to use illicit drugs, that she was a bully, and unlawfully obtained financial advantages from her cult members.
Justice Estcourt found it was substantially true that Dr Lakaev was a “violent extremist” and that she was not a fit and proper person to practise as a psychologist.
He praised Ms McConkey – who represented herself during the trial – for her honesty, for her keeping of extensive documentation, and her ability to remain unshaken during cross-examination.
“I could not have been more impressed with the defendant’s evidence,” Justice Estcourt said.
In contrast, he described Lakaev as having given “frequent garrulous and seemingly interminable and convoluted answers to questions asked of her” in court and at times spoke in a “rambling, self-aggrandising” manner.
Justice Estcourt said Lakaev “was given to grandiosity” and “untruthful exaggeration” when it came to discussing her “powers as a healer and self-healer” – and said he was unconvinced by her denials that she’d ever claimed to be a reincarnation of Jesus.
He said her evidence, given over 17 days of cross-examination, showed a lack of candour and persuaded him, “to a very high level of satisfaction” that Lakaev was an “arrant liar”.
Justice Estcourt also ruled that Lakaev pay Ms McConkey’s costs in fighting the defamation case.
The current case was the latest in a string of defamation battles waged by Dr Lakaev, including proceedings against A Current Affair, Bond University, other former followers, Fairfax Media, News Corp, and a United States dance school.
Former 'cult leader' loses defamation trial against book author
'Arrant liar': Former Universal Knowledge leader Natasha Lakaev has lost her defamation claim against former acolyte and book author Carli McConkey
By Benjamin Seeder, The Advocate, Tasmania. 4 March 2024
The former head of the Universal Knowledge new age organisation has failed in her libel claim against former acolyte and book author Carli McConkey.
In his decision published on Monday, Supreme Court Justice Stephen Estcourt ruled that all of the imputations against alleged ex cult leader Natasha Lakaev were either true or substantially true.
Ms Lakaev sued Ms McConkey for defamation in the Tasmanian Supreme Court, after the publication of her book, 'The Cult Effect', in 2017.
The much-delayed trial began last year, and the court heard testimony that Ms Lakaev had claimed to be a reincarnation of Jesus Christ as well as one of 12 members of the 'Intergalactic Council of the Universe'.
During the trial, claims emerged that Ms Lakaev's Universal Knowledge organisation had prophesised the end of the world in 2012, and had offered courses to followers that taught them how to survive the end of times by switching dimensions.
Followers paid tens of thousands of dollars to access various courses, were subject to abuse and exposed to gay pornography, the trial heard.
The court heard that Ms Lakaev had raised over $400,000 from members who became shareholders in Universal Knowledge, and that Ms Lakaev admitted that none of these investors had seen a return.
A another former member testified that in one five-hour session in the late 1990s, participants were encouraged to abuse and bully a woman; a noose was then hung as encouragement for the woman to kill herself.
During the trial, Ms Lakaev, who now lives in Geeveston, south of Hobart, denied burning down the garage of her own bed and breakfast business to collect $80,000 in insurance money.
Ms Lakaev denied that Universal Knowledge members were indoctrinated, and that she ran a cult.
She also denied encouraging drug use among the members, and denied a claim that a pregnant woman was pinned under gym mats and suffocated as part of one course.
In his decision, published on Monday, Justice Estcourt found all of the imputations published in Ms McConkey's book and associated newspaper articles were either wholly true or substantially true.
"I have no difficulty in finding that the plaintiff wrongfully indoctrinated people," Justice Estcourt wrote.
"I have not the slightest doubt that the plaintiff knowingly and wrongfully indoctrinated people into her bizarre belief system."
He found that the imputation from the book that Ms Lakaev had "battered" Ms McConkey and others was absolutely true.
Justice Estcourt found that both Ms Lakaev and her witnesses were unreliable.
"I regard the plaintiff as a dishonest and unreliable witness and the people she called to give evidence as part of her case as not independent witnesses," he wrote.
Justice Estcourt wrote that he was persuaded to a "very high level of satisfaction" that Ms Lakaev was an "arrant liar".
"In my view her evidence, where it differs from that of the defendant or her witnesses, should not be accepted unless it is supported by truly independent evidence or by ontologically objective fact."
Justice Estcourt also found true that Dr Lakaev was a bully, and unlawfully obtained financial advantages from her cult members.
Universal Knowledge's predecessor organisation was founded in the 1990s and was based in rural NSW.
Lengthy defamation trial waged by ex-New Age leader Natasha Lakaev finally ends in Hobart court
Parading naked on a stage, shooting guns for a world catastrophe, and crawling from a pile of huge black mats: a strange and lengthy defamation trial in Hobart has finally drawn to a close.
By Amber Wilson, The Mercury, Hobart. 13 December 2023
A chiropractor claims she was forced to parade naked in front of a former New Age leader who has since moved to Tasmania, and was taught to shoot guns to survive – and kill if necessary – in a “world catastrophe”.
The Queensland woman, giving evidence in the Supreme Court of Tasmania by video link on Tuesday, also said she suffered a miscarriage after an activity in one of Natasha Lakaev’s self-development courses, held in regional New South Wales during the 1990s.
Misha Del Rae was the final witness to give evidence in the long and drawn-out defamation trial waged by Dr Lakaev, who now lives at Geeveston and who claims her former acolyte Carli McConkey defamed her online and in her book, The Cult Effect.
On Monday, Dr Del Rae said Dr Lakaev’s courses were designed to “raise our vibrations”, help participants “become ascended” and “clean out our cellular memory”.
Dr Del Rae said while the courses started out as “light, fluffy, feel-good, have-fun” – they became abusive and that two of her co-participants even died by suicide – with one man taking his life during a course called The Next Evolutionary Step.
“Natasha said his vibration wasn’t high enough to match the planet,” Dr Del Rae told Justice Stephen Estcourt.
The chiropractor said one of Dr Lakaev’s course activities caused her to lose her unborn child.
“They would hold people down and put these huge black mats … on top of a person and people would sit on them,” Dr Del Rae said.
“The person would have to crawl out of these black mats.
“I was pregnant at the time and she (Dr Lakaev) said I had to get under the mats.
“I said ‘I’m...pregnant and I don’t want to have a miscarriage’. She just kept laughing.
“About a month after, I miscarried the baby at 16 weeks.”
Dr Del Rae said during The Final Step course, participants met in Brisbane where Dr Lakaev’s team took away their personal belongings and drove them for hours on a bus with blacked-out windows.
“They took away all our rights, you couldn’t talk, you couldn’t move, you couldn’t go to the toilets,” she said.
“Then we had to line up and give each other genital rubs – because that’s how we got to know each other, they were her words.”
Dr Del Rae said during the course, participants were told to strip naked and walk across a stage so Dr Lakaev and her team could “talk about our bodies” and “inspect us”.
The chiropractor also said participants were forced to smoke a cannabis joint, were forced to watch “unsettling” and “bad porn”, and stand freezing in a lake and under a waterfall.
She said Dr Lakaev “physically battered” participants and had them attend a rifle range to learn how to shoot.
“She wanted to teach everyone to shoot guns to survive when everything goes wrong and the s... hits the fan,” she said.
“(We were told) there’s going to be mass chaos and everyone is going to be crazy, but we’re okay because we’ll be vibrating so high.
“We had to learn how to shoot guns, to kill people to survive and keep our families safe.”
Under cross-examination from Dr Lakaev’s barrister Daniel Zeeman, Dr Del Rae denied watching pornography, taking off her clothes and swimming naked were “a matter of choice”.
The trial has now come to an end, with both sides to prepare written submissions before February next year, with Justice Estcourt to deliver his decision soon after.
'Cult' love triangle culminated in bullying, suicide call, court hears
A love triangle involving an alleged cult leader and several of her disciples culminated in a five-hour self-help course session in which a woman was abused and bullied and later invited to kill herself, a court has heard.
By Benjamin Seeder, The Examiner, Launceston. 13 November 2023
During cross-examination on Monday, former Universal Knowledge director Anita Carroll denied witnessing organisation founder Natasha Lakaev publicly abusing and bullying student Catherine Locke over a five-hour period during the 'Personal Mastery' course in the early 2000s.
Ms Lakaev is suing former Universal Knowledge member Carli McConkey in the Hobart Supreme Court for defamation over her 2017 book 'The Cult Effect'.
Ms McConkey, who is representing herself in court, asked whether Ms Carroll had witnessed Ms Locke flirting with Chris Wellington, the partner of Ms Lakaev at the time.
"It was so complicated, Catherine wanted Chris, but Chris didn't want Catherine," Ms Carroll said.
She said she did not recall seeing Ms Lakaev abusing and bullying Ms Locke for a five-hour period, and then Ms Locke saying to the group that she wanted to die.
"There were issues, personal issues happening between three people, each person had a right to express what they thought.
"I can't remember anyone being bullied in the process."
"Do you recall Natasha Lakaev asking for someone to get a rope to hang up in shape of noose?" Ms McConkey asked?
"No".
"Do you recall her asking Greg Proctor to bring a knife and telling Catherine to stab herself?"
"No".
Ms Locke never returned to the course after that evening.
Ms Carroll said although Ms Locke would have been welcomed back into Universal Knowledge, she would never have been permitted to return to the 'Personal Mastery' course.
"What she did to Darren (her then partner), she used that man, used his money, she pretended she was in love but she wanted to be in a relationship with Chris [Wellington]," Ms Carroll said.
Earlier, the court heard Ms Carroll's testimony that Ms McConkey was so "obsessed" with Natasha Lakaev that the Universal Knowledge leader required personal protection.
She said these protectors physically blocked Ms McConkey from striking Ms Lakaev on at least one occasion.
Asked how she knew Ms McConkey was obsessed, Ms Carroll said she had noticed the 'Cult Effect' author's strange behaviour while she attended the 'Final Step' course.
"You always had your hand up, you were always manoeuvring to be physically near her," she said.
"I didn't know you at that time, but I remember thinking, 'that woman is obsessed'".
The trial, which has continued for nearly two months, has previously heard that Universal Knowledge was a doomsday cult which prophesied the end of the world in 2011, and that Ms Lakaev made numerous claims about her past lives.
The trial continues.
Witness refutes claim alleged cult leader abused members, gave drugs
A former member of the Universal Knowledge new age organisation has said he never saw alleged cult leader Natasha Lakaev striking or abusing her members, or demanding that they smoke marijuana during the courses they paid thousands of dollars to access.
By Benjamin Seeder, The Examiner, Launceston. 9 November 2023
Testifying in Ms Lakaev's defamation trial against former Universal Knowledge acolyte Carli McConkey on Thursday, Brisbane chiropractor Dr Patrick Maher also denied that he had thrown his own ex-wife against a door, fracturing her ribs.
He said his wife Misha Del Rae's rib fracture occurred after the couple were "mucking around" and wrestling at home, when she accidentally hit a sharp door handle.
He said she only made the claim that he had deliberately pushed her into the door after their 17 year-old marriage ended bitterly, when he discovered that Ms Del Rae had already been married in the US prior to their 1993 nuptials.
Dr Maher said his wife, who was a fellow member of Universal Knowledge, suffered a miscarriage during 1999, around the time she was completing the organisation's 'Personal Mastery' course.
He said he did not recall Ms Del Rae mentioning an incident on that course, during her pregnancy, when participants were allegedly directed to pin her under a black floor mat and suffocate her.
"Do you recall her saying she had been suffocated under the black mats and that was reason she miscarried?" Ms McConkey, who is defending herself in court, asked.
"No I don't recall that," Dr Maher said.
He said he had never seen anyone held under the black mats when he completed 'Personal Mastery'.
Natasha Lakaev, who now resides in Tasmania, has filed a libel lawsuit against Ms McConkey in the Hobart Supreme Court.
Ms McConkey, who in 2017 published her book 'The Cult Effect' about her experiences as a Universal Knowledge member, claims that Ms Lakaev lead a doomsday cult that abused its members, charged tens of thousands for courses and prophesied the end of the world in 2011.
Ms Lakaev is seeking damages and an injunction against further publications.
What is the history behind this fishy tradition? Recorded: April 6, 2023
Under questioning by counsel for Ms Lakaev, Daniel Zeeman, Dr Maher said he had never felt he was being indoctrinated by Universal Knowledge, and had benefited from the courses.
He said he had never expected to receive a financial dividend after he paid $20,000 to become a shareholder of Universal Knowledge.
"We became shareholders to allow the courses to happen, because we were happy with what they were providing," Dr Maher said.
He said he had never witnessed Ms Lakaev hitting children with a wooden spoon or metal spatula, as claimed by Ms McConkey, or participants being urged to rub their genitals on each other after a long trip in a bus with blacked-out windows.
The trial continues on Friday.
Accused cult leader Lakaev is suing former acolyte for libel
Alleged cult leader Natasha Lakaev has denied a claim that she burned down the garage of her own bed and breakfast business in Geeveston to collect $80,000 in insurance money.
By Benjamin Seeder, The Examiner, Launceston. 17 October 2023
Ms Lakaev is suing a former member of the Universal Knowledge organisation she founded, Carli McConkey, for libel in the Supreme Court in Hobart.
Ms McConkey, who in 2017 published a book - 'The Cult Effect' - about her experiences as a member of Universal Knowledge, is representing herself in court and has been questioning Ms Lakaev in the witness box for the past two weeks.
On Monday, Ms McConkey asked how Ms Lakaev had come to purchase the Bears Went Over the Mountain bed and breakfast in Geeveston in 2016.
Ms Lakaev said that the property and business had been purchased by her son, Khaney Lakaev for $500,000.
She denied she was the property owner, or that her former partner, Chris Wellington, had paid out the money for the property.
Ms McConkey noted part of the building had been burned down in an arson attack in February 2020.
"I put it to you that you committed arson on your own property, and you collected insurance to the value of $80,000?" Ms McConkey said.
"No, that is completely untrue. It wasn't insured," Ms Lakaev responded.
Ms McConkey asked who Ms Lakaev thought had committed the arson.
Ms Lakaev said: "My thought is that people associated with the extremism you are into did this in hope it would get rid of evidence."
Earlier, Ms McConkey asked whether Ms Lakaev had made an insurance claim for damage to floor tiles in her NSW property, after receiving $70,000 from one of her organisation members as payment for the floor damage.
"No that's untrue," Ms Lakaev said.
The court has previously heard that Ms Lakaev's Universal Knowledge organisation was a doomsday cult that prophesied the end of the world in 2011, and that Ms Lakaev had regularly beaten and abused her acolytes.
Ms McConkey claimed in her book that Ms Lakaev had told members she was was Jesus Christ reborn and one of 12 members of the Intergalactic Council of the Universe.
Ms Lakaev has denied the claims, and is seeking damages for defamation from Ms McConkey, as well as an injunction against further publications.
Universal Knowledge founder Lakaev suing former acolyte for libel
An accused cult leader beat a four year-old with a wooden spoon, and in a fit of anger, pushed another woman holding her toddler down a flight of stairs, a court has heard.
By Benjamin Seeder, The Examiner, Launceston. 11 October 2023
Natasha Lakaev founded what was to become new age group Universal Knowledge in the 1990s.
An accused cult leader beat a four year-old with a wooden spoon, and in a fit of anger, pushed another woman holding her toddler down a flight of stairs, a court has heard.
Tasmanian resident Natasha Lakaev, who founded the organisation that became new age group Universal Knowledge in the 1990s, is suing her former acolyte Carli McConkey for libel in the Supreme Court in Hobart.
Sydney-based Ms McConkey, who is representing herself in court, on Tuesday alleged that Ms Lakaev had verbally and physically abused numerous members of the NSW-based organisation between the mid-1990s and the early 2010s.
"You have said you were pro-women. I put to you that you have bashed up every woman who ever did your accounts?" Ms McConkey asked.
"No that's untrue," Ms Lakaev said.
Ms McConkey asked whether, on one occasion, Ms Lakaev had assaulted one woman, punching her and throwing her and the toddler she was holding down a flight of stairs.
Ms Lakaev denied that had happened, and said that Ms McConkey was merging different events on different days to twist the narrative.
"I put it to you that you had to have surgery on your hand because you used it repeatedly to assault me and others?" Ms McConkey asked.
"That is untrue."
Ms McConkey asked whether on one occasion, Ms Lakaev had pulled her by the hair into a small office room, thrown her to the ground, and kicked Ms McConkey's body while screaming 'liar', 'con artist' and 'b..ch' continuously.
"None of this occurred, I wasn't even there," Ms Lakaev answered, saying that she was at a family event on the day in question.
In another incident, it was claimed that Ms Lakaev had beaten Ms McConkey's four year-old son with a wooden spoon hard enough to break the utensil.
"I put it to you that you then asked for a metal spatula and asked me to hit my son with it?"
Ms Lakaev also denied this.
She later said Ms McConkey had threatened to go to the media if she wasn't paid $300,000.
She also claimed that Ms McConkey had engaged in sexual relations with an under-aged boy.
"You came up to the kitchen window and asked about contraception, you said you'd fallen in love with a 14 year-old boy but didn't want to get pregnant again.
"I told you to step back, go home and get some help."
When asked why she had not been prosecuted for statutory rape for the relationship with the boy, Ms Lakaev said it was because the boy's parents had made no complaint.
The trial continues on Thursday.
New Age leader denies she ‘bashed up every single woman’ who worked on her accounts
A former New Age leader has denied needing surgery on her hand because she’d used it repeatedly to bash her followers. A defamation trial in Hobart has now turned to the dark topic of violence.
By Amber Wilson, The Mercury, Hobart. 10 October 2023
Former New Age leader Natasha Lakaev has denied bashing her acolytes, belting a four-year-old with a wooden spoon, or pulling one woman’s hair so hard that her face became “misshapen”.
Dr Lakaev now lives in Tasmania’s Huon Valley after running personal development programs in Burringbar, New South Wales, and working as a psychologist near Surfers Paradise and Hobart.
She’s currently suing her former follower, Carli McConkey, for defamation in the Supreme Court of Tasmania, with Ms McConkey representing herself during the lengthy judge-only trial.
On Tuesday, Dr Lakaev denied she needed surgery on her hand because she’d used it repeatedly to assault Ms McConkey and others involved in her organisation, Life Integration Programs – later called Universal Knowledge.
She also denied, under cross-examination from Ms McConkey that she’d “bashed up every single woman” whoever did her accounts.
Dr Lakaev denied she’d thrown one of the members of her group and her toddler down the stairs at her office.
She denied she “proceeded to belt into” Ms McConkey’s four-year-old son with a wooden spoon and a spatula, then encouraged Ms McConkey to do the same.
“That’s untrue,” Dr Lakaev said before Justice Stephen Estcourt.
She told Ms McConkey she was “merging people and dates and times into a new story that did not occur”.
Dr Lakaev also denied assaulting a woman after saying she wore “slutty clothing”, dragged a woman by her hair, pushed a woman’s head into a brick wall, and threw a woman onto the floor, pulling her hair.
“You pulled her hair so hard that her scalp was swollen and her face was misshapen,” Ms McConkey said.
But Dr Lakaev denied this and all the allegations against her, replying “that event did not occur”.
Ms McConkey also said Dr Lakaev beat a woman across the face with a wooden spoon and then tried to push her through a glass window, and also told a man to find some rope and hang it in the shape of a noose, which he did.
Dr Lakaev denied these allegations, and also denied she described herself as a “high angel”.
She has also defended her personal development courses that included a “genital rub exercise” and the watching of soft porn, and defended what an A Current Affair episode in 1998 described as a “psychic horse-betting” scheme, with tips “psychically channelled from the spirit world”.
Dr Lakaev, who now owns Geeveston bed and breakfast The Bears Went Over the Mountain, says Ms McConkey defamed her in comments on her website, in her book The Cult Effect, in newspaper articles reproduced within the book, and via social media posts.
But Ms McConkey stands by everything she has published, arguing all her comments about Dr Lakaev have been true.
Ex-New Age leader defends genital-rubbing activity in personal development courses
Genital rubbing, soft porn, a “psychic horse-betting” scheme and red marks on the wrist – allegedly like Jesus Christ. A bizarre defamation trial continues in Hobart.
By Amber Wilson, The Mercury, Hobart. 3 October 2023
A former New Age leader who now calls Tasmania home has defended her personal development courses that included a “genital rub exercise” and the watching of soft porn.
“It was a fun moment that lasted 30 seconds or a minute,” Natasha Lakaev told the Supreme Court of Tasmania about the “rubbing” on Tuesday.
“It’s not just standing there rubbing people’s genitals.”
Dr Lakaev – who is suing one of her former acolytes for defamation – agreed her course participants could consensually rub the backs and bodies, including the genitals, of the person in front of and behind them.
She agreed the activity was named in the course curriculum as the “genital rub exercise”, but only to serve as a reminder to participants.
Under cross-examination from the woman she is suing, Carli McConkey – who is representing herself during the lengthy trial – Dr Lakaev also agreed “soft pornography” was shown to course participants, but denied showing such content to people under 18, and always asked permission first.
She said her participants were not negatively affected by the porn, but usually made comments like: “I didn’t realise something could be that beautiful, in that fashion”.
Dr Lakaev denied, under cross-examination from Ms McConkey, that anyone had been harmed by “gay, hardcore pornography” with “violence”.
Also on Tuesday, a 1998 episode of A Current Affair – hosted by Ray Martin – was shown to the court.
During an investigation into Dr Lakaev’s former New South Wales organisation, Life Integration Systems, a number of former members told the program they had been abused during its courses.
“I feel like my whole soul has been raped,” one woman told the program.
Another former participant told A Current Affair he’d lost thousands to Dr Lakaev’s courses.
“Over seven days, you’re basically subjected to humiliation,” he said.
“The whole week you’ll survive on five to 20 hours’ sleep, the food is minimal.”
During the program, Dr Lakaev denied her organisation was a “dangerous, money-making cult” with “brutal” courses, and said no-one was forced or conned into taking part.
She also defended what the program described as a “psychic horse-betting” scheme, with tips “psychically channelled from the spirit world” that allegedly cost her acolytes thousands.
In court, Dr Lakaev again defended the “Lightspeed” scheme, which she said wasn’t psychic horse-betting, but based on a “very clever mathematical system” created by a “very intelligent” man, who had since passed away.
She said people only lost money on the scheme when they decided to not follow the system properly.
Dr Lakaev told the court she had saved the life of her terminally-ill baby son by giving him herbal remedies, and that she was a “risk-taker”.
But she denied ever claiming she was the reincarnation of Jesus Christ, saying these allegations had come from a “raucous joke” during a 1993 party.
But Ms McConkey suggested Dr Lakaev had not been joking, and had also previously claimed to have red marks on her forehead, wrists and ankles – and had to wear a fringe to cover the marks.
“Yes, that did occur. And that didn’t happen to me because I’m Jesus Christ. That happens to a lot of people, that people get marks on their wrist and forehead,” Dr Lakaev told the court.
“I don’t see how that equates.
“From memory, it was about the chakras.”
Dr Lakaev is suing for damages, claiming Ms McConkey defamed her in comments on her website, in her book The Cult Effect, in newspaper articles reproduced within the book, and via social media posts.
She denies all of her former member’s claims, and is also seeking an injunction to prevent Ms McConkey publishing further allegations against her.
Ms McConkey says all her comments have been true and according to her honest opinion, which was “fair and based on proper material”.
Dr Lakaev, who now lives in Geeveston, previously said she moved to Tasmania in a bid to “move away from Ms McConkey’s tentacles”.
The trial, before Justice Stephen Estcourt, continues.
Natasha Lakaev's Universal Knowledge course under court scrutiny
Former Universal Knowledge leader Natasha Lakaev denied course requirements like food, sleep deprivation and jumping into ponds naked was abuse.
By Benjamin Seeder, The Examiner, Launceston. 2 October 2023
Participants of a self-development course offered by a new age organisation were asked to rub their genitals against each other, watch gay pornography and jump naked into a leech-infested pond, a court has heard.
Natasha Lakaev founded the new age Universal Knowledge organisation in the 1990s, and claims that it taught members meditation, zen philosophy and self-development.
But a former organisation member, Carli McConkey, claimed in her 2017 book 'The Cult Effect' that Ms Lakaev was the leader of a doomsday cult that prophesied the end of the world in 2011 and abused its members.
Ms Lakaev, who now resides in Geeveston, is suing Ms McConkey for defamation in the Supreme Court in Hobart.
On Friday morning, Ms Lakaev confirmed that participants in one course in 1996 or 1997 were driven from Sydney to an isolated property in NSW in a bus with blacked-out windows.
Ms McConkey, who is defending herself, asked whether participants were told not to discuss the course with anybody else.
"Yes we asked that, but it's not been adhered to, like what is happening now," Ms Lakaev said.
Ms McConkey then asked whether, after arriving at the property early in the morning, participants were told to do a "genital rub" with the people in front and behind them in the line.
Ms Lakaev said it was an exercise to wake people up after the long bus ride.
"Everyone was laughing and joking, it was a fun moment," Ms Lakaev said.
Ms McConkey: "On the final night of the course, I put it to you that you showed hard-core gay pornography?"
"No, it was soft-core pornography, at a time when there was discrimination about homosexuality and AIDS," Ms Lakaev answered.
"It was designed to break down barriers, to show that lovemaking between two men or two women can be just as gentle as straight couples."
Ms McConkey asked whether she knew that one of the participants was under the age of 18 at that time.
"I don't know anything about that minor detail," Ms Lakaev answered.
Earlier, Ms McConkey presented documents showing the goals of the various courses offered by the organisation.
One, the 'Survivors' Program' claimed to teach participants how to move between dimensions.
Another taught participants how to access memories from past lives.
Ms Lakaev denied this, claiming that Ms McConkey had twisted the narrative and invented the story that Lakaev had claimed to be the Queen of Atlantis in a past life.
"You've connected this Atlantean thing to numerous other things that haven't occurred ... to make me look like a fool, claiming I was saying I was the Atalntean Queen," Ms Lakaev said.
"This was a meditation course."
Ms McConkey asked whether course participants were required to jump naked into a leech-infected pond.
Ms Lakaev answered that they had the choice of doing it as part of the course challenges.
"In Tasmania, people in Kingston jump naked into the water every year," Ms Lakaev said.
The trial resumes on October 3.
Natasha Lakaev has sued author Carli McConkey for libel
The founder of a new age organisation has detailed the career damage she said she suffered after the publication of a 2017 book claiming that she was a cult leader that defrauded and abused her followers.
By Benjamin Seeder, The Examiner, Launceston. 28 September 2023
Natasha Lakaev, who now resides in Tasmania, has filed a libel lawsuit against The Cult Effect author and former follower, Carli McConkey, who is representing herself in the Supreme Court case.
Ms Lakaev is seeking damages and an injunction against further publications.
Ms Lakaev founded and managed the Universal Knowledge organisation in NSW from the late 1990s to the mid 2000s.
Taking the witness stand on the first day of the defamation trial in Hobart, she said the organisation offered members self-development courses.
But Ms Lakaev said she was sacked from various positions, despite outstanding performance, following the publication of Ms McConkey's book in 2017.
She said she was suddenly removed from a doctoral program at the University of Leicester in the UK and had seen referrals to her Gold Coast psychology practice "dry up" after 2017.
She moved to Western Australia to take up a position with WA Health.
In a voice crackling with emotion on the witness stand, she said her contract there was not renewed.
"I ended up being shoulder-charged, spat on, locked out of staff meetings, clients that had been progressing extremely well were stripped from me," she said tearfully.
She claimed Ms McConkey had been fixated on her from as early as 1996, when she began writing the new age leader love letters.
She said in one case, she woke up to find Ms McConkey standing over her bed in the middle of the night.
After leaving the organisation, she said Ms McConkey had been contacting Ms Lakaev's workplaces and universities in an attempt to destroy her professional career.
She said she moved to Tasmania in order to escape the "tentacles" of Ms McConkey.
But there, she said a psychologist with Headspace mental health agency found her story on the internet, and sent emails around Tasmania detailing her history.
"He arranged for me to be sacked," Ms Lakaev told the court.
"He then sent out emails across Tasmania to have me blackballed and I couldn't get employment in Tasmania."
Under examination by her own counsel, Daniel Zeeman, Ms Lakaev denied many of the claims made in the book and other media articles reprinted in the book.
She denied that she had claimed to her followers that she was the reincarnation of Jesus Christ, that she had unlawfully taken money from Ms McConkey and other followers, or that she physically and emotionally abused her members.
Earlier, during her opening statement, Ms McConkey cried as she drew a picture of Ms Lakaev as a pathological liar, a fraud and a bully that abused her close acolytes and left them scarred for life.
Ms McConkey, who joined Ms Lakaev's northern NSW organisation Universal Knowledge in the late 1990s, has claimed she was indoctrinated and ultimately enslaved in the organisation.
She said Ms Lakaev was guilty of a raft of crimes, including modern slavery, violent extremism, terrorism, fraud, serial bullying, sexual violence, physical assault and battery, suffocation, strangulation, and kidnapping.
"Ms Lakaev was in fact the leader of a doomsday cult, one in which she prophesied the end of the world by November 11, 2011," Ms McConkey told the court.
She said Ms Lakaev had claimed to be the reincarnation of Jesus Christ.
"I will prove that the statements I have made are all true and that I have made them in the public's interest to protect society from the plaintiff."
The trial continues on September 29.
‘I stand by everything that I have published’: Former New Age leader and member clash in court trial
A former New Age leader who wanted to start a new life in Tasmania has denied claiming she was the reincarnation of Jesus Christ. Her defamation trial has now started in Hobart.
By Amber Wilson, The Mercury, Hobart. 28 September 2023
A former New Age leader who has tried to start a new life in Tasmania has denied ever making claims like she was the reincarnation of Jesus Christ.
On Thursday, Natasha Lakaev gave evidence in day one of her defamation trial against former follower, Carli McConkey – denying she’d ever been a “cult” leader or had abused her acolytes.
Dr Lakaev is seeking a damages payout, claiming Ms McConkey defamed her in comments on her website, in her book The Cult Effect, in newspaper articles reproduced within the book, and via social media posts.
The former leader of New South Wales organisation, Universal Knowledge, is also seeking an injunction from Ms McConkey continuing to publish allegations against her.
Dr Lakaev claims Ms McConkey acted in “malice” and that she had a “desire to continually damage” her reputation.
From the Supreme Court of Tasmania witness stand, Dr Lakaev made denials before Justice Stephen Estcourt of a list of allegations by Ms McConkey – who she said she met at her “personal mastery” course in 1998.
She denied she’d ever claimed she was “one of 12 on the “Intergalactic Council of the Universe”, that she’d been “a lady in waiting in Atlantis”, or that she was a reincarnation of Jesus Christ.
Dr Lakaev – who is a registered clinical psychologist and gained her doctorate last year – also denied she’d physically, verbally and financially abused Ms McConkey, or encouraged her followers to do drugs during her courses.
Instead, she claimed she’d suffered a number of “dramatic” consequences since Ms McConkey’s book had been published – saying she had been repeatedly, “unceremoniously sacked” from various positions.
She said this occurred despite her employers telling her she was the “best clinical psychologist they’d ever come across” – but had to cease her employment to protect their reputation.
Dr Lakaev, who now lives at Geeveston and is the proprietor of the Bears Went Over the Mountain bed and breakfast, said she came to Tasmania “in the hope we could somehow move away from Ms McConkey’s tentacles”.
But she said her employment in Hobart, at mental health clinic Headspace, also came to an end after a “big scene” following revelations of Ms McConkey’s allegations.
“I was basically black-walled from getting employment in Tasmania,” she said.
Dr Lakaev said no complaints investigated by the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency against her had ever been upheld.
She described Ms McConkey’s actions as “stalking” and said she’d been “incredibly intrusive” since the pair first met, and didn’t abide by “healthy boundaries”.
But Ms McConkey, who is representing herself in the judge-only trial, said in her opening address: “I stand by everything that I have published”.
She said Dr Lakaev had committed everything from human trafficking to terrorism, sexual violence to strangulation and kidnapping – and had only escaped criminal conviction by “doggedly” hounding government bodies and regulators with “legal correspondence and threats”
“She is as cunning as a fox,” Ms McConkey said.
Dr Lakaev has denied she has ever committed a crime, and denies all of Ms McConkey’s allegations.
Ms McConkey said Dr Lakaev repeatedly tried to sue people and organisations, but had never won judgment in her favour, including against A Current Affair, Bond University, five former followers, Fairfax Media, News Corp, a United States school, and Ms McConkey’s own parents.
“Ms Lakaev will stop at nothing to try to convince the world that she is the victim,” Ms McConkey said.
“I will prove that the statements I have made are all true and that I have made them in the public’s interest to protect society from the plaintiff.”
Dr Lakaev will call four other witnesses during the trial, which is expected to run until October 30.
Ms McConkey – who says all her comments were true and according to her honest opinion, which was “fair and based on proper material” – will also give evidence, along with six other witnesses.
Defamation trial waged by former New Age leader delayed until September
A lengthy defamation trial waged by former “cult” leader Natasha Lakaev, who now lives in Tasmania, will be put off until September.
By Amber Wilson, The Mercury, Hobart. 25 May 2023
Ms Lakaev is suing a former member of her New Age organisation, Universal Knowledge, for defamation arising from her book The Cult Effect, in newspaper articles reproduced within the book, and via social media posts.
However, a three-week trial expected to unfold from last year has come up against a major delay – with the defendant Carli McConkey arguing she’d already successfully fought off a similar lawsuit from Ms Lakaev in Queensland.
The Supreme Court of Tasmania is now considering whether parts of Ms Lakaev’s claim should be struck out based on the likeness of published material already dealt with.
The opponents will return to court on July 6, at which point Ms McConkey will tender her book to the court as evidence.
The trial itself has been tentatively set down for three weeks, starting September 4.
Ms McConkey admits she has made numerous allegations against Ms Lakaev, but that all her comments were true, and according to her honest opinion, which was based on fair and proper material.
The court previously heard these allegations included claims Ms Lakaev ran a “doomsday cult” who said she could cure HIV, ran a psychic horse-betting scheme and said the world would end in 2012.
Ms Lakaev is also suing over Ms McConkey’s claims the former New Age leader was a reincarnation of Jesus Christ, physically assaulted her, manipulated her out of large sums of money, and coerced her into undergoing sterilisation at age 35.
New age leader Natasha Lakaev claimed libel against former member
Former Universal Knowledge leader Natasha Lakaev, who now lives in Geeveston, is suing former organisation member Carli McConkey for libel.
By Benjamin Seeder, The Examiner, Launceston. 25 May 2023
The libel trial between former new age religious leader Natasha Lakaev and one of her former members, Carli McConkey, has been adjourned until July.
Supreme Court Justice Helen Wood is to decide on an application by Ms McConkey questioning whether she can be sued for published material that was already subject to a similar defamation case in Queensland in 2014.
If Justice Wood decides in favour of Ms McConkey, counsel for Ms Lakaev, Daniel Zeeman, indicated he will seek leave to proceed with the defamation claim against her anyway.
Carli McConkey is representing herself in the Supreme Court in Hobart against a claim that she defamed the former leader of the Universal Knowledge organisation, Natasha Lakaev, in a book published in 2017.
Last week, the court heard Ms McConkey's claim that she was pressured to undergo sterilisation while a member of Ms Lakaev's organisation in the early 2000s.
Ms McConkey described Universal Knowledge as a "doomsday cult", and that its members were convinced the world would end in 2012, and that the leader, Ms Lakaev, was Jesus Christ reborn, and a member of the "Intergalactic Council of the Universe".
The case resumes on July 6.
‘Psychic horse-betting scheme’: Ex-New Age acolyte airs astonishing allegations in Hobart court
More shocking allegations have been aired in a Hobart court by a woman who says she fell prey to a “doomsday cult” with a leader who claimed she could cure HIV and “came from the bird tribes”.
By Amber Wilson, The Mercury, Hobart. 16 May 2023 (updated 18 May 2023)
More shocking allegations have been aired in court by a woman who says she fell prey to a “doomsday cult” with a leader who claimed she could cure HIV and was involved in a “psychic horse-betting scheme”.
Sydney resident Carli McConkey is currently in Hobart, fighting a defamation lawsuit brought against her by former northern NSW New Age leader Natasha Lakaev, who now resides in Tasmania.
Ms Lakaev claims Ms McConkey defamed her through her book The Cult Effect, in newspaper articles reproduced within the book, and via social media posts.
On Tuesday, Ms McConkey told the Supreme Court of Tasmania she didn’t want to have the “whole case thrown out” – only the alleged defamatory imputations that she’d already successfully fought off interstate.
She is hoping to call eight witnesses – six from interstate and two from Tasmania – during the three-week trial.
On Tuesday, Ms McConkey aired a number of the allegations she made against Ms Lakaev in court, including that the former leader of NSW organisation Universal Knowledge “preached the end of the world, an Armageddon situation”.
She said Ms Lakaev claimed she “came from the bird tribes from a different dimension and remembers all of her past lives” and that she had “spirit guides who lived in the sky”.
Ms McConkey said members of the “cult” were driven to a rural location on a bus with the windows blacked out.
She said when they arrived at the location, they were yelled at, made to hand in their mobile phones, made to go hungry, often only given two hours of sleep a night, and forced to parade naked in front of others.
Justice Helen Wood said she’d need to make a ruling about dealing with Ms McConkey’s application to have part of the proceedings struck out, before getting into the bulk of the trial.
After running Universal Knowledge, Ms Lakaev worked as a government-employed psychologist near Surfers Paradise, but is now the proprietor of Geeveston bed and breakfast The Bears Went Over the Mountain.
Ms Lakaev is suing for damages over the claims, and is also fighting for an injunction to stop The Cult Effect from being further sold, or the sections within it concerning her from being further published.
The case continues Wednesday.
New age leader Natasha Lakaev is suing Carli McConkey for libel
A woman being sued for libel by the former leader of a new age religion has broken down in tears in court while describing her grief over the children she would never have.
She claims she was pressured to undergo sterilisation while a member of the religious organisation in the early 2000s.
By Benjamin Seeder, The Examiner, Launceston. 16 May 2023
Carli McConkey is representing herself in the Supreme Court in Hobart against a claim that she defamed the former leader of the Universal Knowledge organisation, Natasha Lakaev, in a book published in 2017.
Ms McConkey told the court that, after the birth of her first son, Ms Lakaev began to suggest she was a bad parent and incapable of being a proper mother to the child.
She later had a second son, and claimed that Ms Lakaev continued to suggest she was a bad parent and should undergo sterilisation.
She said she was in a vulnerable state at the time after separating from her husband, and she finally caved in to pressure to have the operation performed.
She said the doctor asked if she was sure she wanted to go through with the treatment.
"I didn't really ... I did it purely for her [Ms Lakaev], to focus on her needs," she tearfully told the court on Tuesday.
Since then, Ms McConkey said she has grieved for the baby girl she says she has lost forever.
Ms McConkey told the court how members of Universal Knowledge were driven to a property in northern NSW in a bus with blacked out windows.
They were made to give up their phones and documents on arrival, and were told to undertake strenuous physical activities and parade on stage naked, she told the court.
Ms McConkey described Universal Knowledge as a "doomsday cult", and that its members were convinced the world would end in 2012, and that the leader, Ms Lakaev, was Jesus Christ reborn, and a member of the "Intergalactic Council of the Universe".
They were convinced that only those prepared via courses at Universal Knowledge would survive the end of the world, she said.
Ms McConkey said she and others paid tens of thousands of dollars in course fees while a member.
She said she also invested $20,000 for a share in the Universal Knowledge company, but never saw any returns.
Ms Lakaev, who now lives in Tasmania and is the owner of a Geeveston bed and breakfast, has previously denied Universal Knowledge was a cult.
Ms Lakaev has sued for libel over parts of Ms McConkey's 2017 book, 'The Cult Effect', and other articles and blogs published by Ms McConkey.
The case continues.
‘Reincarnation of Jesus Christ’: Defamation trial waged by ex-New Age leader Natasha Lakaev begins
‘Reincarnation of Jesus Christ’: A defamation trial waged in Hobart by a former New Age leader has hit a roadblock, with her ex-follower attempting to have the proceedings struck out.
By Amber Wilson, The Mercury, Hobart. 15 May 2023
A defamation trial waged in Hobart by a former New Age leader who now lives in Tasmania has hit a roadblock, with her former follower attempting to have the proceedings struck out.
But Ms McConkey argued before Justice Helen Wood that the case should not proceed, as it had already been brought and determined in another jurisdiction.
Ms Lakaev, a registered clinical psychologist, previously sued Ms McConkey over articles published in the Age and the Gold Coast Bulletin in 2010.
But the claim was settled on the first day of an expected lengthy trial in the Supreme Court of Queensland in October 2014, with judgment in favour of the two newspapers, a newspaper journalist, Fairfax Digital, Ms McConkey and two others.
In the current case, Ms Lakaev is suing Ms McConkey for two articles published in the Sunday Age during 2010 that she reproduced in her book, The Cult Effect.
On Monday, Ms McConkey argued the content of the Queensland case was “of same or like matter”.
She said the Sunday Age article said she lost “13 years of my life and hundreds of thousands of dollars to a New Age cult” and that she’d worked as a “virtual slave” in Ms Lakaev’s “cult”.
Ms McConkey said the article revealed she’d become sterile at 35 after she was “persuaded to undergo a tubal ligation after being led to believe I was an unfit mother to my three sons”.
She said Ms Lakaev had claimed she was the queen of Atlantis, a reincarnation of Jesus Christ, and one of 12 on the “Intergalactic Council of the Universe”.
Ms McConkey said Ms Lakaev’s defamation claims were similar in both proceedings, including imputations that she’d held Ms McConkey “captive” and “brainwashed” her, that she’d exploited and manipulated others “in order to satisfy her need for adulation”, and that she was “responsible for damaging the lives of scores of people”.
Barrister Daniel Zeeman, acting for Ms Lakaev, opposed Ms McConkey’s application, saying the two cases were “different or substantially different”.
Justice Wood directed Ms McConkey, who is representing herself in court, to compare the publications to determine which passages were the same or similar.
“It seems to me that if you are correct, then this is a roadblock to these proceedings, in part or in full,” she said.
Ms Lakaev now lives in Tasmania and is the proprietor of Geeveston bed and breakfast, The Bears Went Over the Mountain.
The case continues Tuesday.
Court hears Natasha Lakaev convinced members world would end
A defamation trial between a Tasmania-based former new age religion leader and one of her former acolytes began in Hobart on Monday.
By Benjamin Seeder, The Advocate, Launceston. 15 May 2023
Natasha Lakaev, who ran the Universal Knowledge organisation in Northern NSW in the early 2000s, is suing former organisation member Carli McConkey for libel.
Ms McConkey published a book about her experiences as a member of the organisation, and Ms Lakaev, who now runs a Geeveston bed and breakfast, has claimed defamation.
On Monday, Ms McConkey, who is representing herself in court against the claim, attempted to submit the documents of a Queensland defamation case in which Ms Lakaev similarly sued others regarding claims they made about Universal Knowledge.
Ms McConkey told the court on Monday that the Queensland Supreme Court documents included numerous imputations against Ms Lakaev, including that she had brainwashed organisation members, convinced them that she was 'Queen of Atlantis' and that the world would end in 2012.
The documents also imputed that Ms Lakaev had physically assaulted and imprisoned members, convinced them to pay
thousands of dollars to her and had worked for 22 hours per day without pay for years.
The documents also imputed that Ms Lakaev convinced Ms McConkey to undergo sterilisation, the court heard.
Counsel for Ms Lakaev, Daniel Zeeman, said the court needed to see full copies of the Queensland documents, including annexures, before the case could continue.
Justice Helen Wood adjourned the case until Tuesday.
Ms Lakaev is suing Ms McConkey following the publication of her book, 'The Cult Effect', in 2017 and various other blog posts since then.
Ms McConkey has previously claimed that she spent 13 years as a member of Ms Lakaev's organisation.
She has previously said that while a member, she believed that Ms Lakaev was a reincarnation of Jesus Christ and one of 12 on the "Intergalactic Council of the Universe", and that the world would end in either 2011 or 2012.
Witnesses to appear via video link in upcoming defamation trial waged by former New Age leader
Ten interstate witnesses will give evidence by video link next month in a defamation trial waged by a former New Age leader who now calls Tasmania home.
By Amber Wilson, The Mercury, Hobart. 27 April 2023
Natasha Lakaev, who now owns Geeveston bed and breakfast The Bears Went Over the Mountain, previously ran a New South Wales spiritual development organisation called Universal Knowledge.
She is now suing one of her former followers, Carli McConkey, for defamation.
In her amended defence filed with the court, Ms McConkey describes Ms Lakaev as dishonest and was a “cult” leader.
Ms Lakaev says she was defamed in Ms McConkey's book The Cult Effect, in newspaper articles reproduced within the book, and via social media posts.
Ms McConkey has made a number of allegations in these publications, including that she was brainwashed into believing Ms Lakaev was a reincarnation of Jesus Christ and one of 12 on the “Intergalactic Council of the Universe”.
On Wednesday, Justice Helen Wood ruled that Ms McConkey, who lives interstate, could call evidence from her 10 New South Wales and Queensland witnesses via video link.
“It will be inconvenient and expensive for these witnesses to be called to Hobart,” she said.
Lawyer Daniel Zeeman said his client, Ms Lakaev, had instructed him not to provide her list of witnesses to Ms McConkey.
Justice Wood ordered the witness list be provided to Ms McConkey by the end of this week.
Alleged former ‘cult leader’ Natasha Lakaev now living in Tasmania sues ex-follower for defamation
A former northern NSW New Age leader now based in Tasmania’s Huon Valley is suing one of her ex-followers for defamation, with a lengthy trial soon to unfold. Inside the saga >>
By Amber Wilson, The Mercury, Hobart. 3 April 2023
The Bears Went Over the Mountain, Geeveston
Natasha Lakaev is now the proprietor of Geeveston B&B, The Bears Went Over the Mountain.
A former New Age leader who now lives in Tasmania is suing one of her ex-followers for defamation, with a lengthy trial soon to unfold in Hobart.
Natasha Lakaev previously ran NSW organisation Universal Knowledge, which allegedly prophesied the world would end in December 2012 and charged followers thousands of dollars to undergo its spiritual development courses.
Ms Lakaev subsequently worked as a government-employed psychologist near Surfers Paradise, but is now the proprietor of quaint Geeveston bed and breakfast The Bears Went Over the Mountain.
She is suing her former “disciple” Carli McConkey for defamation arising from comments on Ms McConkey’s website, in her book, The Cult Effect, in newspaper articles reproduced within the book, and via social media posts
Ms McConkey has made a number of allegations in these publications, including that she was brainwashed into believing Ms Lakaev was a reincarnation of Jesus Christ and one of 12 on the “Intergalactic Council of the Universe”.
She said Ms Lakaev claimed the world would end in 2012, and that almost everyone except her devotees would die.
In her amended statement of claim lodged with the Supreme Court of Tasmania, Ms Lakaev says Ms McConkey defamed her by describing her as “a violent extremist” who abused and physically assaulted her
Group of participants at farm 'Boolabinda' a homestead near Glen Innes during Life Integration Programs run by Natasha Lakaev.
She has taken umbrage with sections of The Cult Effect, including Ms McConkey’s claims that Ms Lakaev would scream at, swear at and sometimes hit her followers, encouraged them to take drugs, was abusive towards some followers’ children, and misused her followers’ money.
Ms Lakaev has also taken aim at Ms McConkey’s claim she attempted to get one man “institutionalised”, asking him to sign over his power of attorney to collect his income protection money for herself.
Ms Lakaev claims her personal and professional reputation has been “greatly injured”, saying Ms McConkey has defamed her by claiming she was unfit to practise as a psychologist and should be deregistered, that she suffered from narcissistic personality disorder and borderline personality disorder, and that she misused her position as a psychologist to threaten Ms McConkey.
Camp staff line up to greet participants at farm in Life Integration Programs run by Natasha Lakaev.
Ms Lakaev is suing for damages, legal costs and an injunction to restrain what she claims are defamatory statements against her, including those published and sold in The Cult Effect.
In her amended defence filed with the court, Ms McConkey largely admits she made the allegations against Ms Lakaev, but says all her comments were true and according to her honest opinion, which was “fair and based on proper material”.
Ms McConkey says the now Huon Valley-based former “cult” leader is an “unreliable witness in legal proceedings”, is dishonest, was the leader of a “doomsday cult”, and “likely to be a psychopath”.
In the Supreme Court of Tasmania last week, Hobart lawyer Daniel Zeeman appeared on behalf of Ms Lakaev before Justice Helen Wood, ahead of an expected three-week trial due to unfold from May 15.
Mr Zeeman said the trial would examine whether Ms Lakaev had been defamed, and if yes, whether any defences applied or whether Ms McConkey was motivated by malice.
He said Ms McConkey had admitted to making many of the allegations, but that she would use the defence of justification, which Mr Zeeman described as “the old truth defence”.
Ms McConkey, who lives interstate, will represent herself in the trial without a lawyer.
She plans to call a number of witnesses, with hopes they can be examined via video-link instead of needing to travel to Hobart.
Mr Zeeman has flagged he will oppose the calling of most of Ms McConkey’s witnesses, “because in my admission they can’t be given any relevance”.
Carli’s Story: Exiting a Cult
By Sarah Steele, As told to Sarah for the Let’s Talk About Sects podcast. 1 February 2018
Carli McConkey was a 21-year-old university graduate when she decided to attend the Mind Body Spirit Festival in Sydney, Australia, and came across the stand for Life Integration Programmes (LIP). The course they offered sounded like exactly what she needed to get her life on track and realise her potential. Little did she know that this encounter was the start of a 13-year ordeal that would see her estranged from her family, under continued financial stress, a victim and perpetrator of physical assault, working untold hours of unpaid labour, and eventually, medically sterilised.
Carli self-published her memoir ‘The Cult Effect’ in July last year. She spent over a decade with a group that’s been called a cult by many — and a content warning; this article deals with issues such as manipulative behaviours and physical assault (including of minors).
I also need to add that some of the views and opinions expressed in this article include those personal to Carli, which remain her own.
Beginnings
When she first came across Life Integration Programmes, Carli was in that “in-between” period after university and before embarking on a career. She was tired, having worked very hard to get her degree, she’d put on some weight and was feeling a bit stuck, having moved back in with her parents in Sydney after studying in Bathurst, regional New South Wales.
At the Mind Body Spirit Festival she had a psychic reading, and was told about a program called The Next Evolutionary Step.
Carli received a four page brochure that “looked extremely professional, said that this particular Managing Director had taught over ten thousand people, and that I’d find my direction, be healthier, more prosperous, all the things you could ever imagine.”
She was intrigued and went right over to the stand to investigate further. The people there she describes as looking “extremely healthy and vibrant and happy, smiling, giving, sort of little healings on the stand, and they were all really motivated, and told me about it, said it’s the best thing you’ll ever do.” At a free seminar at the Hilton hotel, people got up and gave testimonials and said how The Next Evolutionary Step had changed their lives.
The actual course was held at Macquarie University, which again gave Carli a good impression, and she signed up, along with her mother and sister. It was 5 nights and a 2-day weekend, and involved going on a vegan-to-vegetarian diet, meditations, music and dancing, exercise, and rebirthing — a series of breathwork techniques that was devised in the 1970s.
Carli found the whole experience joyful and positive, but then: “Right at the end, we were given a manual that told us about another seventeen or so programmes that if we wanted to reach our true potential and enlightenment and such, we needed to complete all of these.”
As she had always been, through school and her tertiary studies, Carli was a perfectionist, and says that from the start she was all-in. From that very first program she was on a trajectory and she knew she had to keep going.
One of the Life Integration Programmes concepts Carli mentioned made me think of the process of detaching ‘spirits’ that certain other groups practise: “The premise of these programmes was that you cleanse your cellular memory; your cells of this lifetime, your ancestors and also your past lives.”
Carli says that she and the other attendees were told:
“It was cutting edge, state of art, no-one else was doing it on the planet.”
And about the organisation’s Managing Director? “She was extremely charismatic, and she held the room, so well, and was able to talk off the cuff for hours and hours.”
At the time Carli came across LIP, in 1996, the programmes were very successful. There were around 80–90 people on each course, and courses were being held in Sydney, Lismore, Coffs Harbour, Gold Coast, Brisbane and even South Africa.
Carli soon moved on to the second and then the third course, which is one of the most contentious. This course, called The Final Step, was later featured on the Australian television program A Current Affair and in an article in Brisbane’s The Sunday Mail newspaper called “Camp Hell”, though the latter is no longer available on their website.
Apart from items on a proscribed list, everything else was taken from the attendees including wallets and identification. Then they were asked about the patterns each of them was looking to break, and had to stand up in front of the roomful of strangers and talk about alcoholism, sex addiction, weight issues, or whatever their own motivation was for taking the course.
Carli describes further:
“We were led eventually to a blackened out coach bus that had black curtains all over it, and we were taken to a completely isolated property, we didn’t know where we were… We had to stand in lines, in groups, we had support team members at the front of each group and they were yelling and screaming at us, telling us to do push ups, sit ups… it was all about bringing up your fears, and moving through your fears, and becoming unlimited.”
To me, this brings up elements of a US Marines-style boot camp. I understand that process to be about physical conditioning, but also about psychologically training people to act in very specific ways, as a unit, and against some of their most natural instincts including self-preservation in order to do what their job requires of them. I’m unsure of what would make this beneficial in a self-help course.
Carli continues: “So, there was lots of horrible things that happened on there. Just a couple of examples: we watched hardcore pornography, which I hadn’t been exposed to. We were sleep deprived, we only had about 2 hours sleep per night, we were told at the end that I think, I think it was only about 17 hours over the seven nights and eight days or something like that. And food deprived, we weren’t given meals for a while and then there were some cans of tomato soup left out, and some people went and had some of the tomato soup and then for those who had not eaten the soup, they made a really nutritious, nourishing meal for them and gave it to them and the rest had to just keep starving… Throughout the night we were in this tarpaulin marquee and being lectured to about different things, and if you were tired and falling asleep you had to hold a big rock over your head and stand at the side of the room. There was lots of meditations, chanting, things like that.”
The hardest thing for Carli, however, was standing up nude before the other attendees.
“We were told to get up on a stage, naked, and I was standing in front of 80 people, I was already very self-conscious about my body and we had to tell the group what we liked and didn’t like about ourselves and then other people had to comment about our bodies.”
It was some time after the bad press of the late 1990s that Life Integration Programmes changed its name to Survivor Principles, and soon after became Universal Knowledge.
Life in Universal Knowledge
Carli ended up going on to do all but two of the courses offered, and she and her husband Michael gave tens of thousands of dollars to the organisation. There was “about $44,000 or something we spent on courses,” then more was added in supposed debts by the Managing Director. “The Australian Tax Office came in to investigate her, and I was doing her accounts at the time and she made me sign a contract that I would pay her back $50,000 and said that I was responsible and that it was all my fault — it was after A Current Affair and her courses were only having about five people on them but she blamed me for all of the derision of her whole business, and blamed me for the derision of all of the future people who wouldn’t be doing The Next Evolutionary Step and evolving, so you can imagine how I felt about that. And so that $50,000 she ended up adding $20,000 to that for very ridiculous reasons, so it became $70,000.”
In another instance, Carli says: “I organised a ski trip for her and her family and she said that I didn’t book breakfasts or I didn’t book transfers so I should pay for the whole trip. So I had to pay another $10,000. I’d just separated from my husband, he’d run away by that point, and I was on the Single Mothers’ Pension, had three children, and I had to pay her $500 a week, to give her $10,000 for a ski trip she just went on.”
Carli ended up working for the group both in the office and on the property undertaking manual labour like building maintenance and gardening. This would be on top of whatever day job she had at the time, or while she was on government benefits, and she says that in a decade of work, at times 7 days a week with only Christmas Day, New Year’s Eve and Easter Sunday off, she was paid on a single occasion, $5,000 in total.
On top of the financial strain, things also often got physical. “When this cult leader was bashing me up, I was feeling like I deserved this and that because I didn’t have any strong discipline when I was growing up, then now it was time for me to have it. It was like my payback and all that type of thing. So, yeah, they’re the types of things that were going on in my head. That I deserved it and that, I had a really bad personality and I needed to change, and she was the one helping me do that.”
Carli relates the ways in which the group operated to some techniques utilised in other cults: “They use these coercive persuasion techniques, like sleep deprivation, food deprivation, group intimidation, isolation, so you’ve got all of these things that are creating the situation where, you know, I was on adrenaline the whole time, and all of those around me. And you don’t have time to think, so it’s a group mentality that is hard for normal people to fathom, but once you’re in there, you’re not going to go against the whole group because you know you’re going to get hurt, and my cult leader had the whole group around her supporting her. If anyone ever gave their own opinion or something contrary to what she believed she would just cut them down on the spot. And it was like the group would be sicking onto that person.”
Because of her schedule, Carli already had a pretty diminished relationship with her parents during this whole period of her life, but she also says that members were actively encouraged to distance themselves from family. Looking over some of her old course records, she found a note: “'Cut off from your parents.’ I wrote that on the back of the course folder.”
Carli had “borrowed” money from her parents along the way for various courses when she couldn’t afford them herself, and so wasn’t completely cut off from her family for her first decade in the group, but says that her contact with them was pretty limited because she couldn’t really talk about her life in any great depth with them, so it was difficult to connect.
“Yeah, my parents learnt after a long time just to stop giving money to me, because they realised that it was going straight to her.”
Once the money had stopped coming from that avenue, one year on a visit to Sydney Carli found out that her mother had been receiving information from Cult Information and Family Support meetings. She immediately relayed this information back to the leader who then told Carli that it was time to break off all contact with her parents. During this time, she missed the end of her beloved grandmother’s life as well as her funeral. She sent flowers along in her stead, hating that she couldn’t be there herself.
Carli had three sons with her partner Michael during their time with LIP and then Universal Knowledge, and she gushes about them when you ask. They’re something she’s most proud of in her life, and she’s clearly a devoted mother. But when they were little, she had to stop breastfeeding them far too soon and hand them over to others to care for just so that she could get all the work done that was required of her around the property or in the office of the organisation. And while she wouldn’t swap her sons for anything, she had always wanted a daughter as well. But it wasn’t to be.
Carli says that she and some of the other women were told that “we were bad mothers, terrible mothers, abusive mothers, we should never have been mothers, et cetera, and that we should get sterilised. And it got to towards the end, where it was about 2009, so almost a year before I eventually escaped, that I thought, ‘OK well it’s time,’ I was in a situation where I felt like I couldn’t bring another child into the world and be in this environment, it was too hard. And I wanted to get her approval, so I decided to actually do it.
“The doctor said to me, ‘Are you sure you want to do this, you’ve still got ten years of fertility left,’ and I said, ‘No it’s fine.’”
This decision would later prove extremely upsetting for Carli, as she realised her chance at having a daughter had been taken away.
Escape
With 13 years of devotion behind her, it’s almost hard to believe Carli did in the end manage to find a way to disengage. It took a lot to push her over the edge.
“At the time of escape, whether it happened on the day I escaped or just after, it’s that realisation that what you’re experiencing at this point in time is worse than death… I’d been physically bashed up by my cult leader again, I was so weak and fragile that I knew I couldn’t go through all of this trauma anymore, and she was calling me a con artist and telling me that I should be paying her even more money than I already was, and I’d been whipper-snipping for four hours that morning out on the property, and when she told me to get back to work I just physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually couldn’t do it.
“Somehow I managed to make the decision to leave and pack my car and go and pick up my children. When I got to my ex-husband’s work, I was still in the sort of frame of mind oh, you know, maybe I’ll just be able to tell my cult leader ‘No I’m gonna work just during the day, not during the night,’ those kind of things. I was playing over these arguments in my head, and actions I would take. But as soon as I saw my ex-husband, within five minutes, when I was in a safe environment, my brain just started filtering everything. It was like a light bulb moment where within 5–10 minutes, all of a sudden I realised, ‘Oh my God that was a cult, she is a cult leader,’ and, that was that.”
To those who ask why she didn’t leave sooner, Carli says there are many reasons, including a belief in the impending Apocalypse, a generally diminished state of critical thinking, and also: “My cult leader now as a registered psychologist, threatened that if I did leave, that she would report me to DOCS, Department of Child Safety, and have my children taken away from me ’cos she was going to say that I was an abusive mother and sign off on it as a psychologist.”
Resilience
Carli says that once she was out, she was lucky to have parents to go back to who had learned about cults, particularly her mother who had been attending Cult Information and Family Support meetings for a few years, and so didn’t blame her for what she’d been through. At first she thought she’d treated them so poorly over the years that they wouldn’t want to hear from her, but her now ex-husband convinced her to pick up the phone.
“They were thrilled, they were crying on the phone, they were so happy.”
Carli also attended a conference at Brisbane Parliament House: “There was sixty other cults represented there, so two months after I left this destructive situation I’m amongst people who have gone through very similar experiences, you know, the cult leaders all seemed to work from the same handbook, and that really helped me.”
She met the Fairfax journalist Michael Bachelard at this conference, when she found herself sitting next to him at a dinner. In speaking about her experiences, Michael told her that if she ever felt up to it, he’d be very happy to cover her story in the high profile newspapers he wrote for.
Carli decided to go for it, and in preparing Michael for the story with copious notes, she found a sense of catharsis: “Within the next month, I sat down for about four days and I just purged out every single thing that happened to me. It was a completely raw and probably horrible manuscript to read for Michael, but you know, that even helped me.”
The resulting article was published in The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald, and subsequently Fairfax Media was sued alongside News Corp, for another article in the Gold Coast Bulletin, as well as Carli and her ex-husband Michael, and the two journalists Michael Bachelard and Anne-Louise Brown personally. Carli was fully prepared to defend the truth of everything in the article, and had to again relive her experiences over and over to ready herself for the court case. She thinks that this again helped her to work through all of the difficult things she’d been through over the preceding decade.
While Carli feels that digging into her experiences and making the vow to herself to “feel everything” has helped her get to the point she’s at today, it’s hasn’t been an easy road: “It takes so much time, from once you leave a cult to actually recover.
You know, I would say that I only started feeling normal literally about seven years after I left and it’s only been about eight years now.”
I find Carli to be remarkably brave in having self-published a book about her experiences. She has already had to face the leader of this group in court once, where she and her ex-husband Michael represented themselves in the case. That matter was settled with judgement eventually being made in favour of Carli and the other defendants, and while Fairfax and News Limited agreed to take down the articles in question “to get the settlement done”, they did not have to agree to any retractions. In that case, Justice Jean Dalton said of the plaintiff, quote, “I found her evidence deliberately prevaricating and at times demonstrably untrue”.
Carli is now a woman on a mission, and has found amazing strength within herself:
“Pretty much from the time I came out, I realised I had hit rock bottom, there was only one way and that was up. I had no money, no career. I was rebuilding my whole life and that of my three children, and I guess the phrase that keeps coming to me is ‘the truth hurts’, and I don’t have to do anything to her other than tell the truth. And I’m able to do that because of the judgement in our favour. I am absolutely not fearful of her in any respect because what I’ve got in my book is the complete truth, and you know, no matter what happens I’ve got that. And truth does bring you freedom. I know that going through the courts and bringing evidence to the table, and the truth, that’s ultimately what will win and bring justice.”
Carli McConkey’s book ‘The Cult Effect’, is available via Amazon and Booktopia, and you can find out more at her website carlimcconkey.com.
If you’d like to hear more of Carli’s story, you can do so in Universal Knowledge, episode 5 of Let’s Talk About Sects — below, on all of the major podcasting apps and via www.ltaspod.com.
If you’ve been personally affected by involvement in a cult, or would like to support those who have been, you can find support or donate to Cult Information and Family Support if you’re in Australia (via www.cifs.org.au), and you can find resources outside of Australia with the International Cultic Studies Association (via www.icsahome.com).
Natasha Lakaev's evidence 'deliberately untrue', says judge
By Michael Bachelard, The Sydney Morning Herald. 13 October 2014
Four years ago I wrote a story in The Sunday Age about a brave young woman who had been trapped in a small, northern-NSW new-age cult for 12 years.
She'd lost that portion of her life, as well as hundreds of thousands of dollars, both buying useless courses and in direct payments to the cult leader, Natasha Lakaev.
She'd been hit, dominated, humiliated, worked without pay for up to 22 hours a day and, when I spoke to her, was still frightened that the end of the world was nigh. She'd had her tubes tied because she believed what Lakaev had told her: that she was a "human f--k up" who could not properly look after her three children. She grieved over the daughter she'd never have.
But, unlike most victims of cults, this young woman - I will not name her because she has been through enough already - was courageous enough to want to tell all this to the world. She wanted to warn others about Lakaev, and to say out loud that she was no longer afraid of her.
I had written already about the Exclusive Brethren so had some knowledge of the subject, and wanted to help her do this. I also wanted to use her case to explain to my readers how cults recruit the young, the clever, the searching, and then proceed to grind them down.
In the research for the story, I found out that Lakaev was working as a registered psychologist for a Queensland government health centre on the Gold Coast, looking after patients she herself had described as vulnerable. I wrote about that, too.
I also found out she was litigious and had sued former cult members for allegedly writing about her on internet forums after she had legally forced a website to reveal the identities of its users. She had also sued A Current Affair for an earlier story. The result was that many adverse stories about her were not available.
She sent a warning letter to Google trying to have adverse mentions of her removed. She was adept, in other words, at cleansing her online image.
You cannot read my stories online any more either. Fairfax Media has removed them as part of a legal settlement with Lakaev reached in the early hours of Wednesday morning that ends the four-year defamation case she launched against Fairfax as well as News Limited - which wrote wrote a follow-up story to mine - me personally and two of the people quoted in the stories.
After four years of dragging this case through the courts, and hundreds of thousands of dollars in expenses, Lakaev had her day in court this week. It was to argue to the Queensland Supreme Court for yet another delay, after she had failed properly to prepare for a four-week jury trial. It turns out that she'd made little real effort to do anything at all to prepare.
Her tactics, perhaps, were simply to delay so long, piling the emotional pressure on people she had already systematically victimised once, to wring a financial settlement out of Fairfax and the other defendants.
It did not work. In court, applying for the adjournment. The judge said that: "The plaintiff prevaricated, talked in circumlocutions, and otherwise tried to avoid anything that might do otherwise than bolster a case."
And again: "I found her evidence deliberately prevaricating and at times demonstrably untrue during the course of this adjournment application."
The judge refused the adjournment application and told Lakaev to be ready to conduct the trial by herself, starting next week. Confronted with the reality of running the case, Lakaev began negotiating to settle.
Settlement was reached on the basis that nothing of what my stories said, nor what my brave subject was willing and able to prove in court, was retracted.
Fairfax agreed to take down our articles to get the settlement done, but nothing says we cannot write another account of events. No money changed hands.
Judgment was entered against Lakaev and for the defendants. According to the law, Fairfax, the brave young woman and her former husband, our other co-defendants and I, won the case.
What do we make of all this?
Defamation law, in the hands of a highly determined and litigious individual, is a powerful deterrent to public-interest journalism. Fairfax and News Limited stood ready to prove every one of the things we wrote about Lakaev, but it took four expensive years even to get to the door of the court. Then, but for the good sense of the judge it might have taken 18 months more. We will receive nothing back from the investment of hundreds of thousands of dollars spent preparing our case. It is unlikely Lakaev could have met our costs, she was hoping she was the one who'd get the payout. Lesser organisations or individuals, once their research revealed how litigious she is, may have pulled back from publishing a story that was clearly in the public interest.
When we talk about the demise of well-funded commercial media, this is one of the potential casualties.
And, finally, to the American ballet school that Lakaev is suing: hang tough. She spends a lot of time shaping up to people through the courts, but under cross-examination she's not much of a witness.
Alleged cult leader to settle defamation claims out of court
BROKE and faced with having to represent herself in a defamation lawsuit against some of Australia's most powerful media organisations, the leader of alleged Burringbar-based cult Universal Knowledge opted to settle out of court.
By Chris Calcino, The Courier Mail. 11 October 2014
Natasha Lakaev took to task Fairfax-owned newspaper The Age and News Ltd publication the Gold Coast Bulletin over articles allegedly stating she had led a cult which used mind control techniques to coerce financial gain from vulnerable members.
In ruling in their favour, Justice Jean Dalton accepted the evidence former cult members Carli McConkey and Michael Greene had given.
She said Ms Lakaev's evidence was "deliberately prevaricating and at times demonstrably untrue" in rejecting her application for adjournment so she could muster the funds to hire legal representation.
Ms Lakaev, who gave her occupation as "clinical psychologist", could only afford to secure barrister Peter Travis to seek an adjournment to the case - one Justice Dalton said would likely have lasted up to 18 months.
Mr Travis said Ms Lakaev hoped to sell her Burringbar property "Omaroo" - a 100ha former headquarters for Universal Knowledge at 105 Hunter St - in order to afford adequate legal representation.
The property recently failed to sell at auction and has been on the market continuously since 2009 for prices ranging between $1.2 million and $3.3 million.
Ms Lakaev said a meditation school had shown interest but nothing was set in stone.
Another waterfront unit in a Burleigh Heads high rise is on the market due to Ms Lakaev owing more than $600,000 to the Commonwealth Bank.
The Age journalist Michael Bachelard and former Gold Coast Bulletin reporter Anne-Louise Brown also were named as defendants in the lawsuit. Each also had judgment entered in their favour against Ms Lakaev.
Former Universal Knowledge member Carli McConkey, an interview subject of the articles, and her husband Michael Greene also faced defamation claims over the articles.
Ms McConkey told the court Ms Lakaev's assertion she had only been involved in one prior lawsuit was a lie.
"Before she started Universal Knowledge, she had a company called the Hospitality Training Group… and I know she had court cases to do with that and judgment handed down in the New South Wales Supreme Court," she said.
She further stated Ms Lakaev had filed lawsuits following a 1998 feature on A Current Affair "claiming she was a cult leader and conned people into handing over" large sums of money.
Ms McConkey said another lawsuit from insurance company ING stemmed from dishonest income protection claims Ms Lakaev made about her former partner, referred to as "Nick", "who had run away and come back and was not well at all and was in a mental institution".
She said Ms Lakaev asked her to forge cheques of up to $45,000 "to prove he was getting paid, when he wasn't".
He has since died.
Ms Lakaev said medical issues would make representing herself difficult but did not give any accounts from doctors.
"I had an accident a few years ago and some of my very specific memories from some events aren't there," she said.
Ms Lakaev, who had two of her closest supporters Christopher Wellington and Keicha Adams watching from the public gallery, held her face in her hands as the court denied her application for an adjournment.
Justice Dalton said she should not be rewarded for trying "to avoid anything that might do otherwise than bolster her case" in her evidence, especially since she had initiated the court case and had twice refused the defendants when they applied for an adjournment.
Wednesday morning's sitting lasted only a few minutes, following the previous night's settlement, with Justice Dalton entering judgment in favour of all of the defendants.
Ex-alleged cult members 'sleep well' with court case over
By Chris Calcino, The Daily Telegraph. 11 October 2014
FORMER members of alleged Burringbar cult Universal Knowledge said they would "sleep very well" after winning a defamation case brought against them on the first day of court.
Carli McConkey and Michael Greene faced a four-week jury trial with two of Australia's biggest media organisations on their side.
The woman they once looked to as a spiritual leader, Natasha Lakaev, bowed out of the legal battle she herself initiated just a few hours after the first day in court ended.
The legal team for media companies News Ltd and Fairfax sat down at the negotiating table with a powerful bargaining chip on their side.
Ms Lakaev had been denied an adjournment, likely to last 18 months, and claimed she could not afford to hire a $4000-a-day barrister for a four-week trial.
A month earlier, Ms Lakaev and her then lawyer had opposed an adjournment application the defendants sought in an attempt to apply financial pressure to force the defendants to offer her money.
All parties agreed to pay their own legal costs and were free to discuss the settlement terms after Ms Lakaev failed in her attempt to impose a gag order.
No money changed hands between the parties.
Ms McConkey and Mr Greene said they could not be happier. Nor could their son Sebastian McConkey-Greene, who watched from the public gallery as the judge ruled in his parents' favour.
"We're relieved. We're thrilled," Ms McConkey said.
"We've been in this court case for three years.
"A lot of hard work and effort has gone into this. It has been physically and mentally draining."
The negotiations started at 5.30pm after the first day of the court case and ended at 11.30pm.
Ms McConkey first became involved with Ms Lakaev as a 21-year-old after meeting a recruitment agent for Universal Knowledge, which then existed under the name Life Integration Programmes, at the 1996 Mind Body Spirit Festival in Sydney.
She became one of the group's closest disciples and remained a member for 13-and-a-half years.
She also met her husband, a fellow member, through the group and together they had three children.
One of the articles which sparked the defamation case spoke of mind control techniques, claims the world would end in December, 2012, and Ms McConkey being convinced to under go sterilisation in the belief she was an unfit mother to her sons.
Members paid $10,000 to undergo courses supposed to lead to spiritual growth.
Both Mr Greene and Ms McConkey now hold stable jobs and were eager to get back to work.
Ms McConkey plans to write about her experience.
"We're very happy the judgment was handed down to dismiss her adjournment, because that would have put undue stress on us that we didn't need," Mr Greene said.
"I will sleep very well tonight.
"We might go out, have a really nice dinner to celebrate our success and let it all sink in."
In thrall to a cult: how the unwary fall victim to mind
Carli McConkey lost 13 years of her life, and hundreds of thousands of dollars, to a New Age cult. Michael Bachelard investigates.
By Michael Bachelard, The Sunday Age. 17 October 2010
AS SHE left university to make her way in the world, Carli McConkey suffered all the workaday self-doubts. She believed she was overweight, was unsure of her chosen career and was worried about finding Mr Right. She was disillusioned with Catholicism and craved spiritual fulfilment. She was also bright, popular, academically successful. After she organised the 1995 orientation week at her university, a careers adviser wrote: "Carli is my idea of an outstanding Australian".
Thirteen years later, McConkey is broke and exhausted. She has been beaten up and has mistreated others. She has spent years estranged from her parents, neglected her children, misled the courts and has worked as a virtual slave. Fixed in her mind is the fear that in December 2012 the world will come to an end and all but a few of us will die. At 35, she is also sterile, having been persuaded to undergo a tubal ligation in the belief that she was an unfit mother to her three sons.
Carli McConkey is not mentally ill. Neither drugs nor alcohol has led her to this point. Instead, in 1996 she joined a New Age personal development group called Universal Knowledge, seeking clarity. Once McConkey converted to its aims, the group's leader, Natasha Lakaev, manipulated her, hit her, took hundreds of thousands of dollars from her, and worked her without pay for up to 22 hours a day, seven days a week.
McConkey spent the best years of her life in a cult. She only escaped earlier this year. What's frightening about her story is that this could happen to any of us.
Clinical Professor Doni Whitsett of the University of Southern California has been working with victims of cults and their families for 20 years. Carli's is "a tragic textbook case", she says.
Cults vary in theology and practice, but all employ similar techniques to recruit the unwary. Scientology uses the free personality test to suggest everyone has deficiencies that Scientology can best address; the Australian cult Kenja uses circus classes and the promise of counselling and personal growth; and the commune-based Australian group Jesus People uses the promise of a purer form of Christianity.
Natasha Lakaev used a mish-mash of New Age theories and therapies, an end-times philosophy based on environmental disaster, and a powerful personality.
Lakaev vehemently denies all allegations, saying she does not run a cult and that McConkey is unstable. What she ran was "just a series of workshops", she says. But for well over a decade, a growing number of former acolytes have emerged with identical stories of a high-pressure, abusive organisation.
Most of us find it hard to believe that anybody could allow themselves to be brainwashed in the way McConkey claims. But Whitsett says people do not join cults, they are systematically recruited, often by charismatic narcissists whose need for adulation gives them the power to manipulate others. Their victims are not mentally ill or stupid. They are often of higher-than-average intelligence, but they have vulnerabilities that the leader exploits and amplifies using powerful techniques known as "coercive persuasion" or "mind control". And like religious cults, personal development cults target people looking for guidance.
McConkey was 21 when she encountered a recruiter for Universal Knowledge, then known as Life Integration Programmes, at the 1996 Mind Body Spirit Festival in Sydney. "I was a bit lost . . . and I was definitely searching," she says. "I just wanted to have a psychic reading to have a bit of clarity on my direction . . . and [the reader] said basically, 'This course has everything you need to get over your insecurities, to build your self-esteem, get financial freedom, a great relationship' . . . The brochure said over 10,000 people have done the course. It all appeared very legitimate."
According to Whitsett, McConkey was vulnerable to these suggestions in part simply because she was in her early 20s the transition from adolescence to adulthood. "When people are 'searching', they are in an existential crisis, looking for answers to the great questions: 'Who am I? What is life all about?' They are . . . willing to suspend their own worldview and their own ideas for another that seems more promising."
McConkey took her discovery of Lakaev's northern NSW-based group as a metaphysical "sign". She immediately signed up to the course, "The Next Evolutionary Step".
In person, Lakaev was sexy, powerful, charismatic. She told attendees to keep an open mind, to "leave your logic at the door", to avoid "judgmentalism" a technique cults use to silence the internal voice of reason. She introduced the group to a technique called "accessing" beating a black mat and yelling frustrations at parents, friends, teachers. She told them they needed to cleanse their "cellular memory" of the impurities of this and past lives, and those of their ancestors. They must live by "intuition" alone and if they did, they could "manifest" (or make) things happen in the real world. Wealth, happiness, success, relationships could all be "manifested" by the truly intuitive or "super-intelligent".
To McConkey it was inspiring. And though she had been told that the first course would fix everything, at the end the group was informed that to become fully "integrated", there were no fewer than 17 other courses, all at considerable expense, to do.
"It's a bait and switch," says Whitsett. People who believe an organisation to be credible and moderate have little fear of it, and can be drawn in further. Only later are they introduced to its more dangerous (and often more expensive) elements.
Melbourne woman Madeline Hardess, a university student and former private school captain, was lured into the Jesus People in 2004 by a man she met on a dating website. He did not initially mention that the three-bedroom house he lived in was actually a commune of up to 25 people, including two families of five.
He also did not reveal that, for food, they begged compost from grocery stores and ate the less putrid scraps. Nor did he say that the women were often beaten and yelled at. Only after a series of revelations over eight months did the truth sink in. By the time it did, Hardess was engaged and was convinced that people on the outside were corrupt or evil. She wore a headscarf to signify her subservience to the men.
"Through that period you're so excited that you've found this new thing that you don't even question that much," she said.
"But then . . . it became a lot more intense and you had to quash thoughts . . . I used to be a feminist, but then you get to the point where you're not even allowed to shake men's hands."
For McConkey, the first Life Integration course convinced her she had dozens of "issues". She immediately signed up for two more. At the next course, "The Final Step", 70 people went to a rural property in a bus with the windows blacked out. They handed over phones, wallets and identification. Their "self" was being removed, as was any means of escape. For a week they were yelled at, punished, pressured to complete tasks in a short time. In the attempt to "cleanse" themselves, they were made to go hungry, and would often only get two hours of sleep a night. They paraded naked in front of the group, which McConkey found humiliating.
The next course was even more extreme. Called "Personal Mastery and Metaphysical Counselling", it cost $10,000 and lasted a year. It featured a punishing daily regime including a strict vegan diet, a daily 10-kilometre run and drinking two litres of fruit juice.
"These techniques appear to be for health reasons but they actually have the effect of debilitation," says Whitsett. "They reduce the person's ability to think critically, to reason, and when people are so weak the 'self' is impaired, they are easier to control and manipulate."
McConkey recalls seeing visions of "spirits" what Whitsett says were probably hallucinations or "waking dreams" caused by lack of sleep.
Lakaev disputes these details, saying the vegan diet was only for a short time. One year's program, she admits, became "quite extreme" but she had tried to "settle it down".
Always a conscientious student, McConkey was desperate to succeed. But Lakaev's comments to her and others were 90 per cent negative, convincing them they needed to work harder.
Adrian Norman, a former member of Sydney cult Kenja, said an apparently random reward-punishment system kept him on edge for years. "You were built up as wonderful . . . and then a week or two later you are the worst person in the world and disgusting and smelly and no one would ever want to be with you. It's like couples in abusive relationships you go into a state of hyper-awareness and you can't think critically because you don't know if you're going to be attacked."
Whitsett says this "continuous barrage of attacks on the 'self' keeps the person in a continuous state of failure, of low self-esteem, and attached to the cult".
"They want to improve, to be better people, but they can never live up to the impossible standards set by the leader."
Cult members are also often deliberately disoriented, and outside influences removed to reduce their ability to distinguish what's normal. McConkey says Lakaev insisted that she renounce her parents and never discuss anything that happened on the courses claims Lakaev denies. But Carli's mother, Robyn, remembers: "You'd just talk generally and she couldn't answer any simple questions because it pertained to what was happening up there, and it was all so secret. So there gradually just came a line where you didn't know what to talk about any more."
A Melbourne family, who wish to remain anonymous, say their son is being recruited by the Jehovah's Witnesses and they are watching him drift away from them as the cult's persuasive techniques prove "more powerful than the love of the family".
"To have a heartfelt relationship with one of your children and then to have a superficial, plastic relationship, it's gut-wrenching," says the father.
Cults also try to make it hard to find external, verifiable information. Lakaev uses lawyers to vigorously patrol public comment about her. She has legally pressured Google to remove links to websites critical of her and she is suing some former members for defamation over information they published on blogs.
Once Lakaev's disciples were hooked, their critical faculties broken down and their outside support cut off, Lakaev revealed her more extreme theology. McConkey says she claimed to be a reincarnation of Jesus Christ, and one of the 12 members on the Intergalactic Council of the Universe. She came from the "Bird Tribes" from a different dimension and she remembered all her past lives. In one of them she had been Queen of Atlantis. McConkey was told by Lakaev she had been a "lady in waiting" in Atlantis and she felt she was put on earth to serve her.
Lakaev also claimed "spirit guides" who live in the sky told her what to do. This gave her divine authority when she insisted that the planet would soon be destroyed and most people would perish. Lakaev, though, would survive with her followers and become the dominant political figure. Cult leaders often describe their god-like powers, saying that theirs is the power of life and death. A number of sources back up McConkey's claims, but Lakaev concedes only that "spirit guides" sometimes give her "very clear thoughts", and that, "from where I sit there are other dimensions that exist".
Of the other claims, though: "I do not consider myself the reincarnation of anything . . . There's no such thing as 12 members on an intergalactic council. These are just stories that we talked about, just stories to describe things and discuss things . . . They're just metaphors."
The end of the world, she claims, was not a prophecy. Her "survival" course was simply designed to help people cope if the worst did happen. McConkey vehemently stands by her version.
In her 13 years with Lakaev, McConkey completed 15 courses, some more than once, spending $41,395 on fees, much of it begged or borrowed from her parents. She met a man, Michael, and married him. He spent $34,540 on fees. Lakaev insinuated herself into every aspect of McConkey's life. She was maid of honour at Carli and Michael's wedding. McConkey insisted that Lakaev, rather than her own mother, an experienced midwife, assist at the birth of her children.
In December 1999, McConkey began working for Lakaev in the office without wages, and also cleaning and maintaining her properties. She and Michael bought a share in Lakaev's company, Universal Knowledge, for $20,000, believing they were buying equity, securing their future. They received nothing in return. Company documents show $420,000 was raised from investors in this manner, and Lakaev admits none have seen a return.
Lakaev later came up with spurious excuses to make McConkey and her husband pay her a further $140,000, claiming they were debts they owed. Both worked second and third jobs to pay this back. McConkey estimates that Lakaev owes them another $440,000 for their free labour over nine years.
Lakaev also convinced McConkey to seek an apprehended violence order against her parents and her brother. The court rejected the applications after McConkey gave misleading evidence. Lakaev claims instead that she had tried to help McConkey reconcile with her parents.
McConkey and her husband had more than one period apart as they dealt with the psychological and financial pressures imposed by Lakaev. In the meantime, McConkey says she was psychologically abused and physically assaulted by Lakaev, and was separated from her sons because Lakaev convinced her she was a "human f--- up". Lakaev also once beat McConkey's young son with a wooden spoon, she says.
Lakaev denies any physical abuse, saying McConkey was the violent one, who had "done some very strange things with her kids". "She's going to end up in court herself . . . Carli's one of these girls who goes to psychics 24/7; she's not really that stable."
Lakaev's supporters, who phoned The Sunday Age after my interview with her last week, said Lakaev was the victim of jealousy because she was a strong, independent businesswoman. They said they had seen McConkey leaving her young children home alone when she went to work. McConkey admits neglecting her children at times, but says she was forced to in the attempt to fulfil Lakaev's demands.
For 13 years she stayed in thrall to the cult, living on or near Lakaev's northern NSW property, Omaroo. The promise of "survival", the hope of financial reward (from her shareholding in Universal Knowledge), and the occasional compliment was enough to keep her loyal. But in March 2009, in a state of exhaustion, McConkey agreed to something she will regret forever.
"After the birth of my first son, from age 27, Natasha would tell me I was abusive, a liar and a manipulator and I shouldn't look after any children. She started saying, 'You should get sterilised'," McConkey recalls.
"After eight years, two more children and being repeatedly told to get sterilised, I gave in. I was separated from my husband at that time and I just knew I wouldn't be able to cope with another child in that environment and I thought, 'Well, I'll just do it now'."
McConkey is strong. Many former cult members can never speak about their experiences. But after just nine months away from Lakaev, she held her nerve throughout her account to me. When she tells me about the sterilisation though, the tears flow.
"The doctor said, 'Are you sure you want to do this? You've still got 10 years of fertility left'. I said, 'No, it's what I want'. But it wasn't.
Someone else had placed that idea in my head. I did it purely for her, to be able to focus more on her and her needs . . .
"After I left this year, I was in the girls' clothing section at Big W and I just had to really grieve that I wasn't able to have a little girl."
McConkey says the process of cult indoctrination had led her, inch by inch, to a place she could never have imagined. But Lakaev denies having any role in McConkey's decision. "I was a friend of Carli's . . . We had a symbiotic relationship," Lakaev says.
Finally, in January this year, McConkey could handle no more. She picked up her children and drove away into what she believed was certain death at doomsday. "I was exhausted, had been beaten up again and was unable to cope with any more psychological and emotional pressure. I just said to myself, 'I don't care if I die in two years' time, I would prefer to be free and enjoy my children'."
The feeling of freedom was almost immediate. But McConkey deals with shame and guilt over things she has done to her children, her family, her husband and other cult members. Some family members still will not talk to her. And she finds it difficult to plan for anything after armageddon, which Lakaev prophesied would be December 12, 2012.
"I believe about 50 per cent that 'Survival' is going to happen and I just hope that it's not going to," McConkey says. "If I wake up on the 13th [of December] and nothing has happened I'm just going to celebrate and hope to God that whoever is still caught up with that woman is just going to get up and leave."
People sometimes ask why cult members do not simply exercise their free will and run away. But Kenja escapee Adrian Norman says his free will was reduced to a "pilot light" while in the cult. Mind control techniques are subtle and powerful. They turn your own mind against you.
"Prison walls and chains are not necessary when one believes these things," says Whitsett.
The good news is people can escape and recover, and McConkey is determined to do so. "I go through bouts of feeling really down but I know I can get out of them because I don't want to be depressed any more . . . I still feel angry, but I don't feel as much fear."
Alleged leader of cult works as psychologist
A WOMAN accused of leading a cult that has damaged the lives of scores of people is working as a psychologist with vulnerable patients at a community mental health service in Queensland.
By Michael Bachelard, The Sunday Age. 17 October 2010
Natasha Lakaev’s Universal Knowledge organisation was offering courses until last year that prophesied the world would end in December 2012 and almost everyone except her devotees would die.
A former member of her inner circle, Carli McConkey, has told The Sunday Age that Ms Lakaev was physically violent and psychologically manipulative, and had persuaded her followers that she was the Queen of Atlantis, a reincarnation of Jesus Christ, and one of 12 members of the Intergalactic Council of the Universe.
Ms Lakaev is now working as a government-employed psychologist at the Ashmore Community Mental Health Service near Surfers Paradise.
However, after The Sunday Age raised questions about her history, Queensland Health agreed to investigate the claims against her, and invited ‘‘anyone with concerns’’ to raise them with authorities.
Ms Lakaev denies all the claims of her former followers, saying she did not run a cult, had never been violent, and the theological claims were merely ‘‘metaphors’’, adding, ‘‘this stuff has been taken completely out of context’’.
Complaints against her by former acolytes have been investigated once by Queensland’s health regulator, but no action taken. The national health regulator will not comment except to say Ms Lakaev ‘‘has current registration and is therefore deemed fit to practise’’.
Ms Lakaev’s lawyers wrote last December that she was working as a case manager.
‘‘A large proportion of her clients are often initially highly unstable with disorders such as schizophrenia, delusional disorders, major depression, major anxiety and personality disorders,’’ the letter said. ‘‘Forensic clients with homicidal backgrounds are also present on the clinic client list.’’
Ms Lakaev has faced criticism for more than a decade about the extreme practices on her courses, and accusations that she was a practitioner of ‘‘coercive persuasion’’ or mind control techniques.
Ms McConkey, who spent 13 years under Ms Lakaev’s sway and only escaped in January this year, said Ms Lakaev had hit her and exploited her.
Ms McConkey lived on or near Ms Lakaev’s northern NSW property, Omaroo, near Burringbar, for many years, and during that time handed over $140,000 and spent nine years working without pay in her office.
‘‘Natasha Lakaev should in no way be a registered psychologist,’’ Ms McConkey said.
Ms Lakaev’s business, Universal Knowledge, is styled as a new age personal development course. It has not offered courses since last year, but the program promises to cleanse the ‘‘cellular memory’’ of its participants and help them take the ‘‘next evolutionary step’’ by lifting them into the fourth dimension.
Ms Lakaev told The Sunday Age she had not worked with the business for many years.
However, she founded the business in 1999 and she is listed on the website as ‘‘guiding individuals and groups for over 20 years in cellular memory cleansing’’. It is based at her property and is run by one of her devotees, and she and her children own 75 per cent of the shares.
She begged The Sunday Age not to refer to her work at Ashmore. She said: ‘‘I don’t harm people, I’m really good at my job, my clients are fine, my patients are fine.’’