In this episode, Kacey interviews Amir, a former Scientology executive from Scotland who says he escaped in January after four years in Scientology.Amir describes a normal pre-Scientology life and explains that modern recruitment emphasises self-help books, stress/personality tests, courses, and front groups rather than overt sci‑fi beliefs, while internal operations follow outdated Hubbard-era policies.After taking an initial communications course, Amir rapidly increased course participation, was recruited onto staff, and by 2024 was running major functions at the Edinburgh org, sacrificing time, friends, and education while keeping involvement from family. Reassigned to PR, he ran social media and public outreach, heard growing criticism, contacted protesters, and appeared on a critic's channel.Amir says this triggered intelligence scrutiny, two weeks of interrogation, pay penalties, shunning, and forced manual labor, prompting him to gather evidence and leave via an emergency exit, later facing disconnection and monitoring. He advises offering leavers support and compassion.

LISTEN TO MY NEW 11-PART INVESTIGATIVE PODCAST SERIES HERE! In this episode, Kacey interviews author and speaker Raylynn Van Oort about her memoir, From Shit to Sunshine, which recounts how childhood experiences with a controlling stepfather primed her for manipulation by a charismatic preacher-politician who claimed to speak for God and eventually claimed to be God. After meeting him at McDonald’s, she became his unpaid campaign manager/executive director, was isolated from family, coerced into surrendering money and using credit cards in members’ names, and endured coercive control, public humiliation, beatings, and forced “med runs” to obtain drugs and alcohol during a period he called “atonement.”She was ultimately arrested for writing bad checks for the group, spent 13 months jail-hopping, and found her first physical safety behind bars, though mental freedom came years later; in 2010 she named it a cult, sought specialised therapy after appearing on Dr. Phil, and spent five years in intensive recovery. She now promotes hope through speaking and book events, calls herself a “hope hooker,” and the book is available in print and audio narrated by her.Raylynn's Website - From Shit to Sunshine: Raylynn Van Oort's Inspiring Journey

CLICK HEAR TO LISTEN TO MY NEW 11-PART INVESTIGATION SERIES INTO LIANA SHANTI!In this episode, Kacey interviews Bloomberg investigative journalist Ellen Huet, author of Empire of Orgasm, about OneTaste and its founder Nicole Daedone.Huet explains how Daedone rebranded a partnered clitoral-stroking practice into trademarked “Orgasmic Meditation” in 2004 and marketed it through Silicon Valley-era mindfulness, wellness, and “girlboss” culture as a life-transforming cure-all.Huet describes her reporting process, including interviewing 125+ people over five years, and alleges former members reported financial, psychological, and sexual exploitation, communal living, social isolation, and “assignments” tying sex to sales. She discusses Daedone’s shifting personal narrative and teachings rejecting victimhood, which former members found harmful. Huet recounts the FBI investigation, a 2023 forced-labor-conspiracy indictment of Daedone and Rachel Cherwitz, their 2025 Brooklyn trial and guilty verdicts, and their subsequent prison sentences.Ellen's Website - Ellen Huet

NEW 11-PART PODCAST SERIES "THE INSTASCAMMER" - THE INSTASCAMMERIn this episode, Kacey interviews author and journalist Priya Hutner about her memoir, Chasing Nirvana, and her experiences in the Kashi ashram led by a Brooklyn-born female guru known as Ma. Priya explains how her father brought the family into the New York-based spiritual community, which later centralised in Florida, and describes her dual life as a largely unsupervised teen in the city and later as a devoted adult who returned with her two sons seeking meaning and “enlightenment.” She outlines daily ashram life, Ma’s teachings, service work with people dying of AIDS, and the control, confusion, and moral complexity Priya faced as she rose to become CEO and Ma’s link to the outside world. Priya recounts her gradual exit, Ma’s death, ongoing contact with her mother who remains in the community, her current nature-based spirituality, and her book tour and song-titled chapters.Priya Hutner | Writer. Storyteller. Advocate for the Literary Arts

NEW 11-PART SERIES 'THE INSTASCAMMER' AVAILABLE NOWIn this episode, Kacey interviews author Ru Marshall about Ru's new book American Trickster: The Hidden Lives of Carlos Castaneda. Ru describes how decades-long curiosity about Castaneda led Ru to investigate after reading about the discovery of Nury Alexander’s skeleton and speaking with memoirist Amy Wallace. Ru outlines Castaneda’s rise after 1968’s The Teachings of Don Juan, the slow debunking of its anthropology claims, and the parallel development of a secretive high-control group that later publicised “Tensegrity,” promised ascension, concealed Castaneda’s liver cancer, and saw five women vanish after his 1997 death. Ru details interview-driven research, how UCLA dynamics and Harold Garfinkel aided credibility, and publishing battles including “cult wars,” UC Press resistance, and legal threats before OR Books released the book.Writing - Ru MarshallCRIMECON UK - www.crimecon.co.uk - USE CODE CULT FOR 10% DISCOUNT!

MY BRAND NEW 11-PART SERIES THE INSTASCAMMER - https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-instascammer--7247429In this episode, host Kacey interviews religious satirist and writer Becky Garrison about her book Gaslighting for God: A Satirical Guide to Save Yourself from Spiritual Narcissists A satirical, research-anchored consumer guide to recognising spiritual narcissists and knowing when to walk away. Garrison discusses her background, the Wittenberg Door satire magazine, family experiences with alcoholism and narcissism, and how awareness, trauma healing (including EMDR), and boundary-setting help people discern healthy communities from coercive, exploitative ones. She defines narcissism as a lack of empathy and explains spiritual narcissism as using religious or spiritual language to control others by threatening their souls. They cover love bombing, consent, online influencer culture, psychedelics and untrained facilitators, institutional religion’s decline, and practical red flags like intolerance of pushback, shaming, conditional belonging, and leader-centered control.Becky's Book - Gaslighting for God: A Satirical Guide to Save Yourself from Spiritual NarcissistsCRIMECON UK - www.crimecon.co.uk (USE CODE "CULT" FOR 10% OFF TICKETS)

CLICK HERE FOR MY NEW 11-PART PODCAST SERIES THE INSTASCAMMERIn today's episode, Kacey interviews retired journalist and University of Texas at Austin professor Robert Jensen, now living in rural northern New Mexico. Jensen discusses his wide-ranging books on feminism and pornography, race, anti-war responsibility, and ecology, and explains his new, more personal book, "This I Don’t Believe: A Fulfilling Life Without Meaning," reflecting on a traumatic, abusive childhood, vulnerability to cult-like certainty (including an Ayn Rand libertarian phase), and 17 years of therapy. He describes moments realising his family’s toxicity, work at a Benedictine monastery, and how coercive power dynamics appear in families, workplaces, churches, and cults.Jensen argues for facing grim realities without spiritual “anchors,” finding fulfillment through love, community, and practical shared work like communal irrigation-ditch cleaning, and notes the book is available via Amazon and his website excerpts.ROBERT JENSEN – Writer · Organizer · Retired Professorwww.crimecon.co.uk - USE CODE "CULT" FOR 10% DISCOUNT AT CHECKOUT!

THE INSTASCAMMER FULL SERIES HERE - Full INSTASCAMMER Podcast Feed!In today's episode, Cult Vault host Kacey interviews Richard Velazquez about being born into a strict Jehovah’s Witness upbringing in New York City. Richard describes his mother’s recruitment through door-to-door preaching and promises of paradise healing, family conflict with his non-JW father, and prohibitions on holidays and birthdays that fueled a “split personality” and fear-based childhood with corporal punishment.After his mother married an elder stepfather, he experienced severe abuse, leading to his father removing him at 11; subsequent instability included drug exposure, suicide attempts, and living on his own as a teen while selling drugs. Richard later became an adventure reality TV producer, struggled with long-term marijuana use, alcoholism and sexual addiction, then pursued sobriety, mindfulness training, and reconciliation with his mother, and now performs one-person storytelling shows in Los Angeles.Richard's Instagram - InstagramRichard's Show - TICKETSRichard's RISK Show - https://www.risk-show.com/

FULL SERIES - https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-instascammer--7247429No one expected it to happen online.This is where the story begins: how a wellness figure built a devoted following through juice cleanses, food protocols, and private groups full of encouragement and before-and-after photos. What started as health advice quietly became something people trusted with far more than their diets. In this opening episode we trace that rise — the language, the promises, and the community that formed around a single voice — and set out how the series approaches what came next.Sources & credits:Short third-party clips are used as brief excerpts for the purpose of criticism, comment and review under fair dealing (UK) / fair use (US). Each copyright holder is credited below.• Archive from Liana Shanti, Deep Throat: And By That I Mean Throat Chakra(“Episode One: Intro”), 2022. • Archive from ABC News (WABC-TV), World News Now, 2016.• Archive from Fox Business Network, Stossel, 2014.• Archive from Joe Cross, Fat, Sick & Nearly Dead, 2010.About this series:THE INSTASCAMMER is an audio documentary based on interviews, recordings, documents and public records. The experiences you hear are the accounts of the people who lived them. Where possible we distinguish personal testimony from expert opinion and verified records. Some names and identifying details have been changed to protect contributors and third parties. Any ongoing legal matters referenced are just that — ongoing; we do not speculate on outcomes, and nothing in this series should be understood as a statement of criminal guilt. When we use the term  “InstaScammer” we are not alleging a criminal conviction.Have you experienced something like this?Support & resources:If anything in this episode resonates with your own experience, you are not alone, and help is available.• Recovering from a cult or coercive group: R.A.I.S.E. CIC (UK) — cultic-abuse support and peer-led recovery — recoverautonomy.org.• Internationally: the International Cultic Studies Association — internationalculticstudies.org, [email protected].• If you’ve lost a loved one to a cult or coercion: The Family Survival Trust (UK) — thefamilysurvivaltrust.org/support.• Childhood or sexual abuse: US — RAINN, 1-800-656-4673 (24/7). UK — NAPAC, 0808801 0331.• In emotional distress or crisis (including suicidal thoughts): UK & ROI — Samaritans,free on 116 123, 24/7. US — 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline, call or text 988, 24/7.• Domestic abuse or coercive control: UK — National Domestic Abuse Helpline (Refuge),0808 2000 247, 24/7. US — National Domestic Violence Hotline, 1-800-799-7233.(If you are in immediate danger, contact your local emergency number.)Verification & evidence: Much of what is described in this series is supported by recordings, documents, court filings and public records. If you are a journalist, researcher, or someone personally affected and you would like to verify what you’ve heard, you can reach the production at [email protected] note on names:To protect the privacy and safety of contributors and their families, some names and identifying details have been changed. Where individuals appear under their real names, they have consented to do so.

In this week's episode, host Kacey interviews cybersecurity professional Cheryl (Cyber Chick Boston) about her family’s experience when her niece became involved in the Twin Flames Universe. Cheryl explains the group’s origins under Jeff (Jeff Allen/Jeff Devine) and Shaleia (Megan), its online course-and-coaching business model likened to an MLM, escalating paid tiers, free labour, a “church” for tax advantages, and coercive tactics including forced pairings and gender transition.Cheryl’s family hired a cult consultant, contacted ex-members, police, FBI, and journalist Alice Hynes, and used supportive contact to keep ties. Cheryl's niece suffered severe mental and physical decline, before returning home in 2022–2023, stayed partly involved until stopping completely in 2025; Cheryl now runs a YouTube channel to raise awareness and advise families to stay connected and nonjudgmental.Cheryl's Channel - http://www.youtube.com/@CyberchickBostonAmazon Series - Watch Desperately Seeking Soulmate: Escaping Twin Flames Universe - Season 1 | Prime VideoCrimecon UK - www.crimecon.co.uk (use code CULT for a 10% discount!)