CultNEWS101 Articles: 1/23/2026

[Patrick Ryan]

Here is a summary of the latest news reports and articles related to cults, religious movements, and legal developments:

BDG: New Report Details Abuse in Shambhala USA Lawsuit in Vermont

"A report filed with the Vermont Superior Court in December 2025 alleges that the Shambhala Buddhist organization fostered a decades-long culture in which the sexual abuse of children and minors was ignored, normalized, or actively concealed. The filing forms part of a civil lawsuit brought by a former Halifax resident against Shambhala USA and a former Shambhala employee, John Weber.

The lawsuit, first filed in May 2020, alleges that in 1983, when the plaintiff was 15 years old, he was sexually abused by Weber at Karmê Chöling, a Shambhala-owned meditation retreat center in Barnet, Vermont. According to the complaint, the plaintiff arrived early for a retreat during spring break and was told that accommodation was not yet available. The suit alleges that Weber invited the minor to stay overnight in his loft, which had only one bed, and that sexual abuse occurred there."

AP: Judge allows members of Zizians group to work together on defense ahead of Maryland trial

Three members of the Zizians, a cultlike group linked to six deaths across the U.S., have been granted permission to work together for their upcoming trial.

"Three members of the Zizians, a cultlike group linked to six deaths across the U.S., were granted permission Friday to work together in preparation for their upcoming trial on trespassing, weapons and drug charges.

Jack LaSota, Michelle Zajko and Daniel Blank are among a group of young, highly intelligent computer scientists drawn together by radical beliefs about veganism, gender identity and artificial intelligence.

Authorities have described LaSota, a transgender woman known as Ziz, as the apparent leader of the “extremist group.” Since 2022, Zizians have been tied to the death of one of their own during an attack on a California landlord, the landlord’s subsequent killing, the deaths of Zajko’s parents in Pennsylvania, and a highway shootout in Vermont that left another member and a U.S. Border Patrol agent dead.

LaSota, Zajko and Blank were arrested in February after a property owner said he found them living in box trucks on his land in Frostburg, Maryland. Zajko was charged in Vermont with lying on her application to buy the gun used to kill agent David Maland in January 2025, while LaSota faces separate federal charges of being an armed fugitive.

On her way into the courthouse Friday, LaSota accused prosecutors of pressuring the trio to commit perjury by accepting plea deals and said, “They’re violating our speedy trial rights.” Friday’s hearing was supposed to include discussions of the trio’s motions to dismiss the charges and logistics of the trial that begins Feb. 9. Much of the agenda was postponed until Jan. 30 after Zajko indicated a desire to fire her attorney.

Earlier, Allegany County Circuit Court Judge Michael Twigg agreed to allow the trio to work together on their defense. Since their arrest, LaSota and Blank have been allowed to meet, but Zajko was kept apart in what she described as “absurdly difficult circumstances.”

When the prosecutor told the judge he had reason to believe the three had already been communicating amongst themselves, LaSota interjected, “In the car ride here!”

“We should be able to talk to each other without being recorded and without fear of our notes being intercepted,” LaSota said."

LA Times: Fifth person arrested in murders connected to cult-like Inland Empire group

"A 44-year-old man was arrested in Tennessee this week in connection with the killing of a missing member of a “cult-like” religious group in the Inland Empire, authorities said.

Ramon Ruiz Duran Jr., 44, was captured in Nashville on Jan. 12 and booked into a San Bernardino jail on suspicion of murder and conspiracy to commit murder in connection with the 2023 disappearance and death of Emilio Ghanem, according to a news release issued from the Redlands Police Department. Duran Jr. will appear in a San Bernardino courtroom on Wednesday, records show.

Ghanem was a longtime member of “His Way Spirit Led Assemblies,” a religious group based in Colton and Hemet that has been linked to a number of deaths and disappearances. State and local authorities have arrested five members of the group in total, including its two leaders, in connection with the killings of Ghanem and a 4-year-old boy named Timothy Thomas.

It was not immediately clear if Duran Jr. had legal representation. Authorities did not describe his alleged role in Ghanem’s death."

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