Harvey Weinstein guilty of sexual assault, Rise and Fall of an American Cult in The Oracle's Daughter, ‘Murder cult leader’ behind alleged neo-Nazi plot to poison students at Brooklyn Jewish schools

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Harvey Weinstein guilty of sexual assault, Rise and Fall of an American Cult in The Oracle's Daughter, ‘Murder cult leader’ behind alleged neo-Nazi plot to poison students at Brooklyn Jewish schools

 

 

Harvey Weinstein guilty of sexual assault after New York retrial  11 June 2025 Madeline Halpert BBC News, New York Harvey Weinstein has been found guilty of sexual assault in New York, after his sex crimes conviction in the state was overturned last year.
A panel of seven female and five male jurors deliberated for five days in the six-week trial before unanimously voting to convict the disgraced film mogul on one of three counts. The jury found him not guilty of an additional sexual assault charge, and has yet to return a verdict on a charge of rape. The conviction is in addition to a 16-year sentence that Weinstein has yet to serve after being convicted of sex crimes in Los Angeles.
The trial was based on the testimony of three women - former television production assistant Miriam Haley, actress Jessica Mann, and model Kaja Sokola. All three accused Weinstein of using his power in the entertainment industry to sexually abuse them.
On Wednesday, jurors found Weinstein guilty of assaulting Ms Haley, but found him not guilty of assaulting Ms Sokola. They have yet to return a verdict on a rape charge involving Ms Mann, and plan to resume deliberations on Thursday....

The three women testified for days about the sexual abuse they alleged they endured at the hands of Weinstein. All three said they met Weinstein when they were young and looking for work opportunities in the entertainment industry. He then forced himself on them during private meetings at hotels and his homes, the women alleged. His legal team argued that his sexual encounters with the women were all consensual and a sort of "friends with benefits" arrangement....

In total, Weinstein has been accused of sexual misconduct, assault and rape by more than 100 women. While not all reports resulted in criminal charges, the California conviction means he is likely to spend the rest of his life in prison... Weinstein has also faced a number of civil lawsuits, including from a group of women who accused him of sexual harassment and rape. The case resulted in a $19m (£14.2) settlement in 2020. https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cn7z3gezdjro

‘Murder cult leader’ behind alleged neo-Nazi plot to poison students at Brooklyn Jewish schools extradited to US following arrest in Moldova - ‘Commander Butcher’ Michail Chkhikvishvili accused of scheme to hand out poison candy Katie Hawkinson in Washington, D.C. Saturday 24 May 2025

Michail Chkhikvishvili, a 21-year-old from Georgia, has been extradited to the United States from Moldova after federal authorities say he led a “murder cult” and tried to poison students at Brooklyn Jewish schools.  Chkhikvishvili — known as “Commander Butcher,” according to prosecutors — was arrested in Chi inău, Moldova last summer after he was indicted in New York on charges of soliciting hate crimes and acts of mass violence.
Prosecutors say Chkhikvishvili led the “Maniac Murder Cult,” which is “an international racially motivated violent extremist group.” The group follows a “Neo-Nazi accelerationist ideology and promotes violence against racial minorities, the Jewish community, and other groups it deems ‘undesirables,’” according to the Department of Justice. “Members share a common goal of challenging social order and governments via terrorism and violent acts that promote fear and chaos,” prosecutors say.  Chkhikvishvili pleaded not guilty during his appearance in federal court in Brooklyn on Friday.

As the group’s alleged leader, Chkhikvishvili is accused of planning and soliciting a mass casualty attack in New York. The scheme allegedly involved someone dressing up as Santa Claus and handing out candy laced with poison to members of the Jewish community, particularly children in Brooklyn who attended Jewish schools.

The 21-year-old is also accused of saying he wanted the attack to be “bigger action than Breivik,” referring to Anders Behring Breivik, a Norwegian neo Nazi who committed a bombing and mass shooting in Norway in 2011. He killed 77 people.

Prosecutors say Chkhikvishvili admitted to other crimes, telling people he was “glad I have murdered” and that he would “murder more” but “make others murder first.”  Chkhikvishvili is accused of drafting “step-by-step instructions to carry out the scheme” and sharing” detailed manuals about creating and mixing lethal poisons and gases” with the person he wanted to carry out the scheme.

Some of these materials are linked to foreign terrorist organizations, including ISIS, prosecutors say. Since 2021, Chkhikvishvili has been distributing a “manifesto” called the “Hater’s Handbook” which “encourages people to commit acts of mass violence,” according to the Justice Department. https://www.the-independent.com/news/world/americas/crime/michail-chkhikvishvili-arrest-brooklyn-poisoning-b2757338.html

Trace the Rise and Fall of an American Cult in The Oracle's Daughter - Harrison Hill's nonfiction debut, arriving in April 2026, follows the story of the Aggressive Christianity Missions Training Corps By Brenton Blanchet June 27, 2025....

In The Oracle's Daughter: The Rise and Fall of an American Cult, out this April, the author explores what a synopsis calls the "true story of the rise and fall of a woman-led cult," The Aggressive Christianity Missions Training Corps in Fence Lake, N.M.

"In 2019, my brother and his wife introduced me to their neighbor, Sarah Green — she’d escaped a cult run by her mother, and was ready to tell her story," Hill tells PEOPLE. "From our first conversation ... I knew I had to write about her."
He became more intrigued as he "spoke with other former members of the cult, went on reporting trips to California and rural New Mexico, and followed the legal battle surrounding the group that only concluded this past April," he adds....

Per a synopsis, the story follows "the fascinating beginnings and violent end of ACMTC" as well as the paths of three women: founder and self-proclaimed "oracle" Deborah, early member Maura and then Sarah herself. The three women, the synopsis explains, are "bound together by a punitive, baroque set of radical beliefs and practices," including "exorcism, kidnapping, prohibitions against the 'abominations' of popular music and psychoanalysis."

By exploring ACMTC's abuses and beliefs, the book also focused on the "strange twists and turns of the country’s religious development — and how much more vulnerable we are to extremism than we might like to think," the synopsis adds. For decades following its founding in 1981 with her husband James Green, Deborah operated ACMTC. It later became the subject of an episode of People Magazine Investigates: Cults....

In 2018, Deborah — who was known as “General” to the group’s followers — was sentenced to 72 years in prison for multiple crimes against children, after being convicted of three counts of child rape, two counts of kidnapping and one count of child abuse. A judge later ordered her convictions on eight counts to be vacated, per KRQE, and she was released in 2022. A child abuse conviction was reinstated by the state Supreme Court earlier this year.  Per the Southern Poverty Law Center, former member Maura Schmierer — who previously sued ACMTC — characterized it as a cult in a court filing. Hill wrote about Sarah's experience for The Cut in June 2021.  https://people.com/the-oracles-daughter-cover-reveal-exclusive-11761767