Preview
FILED: NEW YORK COUNTY CLERK 11/17/2023 11:10 PM INDEX NO. 155983/2023
NYSCEF DOC. NO. 46 RECEIVED NYSCEF: 11/17/2023
Exhibit E
FILED: NEW YORK COUNTY CLERK 11/17/2023 11:10 PM INDEX NO. 155983/2023
NYSCEF DOC. NO. 46 RECEIVED NYSCEF: 11/17/2023
Attorney Sues Estate of Alleged Cult Leader for Decades of Forced Labor
New York Law Journal
December 21, 2022 Wednesday
Copyr ght 2022 Copyr ght Ho der for ALM Med a Propert es, LLC
Section: Pg. p.1, col.5; Vol. 268; No. 119
Length: 730 words
Byline: EMILY SAUL
Body
A CORPORATE litigation lawyer is suing the estate of an alleged cult leader and her enforcers, claiming he was the
victim of a decades-long scheme in which he was manipulated and terrorized into performing thousands of hours of
unpaid labor.Attorney Spencer Lee Schneider says he was first inducted into the group, known as The Odyssey
Study Group (OSG), in 1989 when he was a 29-year-old litigation associate. He believed it to be a self-
improvement course, but soon found that the late leader Sharon Gans Horn and her deputies controlled almost all
aspects of his life.Schneider is suing Gans Horn's estate, as well as alleged "inner circle" members Lorraine Imlay,
Minerva Taylor and Gregory Koch. The lawsuit, filed in federal court in Brooklyn, alleges violations of federal human
trafficking laws and seeks damages for years of forced labor.While a "student" in the group, the attorney says he
was expected to perform numerous duties including construction, cooking gourmet meals for Gans Horn, caring for
her dying husband, and acting as her chauffeur all in the name of personal growth.At the same time, Schneider
says he was shelling out monthly for "courses" that purported to make him a better, more successful person. He
estimates he paid OSG over $100,000 during his time there.Schneider alleges that OSG was not a teaching
institution but instead an intensely secretive cult that operated to enrich the founder and her inner circle by preying
on educated professionals such as doctors, lawyers, and bankers.The organization operated primarily to make
money, according to the complaint, with students paying up to $400 monthly for classes and other "tuitions"
including an orphanage fund, Gans Horn's retirement fund and Christmas and birthday presents for the leader and
her deputies.The court papers estimate that, averaging 80 "students" over 20 years, the New York branch of the
group would have pulled in at least $14 million in revenue.Imlay, Taylor and Koch were allegedly prominent
members of the inner circle, according to the lawsuit.
For decades, Schneider claims, they allegedly managed the day-to-day operations of the organization, including
"teaching" classes, collecting money, and working as enforcers.OSG required members to follow a strict set of
rules, and punished those who strayed, the lawsuit says. The group systematically isolated its members from the
outside world while also controlling all of their interactions within the organization, per the court papers."Sharon
Gans Horn, together with the Organization and the rest of the Inner Circle, commanded Students who to date and
have sex with, when and who to marry, when to have children, when not to have children, when to have children
and give them up for adoption, when to pay and how much to pay in child support, when to shun their children,
when to divorce, whether to have abortions, and whether to have a vasectomy or tubal ligation," the suit alleges.
"To maintain control and ensure that the Students adhered to her whims, Gans Horn engaged in unpredictable and
outrageous conduct, and in an instant, would deliberately upend the lives of her Students by making a demand of
the Students regarding their personal lives."Schneider says he was only able to marry his ex-wife, also a member,
with the express permission of Gans Horn.The control was not limited to personal lives. After Schneider opened his
own private practice, his main revenue stream was from business with another member of OSG, the lawsuit
FILED: NEW YORK COUNTY CLERK 11/17/2023 11:10 PM INDEX NO. 155983/2023
NYSCEF DOC. NO. 46 RECEIVED NYSCEF:
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Attorney Sues Estate of Alleged Cult Leader for Decades of Forced Labor
says.OSG allegedly amassed "collateral" on all of its members, which kept people from leaving lest their private and
sensitive information be revealed.Schneider is represented by Elizabeth Geddes, a former federal prosecutor for
the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of New York who tried R. Kelly.Since leaving the Eastern District,
Geddes has opened her own firm, Shihata & Geddes, which specializes in areas including civil rights and sexual
misconduct.Schneider has also written a book about his experience, titled "Manhattan Cult Story: My Unbelievable
True Story of Sex, Crimes, Chaos, and Survival."Gans Horn died in January 2021 due to complications from
COVID-19.Lawyers for Gans Horn's estate, Imlay, Taylor and Koch did not immediately respond to requests for
comment on the suit.
@| Emily Saul can be reached at esaul@alm.com Twitter @emily_saul_
Load-Date: December 21, 2022
End of Document
Preview
FILED: NEW YORK COUNTY CLERK 11/17/2023 11:10 PM INDEX NO. 155983/2023 NYSCEF DOC. NO. 46 RECEIVED NYSCEF: 11/17/2023 Exhibit E FILED: NEW YORK COUNTY CLERK 11/17/2023 11:10 PM INDEX NO. 155983/2023 NYSCEF DOC. NO. 46 RECEIVED NYSCEF: 11/17/2023 Attorney Sues Estate of Alleged Cult Leader for Decades of Forced Labor New York Law Journal December 21, 2022 Wednesday Copyr ght 2022 Copyr ght Ho der for ALM Med a Propert es, LLC Section: Pg. p.1, col.5; Vol. 268; No. 119 Length: 730 words Byline: EMILY SAUL Body A CORPORATE litigation lawyer is suing the estate of an alleged cult leader and her enforcers, claiming he was the victim of a decades-long scheme in which he was manipulated and terrorized into performing thousands of hours of unpaid labor.Attorney Spencer Lee Schneider says he was first inducted into the group, known as The Odyssey Study Group (OSG), in 1989 when he was a 29-year-old litigation associate. He believed it to be a self- improvement course, but soon found that the late leader Sharon Gans Horn and her deputies controlled almost all aspects of his life.Schneider is suing Gans Horn's estate, as well as alleged "inner circle" members Lorraine Imlay, Minerva Taylor and Gregory Koch. The lawsuit, filed in federal court in Brooklyn, alleges violations of federal human trafficking laws and seeks damages for years of forced labor.While a "student" in the group, the attorney says he was expected to perform numerous duties including construction, cooking gourmet meals for Gans Horn, caring for her dying husband, and acting as her chauffeur all in the name of personal growth.At the same time, Schneider says he was shelling out monthly for "courses" that purported to make him a better, more successful person. He estimates he paid OSG over $100,000 during his time there.Schneider alleges that OSG was not a teaching institution but instead an intensely secretive cult that operated to enrich the founder and her inner circle by preying on educated professionals such as doctors, lawyers, and bankers.The organization operated primarily to make money, according to the complaint, with students paying up to $400 monthly for classes and other "tuitions" including an orphanage fund, Gans Horn's retirement fund and Christmas and birthday presents for the leader and her deputies.The court papers estimate that, averaging 80 "students" over 20 years, the New York branch of the group would have pulled in at least $14 million in revenue.Imlay, Taylor and Koch were allegedly prominent members of the inner circle, according to the lawsuit. For decades, Schneider claims, they allegedly managed the day-to-day operations of the organization, including "teaching" classes, collecting money, and working as enforcers.OSG required members to follow a strict set of rules, and punished those who strayed, the lawsuit says. The group systematically isolated its members from the outside world while also controlling all of their interactions within the organization, per the court papers."Sharon Gans Horn, together with the Organization and the rest of the Inner Circle, commanded Students who to date and have sex with, when and who to marry, when to have children, when not to have children, when to have children and give them up for adoption, when to pay and how much to pay in child support, when to shun their children, when to divorce, whether to have abortions, and whether to have a vasectomy or tubal ligation," the suit alleges. "To maintain control and ensure that the Students adhered to her whims, Gans Horn engaged in unpredictable and outrageous conduct, and in an instant, would deliberately upend the lives of her Students by making a demand of the Students regarding their personal lives."Schneider says he was only able to marry his ex-wife, also a member, with the express permission of Gans Horn.The control was not limited to personal lives. After Schneider opened his own private practice, his main revenue stream was from business with another member of OSG, the lawsuit FILED: NEW YORK COUNTY CLERK 11/17/2023 11:10 PM INDEX NO. 155983/2023 NYSCEF DOC. NO. 46 RECEIVED NYSCEF: Page 2 of11/17/2023 2 Attorney Sues Estate of Alleged Cult Leader for Decades of Forced Labor says.OSG allegedly amassed "collateral" on all of its members, which kept people from leaving lest their private and sensitive information be revealed.Schneider is represented by Elizabeth Geddes, a former federal prosecutor for the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of New York who tried R. Kelly.Since leaving the Eastern District, Geddes has opened her own firm, Shihata & Geddes, which specializes in areas including civil rights and sexual misconduct.Schneider has also written a book about his experience, titled "Manhattan Cult Story: My Unbelievable True Story of Sex, Crimes, Chaos, and Survival."Gans Horn died in January 2021 due to complications from COVID-19.Lawyers for Gans Horn's estate, Imlay, Taylor and Koch did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the suit. @| Emily Saul can be reached at esaul@alm.com Twitter @emily_saul_ Load-Date: December 21, 2022 End of Document