3 Ramtha Pays More [J.Z. Knight, divorce]
Spiritualist J.Z. Knight, known
as Ramtha, was ordered in March
to pay $125,00 in attorney fees
and $24,160 in costs to attorneys
involved in the divorce settlement
case with her ex-husband Jeffrey Knight, who accused the
famous "channeler" of coercing him to agree to a $120,000
settlement (as opposed to the $800,000 settlement made
following his suit). (LA Daily Journal, 3/22/93)
--excerpted from factnet.org site--
http://www.whyaretheydead.info/misc/Fac ... 0593AB.TXT
Knight vs Knight divorce case from 1993
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Caterpillar
- Posts: 445
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A compilation of media reports
Hi Joe
I am not sure if JZK ended up paying the $800,000 settlement. According to later news reports and RSE website, it appears that JZK did not have to pay the $800,000 (or $792,000). JZ appealed and in Sep 1994, the court reversed the decision on the $792,000 but upheld $150,000 (or $149,000) in attorney fees to Jeff Knight. It seems that Jeff only received the original settlement of $120,000, some property and some of his attorney fees. Sadly, Jeff Knight passed away in July 1994.
JZ?s manipulation of Jeff is obvious in the following articles and also in her book ?A State of Mind?. She seemed to have wrecked Jeff?s life but still keeps his surname.
?If I was to die tomorrow I would know that I have done something to make some people wake up and realize that they are involved in a very dangerous, very evil corrupt thing, And they need to look at that?. Jeff Knight 1992.?
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid ... 3904592346#
In the divorce court case, JZ admitted to having ?auditory hallucinations? of an entity named Charles that ?Ramtha? supposedly sent to her although she called it ?clairaudience? (similar to Joan of Arc)! In court, she also claimed to have ?channeled? Charles as well as Jesus Christ? Some articles mentioned Jeff as her fifth husband but he was her third husband according to her book ?A State of Mind?. (The reporters may have lost count after 2 husbands.)
J.Z. Knight Has Hired F. Lee Bailey To Sue Lawyer, March 22, 1995
The Yelm spiritualist who "channels" a 35,000-year-old warrior has hired O.J. Simpson defense lawyer F. Lee Bailey to sue her ex-husband's attorney for extortion.
J.Z. Knight says Bellevue attorney Mary Gaudio threatened her with adverse publicity to try to force her to modify her divorce agreement with her husband, Jeffrey Knight.
Jeffrey Knight died of AIDS-related illnesses last year.
J.Z. Knight has built a highly profitable spiritual empire based on her reputed ability to "channel" Ramtha, a 35,000-year-old warrior from the lost continent of Atlantis.
Two years ago, Jeffrey Knight accused J.Z. Knight of using her spiritual power over him to force him to accept an unfair divorce settlement.
That case is on appeal to the Washington state Supreme Court. The trial judge awarded Jeffrey Knight nearly $800,000. An appeals court reversed the ruling but upheld $150,000 in attorney fees.
Gaudio said the new lawsuit looks like a publicity stunt.
http://community.seattletimes.nwsource. ... ug=2111524
J.Z. Knight's Divorce Settlement Overturned, Sep 12, 1994
A state appeals court has overturned a $792,000 divorce award to New Age channeler J.Z. Knight's ex-husband.
Knight, 48, built a multimillion-dollar empire with thousands of followers in the 1980s by dispensing spiritual advice from Ramtha, whom she described as a warrior that lived 35,000 years ago in the fabled lost city of Atlantis. She and Jeffrey Knight, 38, were married in 1984 and divorced in 1988.
Under the settlement, Jeffrey Knight, who died in early July, accepted some property and $120,000. J.Z. Knight got the rest, including "all interest in and ownership of Ramtha Dialogues," a business formed to market Ramtha-related items.
The Washington state Court of Appeals ruled late last week that the settlement properly covered all aspects of the business, including goodwill - its prestige or other intangible assets.
In renewed proceedings two years ago, Jeffrey Knight claimed his ex-wife coerced him into accepting the settlement, partly by threatening to deny him access to Ramtha.
Pierce County Superior Court Judge Bruce Cohoe rejected that and most of Jeffrey Knight's other claims but held on Dec. 4, 1992, that neither side had considered goodwill in assigning a value to the business.
Cohoe said the evidence showed the goodwill of Ramtha Dialogues to be worth nearly $1.6 million and awarded half that sum to Jeffrey Knight.
Writing for a unanimous three-judge appeals panel, Judge Karen Seinfeld said, "We conclude that the evidence does not support the trial court's finding that the parties overlooked the asset of goodwill."
The appeals ruling upheld Cohoe's award of $149,000 to Jeffrey Knight for attorney's fees and costs, half of what the trial judge found he had incurred.
In a third finding, the decision directed Cohoe to reconsider the interest rate that would be applied to the legal expenses. The trial judge set the rate at 6 percent, half the maximum allowed under state law.
J.Z. Knight lives in a $3 million compound in Yelm, Pierce County. Among her followers were actresses Shirley MacLaine and Linda Evans, both of whom moved to Pierce County to be near Knight.
Puyallup attorney Doug Kaukl, J.Z. Knight's lawyer, said he thinks the court properly reversed Cohoe's decision on the $792,000, but said he will ask the court to reconsider the attorney fees.
http://community.seattletimes.nwsource. ... ug=1930198
J.Z. KNIGHT MUST PAY EX, Dec 5, 1992
http://www.seattlepi.com/archives/1992/9212060047.asp
Knight Ordered To Pay $792,000 To Ex-Husband, Dec 5, 1992
http://community.seattletimes.nwsource. ... ug=1528363
J.Z. KNIGHT SKIPS END OF DIVORCE SETTLEMENT TRIAL, Oct 28, 1992
According to testimony during the trial, J.Z. Knight said she was nearly $7 million in debt when she met with her estranged husband on Dec. 8, 1988, and the two agreed to a settlement.
Gaudio said that was several million dollars high. She also said that between the time the two separated in October 1988 and their divorce in June 1989, she went on a $1.4 million buying spree that included cars, furnishings, landscaping and jewelry.
http://www.seattlepi.com/archives/1992/9210280069.asp
J.Z. ADMITS KEEPING BOOKS FROM HUSBAND, Oct 1, 1992
Knight acknowledged that in a three-month period preceding the settlement, she made $1.8 million without disclosing the amount of her earnings to her husband. Court papers suggested that the couple's tax liability was significantly exaggerated on the settlement Jeffrey Knight signed.
Mary Gaudio, Jeffrey Knight's attorney, said he had no access to the couple's bank accounts or books after September 1988 and couldn't know the true condition of J.Z. Knight's finances when he agreed to the settlement.
http://www.seattlepi.com/archives/1992/9210010096.asp
CHANNELER `SHATTERED' BY REMARKS ABOUT RAMTHA, Sep 30, 1992
Knight said she was shattered by a confrontation with Jeffrey Knight in late August or September 1988. She said Jeffrey told her he planned to expose her as a fake and a fraud, and that she would end up in prison.
"I don't think you know what kind of trouble you're in," she said her husband told her. "You're going to prison. You're a fake and you're a fraud. Nobody believes you channel the Ram."
Jeffrey Knight contends his wife used Ramtha to build a financial empire worth millions and to deny him a fair share of it. But she claims her financial empire has been in a state of collapse, if not ruin, since the early 1980s and that her personal life has been equally disastrous.
J.Z. Knight also testified that Ramtha never taught people to avoid conventional medical treatment.
That contradicted Jeffrey Knight's earlier testimony that Ramtha told him not to seek medical help for his illness.
J.Z. Knight said Ramtha taught that faith could move mountains, but she pointed out that her son had extensive radiation treatment and that she currently receives medical treatment.
http://www.seattlepi.com/archives/1992/9209300056.asp
Woman Tells Of `Channeling' Jesus Christ, Sep 29, 1992
A prominent New Age spiritualist being sued by her ex-husband for more divorce money has testified that she once "channeled" Jesus.
J.Z. Knight of Yelm, who claims to be regularly in touch with a 35,000-year-old warrior named Ramtha, yesterday was asked by lawyers for her ex-husband, Jeff Knight, whether she ever "channeled" Jesus Christ.
"Yes," she replied, adding that she did so at a "Christmas function" in New York in 1983.
http://community.seattletimes.nwsource. ... ug=1515749
MEETING AT STAR'S HOME RECALLED
J.Z. KNIGHT ALSO TELLS THE COURT THAT SHE HAS CHANNELED JESUS CHRIST, Sep 29, 1992
J.Z. Knight missed a court appearance Friday afternoon because of illness, but showed up promptly yesterday morning to resume her verbal sparring with Mary Gaudio, Jeffrey Knight's attorney.
Gaudio and J.Z. Knight covered ground slowly, with Knight often giving lengthy answers to questions Gaudio didn't ask. When Gaudio repeated the question, as she did frequently, the results were usually the same.
The exchanges brought a number of objections from Douglas Kaukl, J.Z. Knight's attorney, who contended the questions had been answered. When Superior Court Judge Bruce Cohoe ruled that a more direct answer was in order, J.Z. Knight often responded that she didn't remember.
http://www.seattlepi.com/archives/1992/9209290018.asp
'CHARLES' GAVE KNIGHT HORSE SENSE, SHE SAYS, Sep 25, 1992
Ramtha was not the only spiritual entity in the life of Yelm-based channeler J.Z. Knight.
Knight told a Pierce County courtroom yesterday that there also was a being named Charles, who spoke to her in an English accent and advised her on the purchase of Arabian horses for a breeding operation she ran with her fifth husband, Jeffrey Knight, a professional horse trainer.
Testifying for the second day in a three-week civil trial to determine if her divorce settlement with Jeffrey Knight should be reopened, J.Z. Knight said Ramtha sent Charles to her, although Ramtha also gave advice on horses.
In one instance, Knight said Ramtha advised a client to buy a certain horse because it had been "Ramtha's steed in a different life." But Ramtha apparently respected Charles' opinion more when it came to horses.
Knight said she didn't remember how she became acquainted with Charles, but that he communicated to her in a process she called "clairaudience" - she could hear Charles speaking, but no one else in her presence could.
"He understood a little bit more about horse flesh than we did," Knight told the court.
On at least one occasion, possibly more, Knight said she channeled Charles through her body, but she hasn't heard from Charles in many years.
Knight's testimony yesterday ranged from Ramtha's views on bomb shelters, natural disasters and economic collapse to his views on her romances.
Knight said she tried to strike up a relationship with Jeffrey Knight by expressing a romantic interest while still married to her fourth husband, a Tacoma dentist. But she said Jeffrey Knight politely declined.
"I was crazy about him, and I told him." Knight said. "He told me he was flattered, but he wasn't interested in me."
As a result, Knight said, she prayed her feelings for Jeffrey Knight would go away. But when they did, he began asking why she was no longer showing interest.
During this interval, Ramtha let it be known that he considered J.Z. and Jeffrey Knight to be "soul mates," meaning their ultimate happiness lay in being together for life. And once Ramtha's views were expressed, the course of their relationship changed.
"Mr. Knight began showing romantic interest in me," J.Z. Knight said.
Knight said she and Jeffrey Knight consummated a sexual relationship sometime in January or February of 1981 and that she separated from her fourth husband in June of that year.
In mid-1983, J.Z. and Jeffrey Knight went through a marriage ceremony, although J.Z. Knight was still formally married to her fourth husband. The marriage to her fourth husband was officially dissolved early in 1984, and shortly afterward, in March of that year, J.Z. and Jeffrey Knight were married again, this time legally, in a civil ceremony.
Between their 1983 attempted marriage and their legal marriage in 1984, Ramtha was called in to counsel Jeffrey Knight on his "confusion about sexuality" and "impotence."
http://www.seattlepi.com/archives/1992/9209250046.asp
Worldly and the Spiritual Clash in New Age Divorce, Sep 25, 1992
Although she has readily summoned Ramtha on thousands of occasions, before audiences that have paid up to $1,000 per individual, Ms. Knight has vowed that she will not let her spiritual tenant take the witness stand.
And therein lies the problem. Judge Bruce Cohoe of Pierce County Superior Court seems perplexed about whether Ramtha is a god, a spirit or a fake. Ms. Knight, on the stand, has been little help, saying today she did not know why Ramtha first appeared in her Tacoma kitchen in 1977 or where he came from. What both sides agree on is that Ramtha has power over the lives of many people.
In any event, Ms. Knight says she has very little control over how Ramtha may influence people.
She was asked today, for example if Ramtha had the power to bring someone down. "I've heard him say that, yes," said Ms. Knight, who is 46 years old.
http://www.nytimes.com/1992/09/25/us/wo ... wanted=all
DOCTOR RAPS RAMTHA MOVEMENT, September 15, 1992
Coercive techniques used by spiritualist J.Z. Knight's Ramtha movement exploit weaknesses that might already exist in its followers, a Seattle psychiatrist said in a trial brief filed yesterday.
Dr. G. Christian Harris' testimony came in the second week of a trial over a property settlement in the 1989 divorce of J.Z. Knight, 46, and horse trainer Jeffrey Knight, 36.
The ex-husband claims he was under the influence of a 35,000-year-old spirit named Ramtha when he agreed to receive $120,000 in the settlement. Testimony so far has revealed that J.Z. Knight's Yelm-based spiritualist movement centered on Ramtha grossed as much as $4.4 million annually during their marriage.
Pierce County Superior Court Judge Bruce Cohoe has said the civil trial is limited to the movement's "effect on Jeffrey Knight and his ability to function."
Testimony by Knight and Harris have characterized the movement as a cult with extraordinary powers on its members. Harris described organizations that use mind control techniques on their members as "destructive cults."
In court documents and on the witnesses stand Harris said Jeffrey Knight suffered severe effects from a mental affliction called dissociative disorder during his five-year marriage to J.Z. Knight.
He described the illness as a condition where "the normal identity ... of an individual's personality is impaired."
"Mr. Knight had suspended virtually all skeptical thinking with respect to Ramtha and his wife, and had a tremendous dependence on them both," Harris said.
"He (Jeffrey Knight) had a naive trust which his wife was able to manipulate," Harris said. "This mental disability was particularly evident in his lack of judgment regarding medical treatment for his HIV status and his dealings with his dissolution of marriage."
But under cross examination Harris acknowledged that neither Ramtha nor J.Z. Knight was necessarily the primary cause of his mental problems.
Jeffrey Knight testified last week that Ramtha "told me he would teach me how to heal myself and that I should not worry about" being HIV-positive. He also said he followed Ramtha's advice and did not take medication for medical problems associated with his HIV status until six years after it was discovered and after he had abandoned his beliefs in the spirit.
http://www.seattlepi.com/archives/1992/9209150108.asp
SPIRITUALIST'S EX-SPOUSE CLAIMS FAR-OUT INFLUENCE, Sep 11, 1992
The testimony was about aliens taking over the world, corporate skimming and mind control. Heavy stuff for a trial about a divorce settlement.
Not only that, this mind control in the form of a "super-physical realm" called Ramtha influenced Jeffrey Knight to sign falsified joint income tax forms, he testified yesterday in Pierce County Superior Court.
He says he was coerced into settling for $120,000 from J.Z. Knight, prompted by her threats to expose his homosexuality and HIV-positive status. He also claims she consistently understated the income from her spiritualist organization, reported to be $4.4 million in 1986, and overstated her liabilities.
The spiritualist's former husband said Ramtha told him of "aliens that lived underground" and that they were making bargains with governments to take over the world.
J.Z. Knight, whose Yelm-based Ramtha Movement attracted thousands of followers, was accompanied by body guards as she arrived and departed from the trial before Superior Court Judge Bruce Cohoe. Her attorney, Douglas Kaukl, of Puyallup, says she has been the target of recent death threats.
It was Ramtha, says Jeffrey Knight, that told him "it was okay to evade taxes" and to avoid treatment for the HIV-related physical problems he has experienced since 1988.
"I believed in my wife," the ex-husband said. "Now I find out that she and Ramtha are the same." Jeffrey Knight said he quit the Ramtha Movement last year, after 11 years.
Earlier in the day, Kaukl argued before Cohoe that Jeffrey Knight's attorneys were attempting to put the validity of the Ramtha Movement on trial, thus violating a portion of the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution protecting freedom of religion.
Mary Gaudio, an attorney representing the ex-husband, said "we don't think that the Ramtha organization is a religion. The Internal Revenue Service certainly doesn't."
She added that religion was not an issue, rather "the conduct of Ramtha."
http://www.seattlepi.com/archives/1992/9209110038.asp
LIFE AFTER RAMTHA
CHANNELER'S FORMER HUSBAND TESTIFIES THAT HE WAS FOOLED, Sep 10, 1992
"He (Ramtha) told me that he would teach me how to heal myself, and that I should not worry about it, and that I could not die from the plague," Jeffrey Knight, 36, said.
However, he added that after the dissolution of his relationship with his wife and channeler J.Z. Knight, he was unable to make contact with the spirit.
Jeffrey Knight, who testified through most of the day, told how he met his wife-to-be and was persuaded by her in 1980 to move to the Tacoma area from California with his horse training business. By 1981, he said J.Z. Knight had left her then husband, a Tacoma dentist, and moved in with him. The two were married in March 1984. It was her third marriage and Jeffrey Knight's first.
Part of his testimony centered on a horse breeding business he and his wife formed, with followers of J.Z. Knight's New Age movement investing in the enterprise.
"I had become a firm believer in Ramtha," Jeffrey Knight said in court documents filed earlier this year. "Ramtha counseled and controlled almost every decision that we made, including such things as which horses we should buy or breed for our horse business."
In response to questions from his attorney, Laurason Hunt, Knight said yesterday that when the horse breeding business fell on hard times in the early 1980s, Ramtha told him to "stop worrying. It is going to be OK."
Said Knight: "I trusted him implicitly. He was all-knowing and omnipresent"
At one point Knight said that Ramtha instructed him on a technique for training horses.
"I would visualize what I wanted the horse to do, then close my eyes and send the message through (to the horse)," Knight said. "I turned it into more of a game."
In 1985, prompted by the growing public attention given AIDS, Jeffrey Knight said that he "became concerned about my past homosexual experiences and shared that with J.Z." The two decided that he should be tested, Knight testified.
The result was that Jeffrey Knight tested positive for HIV.
"Did you discuss this with Ramtha?" Hunt asked.
Knight said he did, and as a result of Ramtha's advice, he did not seek medication.
"He told me at that time that medication was just an expedient and will make the disease accelerate ... that it was a conspiracy of the American Medical Association."
In an affidavit filed in March, Knight said that "to demonstrate the strength of my belief in Ramtha at that time, even though I had been diagnosed as HIV positive in 1985, I did not begin AZT treatment for the condition until 1991, after I had forsaken the Ramtha cult."
During late 1988, Knight said his marriage with J.Z. began to worsen after she began to have a relationship with a man 20 years her junior.
http://www.seattlepi.com/archives/1992/9209100006.asp
A BIG DIVORCE IN YELM: IS THIS THE RIGHT CHANNEL?, March 9, 1989
This is no ordinary divorce between Mr. & Mrs. Knight of Yelm. There have been, according to court documents, 17 vehicles owned by the two parties, ranging from the $3,417 golf cart to the $150,000 motor home, complemented by two BMWs, a Mercedes and a Rolls-Royce. There have been the fur coats, nine in number, worth almost $40,000. And, of course, there has been the $1.5 million mansion in Yelm, with its six fireplaces, its swimming pool, its tanning salon, its sauna, its fur room, its imposing facade so familiar from TV.
The channeling biz has seemed to be very good to J.Z. Knight, medium for the 35,000-year-old warrior known as Ramtha. Just how good did not become apparent until the exchange of court papers in the impending divorce between J.Z. and her third husband, Jeffrey Knight. These papers also suggest possible financial problems facing the internationally known channeler, including massive personal spending and back taxes owed to the Internal Revenue Service.
THE HUGE FIGURES involved are enough to stagger the imaginations of mere mortals. J.Z. Knight has become the Michael Jordan of channeling, earning an annual salary in the same stratosphere as the basketball superstar.
According to Jeffrey Knight's papers filed in Pierce County Superior Court, J.Z. Knight has monthly earnings of $240,000 from her Ramtha business and annual earnings that "may well exceed $3 million." The couple had a target monthly expense allowance of $20,000 but Jeffrey Knight says they have never spent "lower than $37,000 in any one month as a personal budget - the bulk of that being spent on her."
In his support request, Jeffrey Knight concedes he left their home with "approximately $113,000 in liquid assets." But this Arabian horse trainer argues he has no income, no medical insurance and no job prospects in an "extremely depressed" business.
His court papers refer to "the large monthly payment to the IRS for back taxes." And Jeffrey Knight's attorney, Grant L. Harken of Seattle, says those federal back taxes, penalties and interest total $1.5 million and require a monthly payment of $40,000.
What Jeffrey Knight says is an accounting of the couple's monthly revenues and expenses in January and February of 1988 shows how much trouble they were having in trying to live within the $20,000 monthly budget. Jeffrey Knight says that $20,000 budget was set by "our previous financial manager, in an attempt to get us on a positive financial footing."
AMONG THE JANUARY 1988 monthly expenses detailed by Jeffrey Knight were: American Express bill ($5,990.83); Dry Cleaning ($504.13); Furniture & Accessories ($6,178); Groceries ($559.22); Insurance ($3,654.80); Legal Fees ($4,000); Mortgage ($8,408.54); Telephone ($247.36); and Miscellaneous ($31,905.18).
How the Knights were able to support this lavish lifestyle is detailed in a listing of projected 1988 Ramtha seminars. Ramtha attracts thousands of people who are willing to pay hundreds of dollars to hear the pronouncements that are delivered by J.Z. Knight in a gruff voice she says belongs to the 35,000-year-old spirit.
The projected 1988 seminars in the court papers include 31 in Yelm, most of them lasting one day and expected to gross between $15,000 to $45,000. There were also to be two-day seminars in New Zealand (with expected gross of $105,000); Sydney, Australia ($175,000); London, England ($200,000); San Diego ($120,000); Vancouver, B.C., ($140,000) and New York ($200,000).
http://www.seattlepi.com/archives/1989/8901060974.asp
I am not sure if JZK ended up paying the $800,000 settlement. According to later news reports and RSE website, it appears that JZK did not have to pay the $800,000 (or $792,000). JZ appealed and in Sep 1994, the court reversed the decision on the $792,000 but upheld $150,000 (or $149,000) in attorney fees to Jeff Knight. It seems that Jeff only received the original settlement of $120,000, some property and some of his attorney fees. Sadly, Jeff Knight passed away in July 1994.
JZ?s manipulation of Jeff is obvious in the following articles and also in her book ?A State of Mind?. She seemed to have wrecked Jeff?s life but still keeps his surname.
?If I was to die tomorrow I would know that I have done something to make some people wake up and realize that they are involved in a very dangerous, very evil corrupt thing, And they need to look at that?. Jeff Knight 1992.?
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid ... 3904592346#
In the divorce court case, JZ admitted to having ?auditory hallucinations? of an entity named Charles that ?Ramtha? supposedly sent to her although she called it ?clairaudience? (similar to Joan of Arc)! In court, she also claimed to have ?channeled? Charles as well as Jesus Christ? Some articles mentioned Jeff as her fifth husband but he was her third husband according to her book ?A State of Mind?. (The reporters may have lost count after 2 husbands.)
J.Z. Knight Has Hired F. Lee Bailey To Sue Lawyer, March 22, 1995
The Yelm spiritualist who "channels" a 35,000-year-old warrior has hired O.J. Simpson defense lawyer F. Lee Bailey to sue her ex-husband's attorney for extortion.
J.Z. Knight says Bellevue attorney Mary Gaudio threatened her with adverse publicity to try to force her to modify her divorce agreement with her husband, Jeffrey Knight.
Jeffrey Knight died of AIDS-related illnesses last year.
J.Z. Knight has built a highly profitable spiritual empire based on her reputed ability to "channel" Ramtha, a 35,000-year-old warrior from the lost continent of Atlantis.
Two years ago, Jeffrey Knight accused J.Z. Knight of using her spiritual power over him to force him to accept an unfair divorce settlement.
That case is on appeal to the Washington state Supreme Court. The trial judge awarded Jeffrey Knight nearly $800,000. An appeals court reversed the ruling but upheld $150,000 in attorney fees.
Gaudio said the new lawsuit looks like a publicity stunt.
http://community.seattletimes.nwsource. ... ug=2111524
J.Z. Knight's Divorce Settlement Overturned, Sep 12, 1994
A state appeals court has overturned a $792,000 divorce award to New Age channeler J.Z. Knight's ex-husband.
Knight, 48, built a multimillion-dollar empire with thousands of followers in the 1980s by dispensing spiritual advice from Ramtha, whom she described as a warrior that lived 35,000 years ago in the fabled lost city of Atlantis. She and Jeffrey Knight, 38, were married in 1984 and divorced in 1988.
Under the settlement, Jeffrey Knight, who died in early July, accepted some property and $120,000. J.Z. Knight got the rest, including "all interest in and ownership of Ramtha Dialogues," a business formed to market Ramtha-related items.
The Washington state Court of Appeals ruled late last week that the settlement properly covered all aspects of the business, including goodwill - its prestige or other intangible assets.
In renewed proceedings two years ago, Jeffrey Knight claimed his ex-wife coerced him into accepting the settlement, partly by threatening to deny him access to Ramtha.
Pierce County Superior Court Judge Bruce Cohoe rejected that and most of Jeffrey Knight's other claims but held on Dec. 4, 1992, that neither side had considered goodwill in assigning a value to the business.
Cohoe said the evidence showed the goodwill of Ramtha Dialogues to be worth nearly $1.6 million and awarded half that sum to Jeffrey Knight.
Writing for a unanimous three-judge appeals panel, Judge Karen Seinfeld said, "We conclude that the evidence does not support the trial court's finding that the parties overlooked the asset of goodwill."
The appeals ruling upheld Cohoe's award of $149,000 to Jeffrey Knight for attorney's fees and costs, half of what the trial judge found he had incurred.
In a third finding, the decision directed Cohoe to reconsider the interest rate that would be applied to the legal expenses. The trial judge set the rate at 6 percent, half the maximum allowed under state law.
J.Z. Knight lives in a $3 million compound in Yelm, Pierce County. Among her followers were actresses Shirley MacLaine and Linda Evans, both of whom moved to Pierce County to be near Knight.
Puyallup attorney Doug Kaukl, J.Z. Knight's lawyer, said he thinks the court properly reversed Cohoe's decision on the $792,000, but said he will ask the court to reconsider the attorney fees.
http://community.seattletimes.nwsource. ... ug=1930198
J.Z. KNIGHT MUST PAY EX, Dec 5, 1992
http://www.seattlepi.com/archives/1992/9212060047.asp
Knight Ordered To Pay $792,000 To Ex-Husband, Dec 5, 1992
http://community.seattletimes.nwsource. ... ug=1528363
J.Z. KNIGHT SKIPS END OF DIVORCE SETTLEMENT TRIAL, Oct 28, 1992
According to testimony during the trial, J.Z. Knight said she was nearly $7 million in debt when she met with her estranged husband on Dec. 8, 1988, and the two agreed to a settlement.
Gaudio said that was several million dollars high. She also said that between the time the two separated in October 1988 and their divorce in June 1989, she went on a $1.4 million buying spree that included cars, furnishings, landscaping and jewelry.
http://www.seattlepi.com/archives/1992/9210280069.asp
J.Z. ADMITS KEEPING BOOKS FROM HUSBAND, Oct 1, 1992
Knight acknowledged that in a three-month period preceding the settlement, she made $1.8 million without disclosing the amount of her earnings to her husband. Court papers suggested that the couple's tax liability was significantly exaggerated on the settlement Jeffrey Knight signed.
Mary Gaudio, Jeffrey Knight's attorney, said he had no access to the couple's bank accounts or books after September 1988 and couldn't know the true condition of J.Z. Knight's finances when he agreed to the settlement.
http://www.seattlepi.com/archives/1992/9210010096.asp
CHANNELER `SHATTERED' BY REMARKS ABOUT RAMTHA, Sep 30, 1992
Knight said she was shattered by a confrontation with Jeffrey Knight in late August or September 1988. She said Jeffrey told her he planned to expose her as a fake and a fraud, and that she would end up in prison.
"I don't think you know what kind of trouble you're in," she said her husband told her. "You're going to prison. You're a fake and you're a fraud. Nobody believes you channel the Ram."
Jeffrey Knight contends his wife used Ramtha to build a financial empire worth millions and to deny him a fair share of it. But she claims her financial empire has been in a state of collapse, if not ruin, since the early 1980s and that her personal life has been equally disastrous.
J.Z. Knight also testified that Ramtha never taught people to avoid conventional medical treatment.
That contradicted Jeffrey Knight's earlier testimony that Ramtha told him not to seek medical help for his illness.
J.Z. Knight said Ramtha taught that faith could move mountains, but she pointed out that her son had extensive radiation treatment and that she currently receives medical treatment.
http://www.seattlepi.com/archives/1992/9209300056.asp
Woman Tells Of `Channeling' Jesus Christ, Sep 29, 1992
A prominent New Age spiritualist being sued by her ex-husband for more divorce money has testified that she once "channeled" Jesus.
J.Z. Knight of Yelm, who claims to be regularly in touch with a 35,000-year-old warrior named Ramtha, yesterday was asked by lawyers for her ex-husband, Jeff Knight, whether she ever "channeled" Jesus Christ.
"Yes," she replied, adding that she did so at a "Christmas function" in New York in 1983.
http://community.seattletimes.nwsource. ... ug=1515749
MEETING AT STAR'S HOME RECALLED
J.Z. KNIGHT ALSO TELLS THE COURT THAT SHE HAS CHANNELED JESUS CHRIST, Sep 29, 1992
J.Z. Knight missed a court appearance Friday afternoon because of illness, but showed up promptly yesterday morning to resume her verbal sparring with Mary Gaudio, Jeffrey Knight's attorney.
Gaudio and J.Z. Knight covered ground slowly, with Knight often giving lengthy answers to questions Gaudio didn't ask. When Gaudio repeated the question, as she did frequently, the results were usually the same.
The exchanges brought a number of objections from Douglas Kaukl, J.Z. Knight's attorney, who contended the questions had been answered. When Superior Court Judge Bruce Cohoe ruled that a more direct answer was in order, J.Z. Knight often responded that she didn't remember.
http://www.seattlepi.com/archives/1992/9209290018.asp
'CHARLES' GAVE KNIGHT HORSE SENSE, SHE SAYS, Sep 25, 1992
Ramtha was not the only spiritual entity in the life of Yelm-based channeler J.Z. Knight.
Knight told a Pierce County courtroom yesterday that there also was a being named Charles, who spoke to her in an English accent and advised her on the purchase of Arabian horses for a breeding operation she ran with her fifth husband, Jeffrey Knight, a professional horse trainer.
Testifying for the second day in a three-week civil trial to determine if her divorce settlement with Jeffrey Knight should be reopened, J.Z. Knight said Ramtha sent Charles to her, although Ramtha also gave advice on horses.
In one instance, Knight said Ramtha advised a client to buy a certain horse because it had been "Ramtha's steed in a different life." But Ramtha apparently respected Charles' opinion more when it came to horses.
Knight said she didn't remember how she became acquainted with Charles, but that he communicated to her in a process she called "clairaudience" - she could hear Charles speaking, but no one else in her presence could.
"He understood a little bit more about horse flesh than we did," Knight told the court.
On at least one occasion, possibly more, Knight said she channeled Charles through her body, but she hasn't heard from Charles in many years.
Knight's testimony yesterday ranged from Ramtha's views on bomb shelters, natural disasters and economic collapse to his views on her romances.
Knight said she tried to strike up a relationship with Jeffrey Knight by expressing a romantic interest while still married to her fourth husband, a Tacoma dentist. But she said Jeffrey Knight politely declined.
"I was crazy about him, and I told him." Knight said. "He told me he was flattered, but he wasn't interested in me."
As a result, Knight said, she prayed her feelings for Jeffrey Knight would go away. But when they did, he began asking why she was no longer showing interest.
During this interval, Ramtha let it be known that he considered J.Z. and Jeffrey Knight to be "soul mates," meaning their ultimate happiness lay in being together for life. And once Ramtha's views were expressed, the course of their relationship changed.
"Mr. Knight began showing romantic interest in me," J.Z. Knight said.
Knight said she and Jeffrey Knight consummated a sexual relationship sometime in January or February of 1981 and that she separated from her fourth husband in June of that year.
In mid-1983, J.Z. and Jeffrey Knight went through a marriage ceremony, although J.Z. Knight was still formally married to her fourth husband. The marriage to her fourth husband was officially dissolved early in 1984, and shortly afterward, in March of that year, J.Z. and Jeffrey Knight were married again, this time legally, in a civil ceremony.
Between their 1983 attempted marriage and their legal marriage in 1984, Ramtha was called in to counsel Jeffrey Knight on his "confusion about sexuality" and "impotence."
http://www.seattlepi.com/archives/1992/9209250046.asp
Worldly and the Spiritual Clash in New Age Divorce, Sep 25, 1992
Although she has readily summoned Ramtha on thousands of occasions, before audiences that have paid up to $1,000 per individual, Ms. Knight has vowed that she will not let her spiritual tenant take the witness stand.
And therein lies the problem. Judge Bruce Cohoe of Pierce County Superior Court seems perplexed about whether Ramtha is a god, a spirit or a fake. Ms. Knight, on the stand, has been little help, saying today she did not know why Ramtha first appeared in her Tacoma kitchen in 1977 or where he came from. What both sides agree on is that Ramtha has power over the lives of many people.
In any event, Ms. Knight says she has very little control over how Ramtha may influence people.
She was asked today, for example if Ramtha had the power to bring someone down. "I've heard him say that, yes," said Ms. Knight, who is 46 years old.
http://www.nytimes.com/1992/09/25/us/wo ... wanted=all
DOCTOR RAPS RAMTHA MOVEMENT, September 15, 1992
Coercive techniques used by spiritualist J.Z. Knight's Ramtha movement exploit weaknesses that might already exist in its followers, a Seattle psychiatrist said in a trial brief filed yesterday.
Dr. G. Christian Harris' testimony came in the second week of a trial over a property settlement in the 1989 divorce of J.Z. Knight, 46, and horse trainer Jeffrey Knight, 36.
The ex-husband claims he was under the influence of a 35,000-year-old spirit named Ramtha when he agreed to receive $120,000 in the settlement. Testimony so far has revealed that J.Z. Knight's Yelm-based spiritualist movement centered on Ramtha grossed as much as $4.4 million annually during their marriage.
Pierce County Superior Court Judge Bruce Cohoe has said the civil trial is limited to the movement's "effect on Jeffrey Knight and his ability to function."
Testimony by Knight and Harris have characterized the movement as a cult with extraordinary powers on its members. Harris described organizations that use mind control techniques on their members as "destructive cults."
In court documents and on the witnesses stand Harris said Jeffrey Knight suffered severe effects from a mental affliction called dissociative disorder during his five-year marriage to J.Z. Knight.
He described the illness as a condition where "the normal identity ... of an individual's personality is impaired."
"Mr. Knight had suspended virtually all skeptical thinking with respect to Ramtha and his wife, and had a tremendous dependence on them both," Harris said.
"He (Jeffrey Knight) had a naive trust which his wife was able to manipulate," Harris said. "This mental disability was particularly evident in his lack of judgment regarding medical treatment for his HIV status and his dealings with his dissolution of marriage."
But under cross examination Harris acknowledged that neither Ramtha nor J.Z. Knight was necessarily the primary cause of his mental problems.
Jeffrey Knight testified last week that Ramtha "told me he would teach me how to heal myself and that I should not worry about" being HIV-positive. He also said he followed Ramtha's advice and did not take medication for medical problems associated with his HIV status until six years after it was discovered and after he had abandoned his beliefs in the spirit.
http://www.seattlepi.com/archives/1992/9209150108.asp
SPIRITUALIST'S EX-SPOUSE CLAIMS FAR-OUT INFLUENCE, Sep 11, 1992
The testimony was about aliens taking over the world, corporate skimming and mind control. Heavy stuff for a trial about a divorce settlement.
Not only that, this mind control in the form of a "super-physical realm" called Ramtha influenced Jeffrey Knight to sign falsified joint income tax forms, he testified yesterday in Pierce County Superior Court.
He says he was coerced into settling for $120,000 from J.Z. Knight, prompted by her threats to expose his homosexuality and HIV-positive status. He also claims she consistently understated the income from her spiritualist organization, reported to be $4.4 million in 1986, and overstated her liabilities.
The spiritualist's former husband said Ramtha told him of "aliens that lived underground" and that they were making bargains with governments to take over the world.
J.Z. Knight, whose Yelm-based Ramtha Movement attracted thousands of followers, was accompanied by body guards as she arrived and departed from the trial before Superior Court Judge Bruce Cohoe. Her attorney, Douglas Kaukl, of Puyallup, says she has been the target of recent death threats.
It was Ramtha, says Jeffrey Knight, that told him "it was okay to evade taxes" and to avoid treatment for the HIV-related physical problems he has experienced since 1988.
"I believed in my wife," the ex-husband said. "Now I find out that she and Ramtha are the same." Jeffrey Knight said he quit the Ramtha Movement last year, after 11 years.
Earlier in the day, Kaukl argued before Cohoe that Jeffrey Knight's attorneys were attempting to put the validity of the Ramtha Movement on trial, thus violating a portion of the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution protecting freedom of religion.
Mary Gaudio, an attorney representing the ex-husband, said "we don't think that the Ramtha organization is a religion. The Internal Revenue Service certainly doesn't."
She added that religion was not an issue, rather "the conduct of Ramtha."
http://www.seattlepi.com/archives/1992/9209110038.asp
LIFE AFTER RAMTHA
CHANNELER'S FORMER HUSBAND TESTIFIES THAT HE WAS FOOLED, Sep 10, 1992
"He (Ramtha) told me that he would teach me how to heal myself, and that I should not worry about it, and that I could not die from the plague," Jeffrey Knight, 36, said.
However, he added that after the dissolution of his relationship with his wife and channeler J.Z. Knight, he was unable to make contact with the spirit.
Jeffrey Knight, who testified through most of the day, told how he met his wife-to-be and was persuaded by her in 1980 to move to the Tacoma area from California with his horse training business. By 1981, he said J.Z. Knight had left her then husband, a Tacoma dentist, and moved in with him. The two were married in March 1984. It was her third marriage and Jeffrey Knight's first.
Part of his testimony centered on a horse breeding business he and his wife formed, with followers of J.Z. Knight's New Age movement investing in the enterprise.
"I had become a firm believer in Ramtha," Jeffrey Knight said in court documents filed earlier this year. "Ramtha counseled and controlled almost every decision that we made, including such things as which horses we should buy or breed for our horse business."
In response to questions from his attorney, Laurason Hunt, Knight said yesterday that when the horse breeding business fell on hard times in the early 1980s, Ramtha told him to "stop worrying. It is going to be OK."
Said Knight: "I trusted him implicitly. He was all-knowing and omnipresent"
At one point Knight said that Ramtha instructed him on a technique for training horses.
"I would visualize what I wanted the horse to do, then close my eyes and send the message through (to the horse)," Knight said. "I turned it into more of a game."
In 1985, prompted by the growing public attention given AIDS, Jeffrey Knight said that he "became concerned about my past homosexual experiences and shared that with J.Z." The two decided that he should be tested, Knight testified.
The result was that Jeffrey Knight tested positive for HIV.
"Did you discuss this with Ramtha?" Hunt asked.
Knight said he did, and as a result of Ramtha's advice, he did not seek medication.
"He told me at that time that medication was just an expedient and will make the disease accelerate ... that it was a conspiracy of the American Medical Association."
In an affidavit filed in March, Knight said that "to demonstrate the strength of my belief in Ramtha at that time, even though I had been diagnosed as HIV positive in 1985, I did not begin AZT treatment for the condition until 1991, after I had forsaken the Ramtha cult."
During late 1988, Knight said his marriage with J.Z. began to worsen after she began to have a relationship with a man 20 years her junior.
http://www.seattlepi.com/archives/1992/9209100006.asp
A BIG DIVORCE IN YELM: IS THIS THE RIGHT CHANNEL?, March 9, 1989
This is no ordinary divorce between Mr. & Mrs. Knight of Yelm. There have been, according to court documents, 17 vehicles owned by the two parties, ranging from the $3,417 golf cart to the $150,000 motor home, complemented by two BMWs, a Mercedes and a Rolls-Royce. There have been the fur coats, nine in number, worth almost $40,000. And, of course, there has been the $1.5 million mansion in Yelm, with its six fireplaces, its swimming pool, its tanning salon, its sauna, its fur room, its imposing facade so familiar from TV.
The channeling biz has seemed to be very good to J.Z. Knight, medium for the 35,000-year-old warrior known as Ramtha. Just how good did not become apparent until the exchange of court papers in the impending divorce between J.Z. and her third husband, Jeffrey Knight. These papers also suggest possible financial problems facing the internationally known channeler, including massive personal spending and back taxes owed to the Internal Revenue Service.
THE HUGE FIGURES involved are enough to stagger the imaginations of mere mortals. J.Z. Knight has become the Michael Jordan of channeling, earning an annual salary in the same stratosphere as the basketball superstar.
According to Jeffrey Knight's papers filed in Pierce County Superior Court, J.Z. Knight has monthly earnings of $240,000 from her Ramtha business and annual earnings that "may well exceed $3 million." The couple had a target monthly expense allowance of $20,000 but Jeffrey Knight says they have never spent "lower than $37,000 in any one month as a personal budget - the bulk of that being spent on her."
In his support request, Jeffrey Knight concedes he left their home with "approximately $113,000 in liquid assets." But this Arabian horse trainer argues he has no income, no medical insurance and no job prospects in an "extremely depressed" business.
His court papers refer to "the large monthly payment to the IRS for back taxes." And Jeffrey Knight's attorney, Grant L. Harken of Seattle, says those federal back taxes, penalties and interest total $1.5 million and require a monthly payment of $40,000.
What Jeffrey Knight says is an accounting of the couple's monthly revenues and expenses in January and February of 1988 shows how much trouble they were having in trying to live within the $20,000 monthly budget. Jeffrey Knight says that $20,000 budget was set by "our previous financial manager, in an attempt to get us on a positive financial footing."
AMONG THE JANUARY 1988 monthly expenses detailed by Jeffrey Knight were: American Express bill ($5,990.83); Dry Cleaning ($504.13); Furniture & Accessories ($6,178); Groceries ($559.22); Insurance ($3,654.80); Legal Fees ($4,000); Mortgage ($8,408.54); Telephone ($247.36); and Miscellaneous ($31,905.18).
How the Knights were able to support this lavish lifestyle is detailed in a listing of projected 1988 Ramtha seminars. Ramtha attracts thousands of people who are willing to pay hundreds of dollars to hear the pronouncements that are delivered by J.Z. Knight in a gruff voice she says belongs to the 35,000-year-old spirit.
The projected 1988 seminars in the court papers include 31 in Yelm, most of them lasting one day and expected to gross between $15,000 to $45,000. There were also to be two-day seminars in New Zealand (with expected gross of $105,000); Sydney, Australia ($175,000); London, England ($200,000); San Diego ($120,000); Vancouver, B.C., ($140,000) and New York ($200,000).
http://www.seattlepi.com/archives/1989/8901060974.asp
No, she did not have to. This was an "evidentiary hearing" with no jury. The judge did not find enough evidence to totally prove that Jeff was a victim of fraud.I am not sure if JZK ended up paying the $800,000 settlement
His [Jeff's] attornies got costs/fees only. I was his first witness. I lost money as i paid my way out there--they eventually reimbursed me about 75% of my expenses. I testified for free.
Lesson: Do not run a civil suit in America unless you have MEGA-financial backing.
In a real way Jeff won as he was able to state on the record what happened and expose the inner world of JZ/R as an eye witness to it.
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Caterpillar
- Posts: 445
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RSE
From RSE:
1992-1993: The divorce case
A great deal of controversy about the school swirls about in the media maelstrom that was part of the famous reopening of the divorce case between JZ Knight and her ex-husband, Jeffrey Knight, now deceased. (It has already been mentioned that all references to "cult activity," "brainwashing," and "mind control" were tossed out by Pierce County Superior Court Judge Bruce W. Cohoe. What is not as well known is what the final decisions were. For the record, not only were these more controversial elements tossed, but also every argument advanced by Jeff Knight was rejected. The judge did award Mr. Knight seven hundred fifty thousand dollars in his controversial decision, which was based on the goodwill value of JZ's organization at the time of the initial divorce. This came as a surprise to both sides since it was not one of the original issues raised or argued by either side in the case. The Washington State Court of Appeals later reversed this decision.) Doug Kaukl states in a memo to Pavel Mikoloski on July 20, 1998 "The trial court did not award Jeff any money on his various "brainwashing" claims. All of those claims were thrown out as meritless. The award was instead based on the trial court's interpretation of the property settlement agreement between JZ and Jeff, an interpretation that was overturned on appeal.
http://www.ramtha.com/html/aboutus/faqs/jz/who.stm
It is disappointing that ?brainwashing? and ?mind control? were tossed out by Judge Bruce Cohoe although JZ/Ramtha?s ?undue influence? and ?coercive manipulation? were evident.
Judge Cohoe has retired in Jan 2006.
Gov. Gregoire Appoints New Pierce County Superior Court Judge
For Immediate Release: December 23, 2005
Hon. Bruce Cohoe retires after 18 years on the bench
Governor Gregoire today named Tacoma attorney Susan Keers Serko to Pierce County?s Superior Court bench. She replaces Judge Bruce Cohoe who will retire from the bench effective January 3, 2006.
?Judge Cohoe has served this Court with distinction for the past eighteen years,? said Governor Gregoire. A founding member of the Washington State Drug Court Association, he was awarded the Pierce County Bar Association?s Humanitarian Award in 2003.
http://www.governor.wa.gov/news/news-vi ... newsType=1
1992-1993: The divorce case
A great deal of controversy about the school swirls about in the media maelstrom that was part of the famous reopening of the divorce case between JZ Knight and her ex-husband, Jeffrey Knight, now deceased. (It has already been mentioned that all references to "cult activity," "brainwashing," and "mind control" were tossed out by Pierce County Superior Court Judge Bruce W. Cohoe. What is not as well known is what the final decisions were. For the record, not only were these more controversial elements tossed, but also every argument advanced by Jeff Knight was rejected. The judge did award Mr. Knight seven hundred fifty thousand dollars in his controversial decision, which was based on the goodwill value of JZ's organization at the time of the initial divorce. This came as a surprise to both sides since it was not one of the original issues raised or argued by either side in the case. The Washington State Court of Appeals later reversed this decision.) Doug Kaukl states in a memo to Pavel Mikoloski on July 20, 1998 "The trial court did not award Jeff any money on his various "brainwashing" claims. All of those claims were thrown out as meritless. The award was instead based on the trial court's interpretation of the property settlement agreement between JZ and Jeff, an interpretation that was overturned on appeal.
http://www.ramtha.com/html/aboutus/faqs/jz/who.stm
It is disappointing that ?brainwashing? and ?mind control? were tossed out by Judge Bruce Cohoe although JZ/Ramtha?s ?undue influence? and ?coercive manipulation? were evident.
Judge Cohoe has retired in Jan 2006.
Gov. Gregoire Appoints New Pierce County Superior Court Judge
For Immediate Release: December 23, 2005
Hon. Bruce Cohoe retires after 18 years on the bench
Governor Gregoire today named Tacoma attorney Susan Keers Serko to Pierce County?s Superior Court bench. She replaces Judge Bruce Cohoe who will retire from the bench effective January 3, 2006.
?Judge Cohoe has served this Court with distinction for the past eighteen years,? said Governor Gregoire. A founding member of the Washington State Drug Court Association, he was awarded the Pierce County Bar Association?s Humanitarian Award in 2003.
http://www.governor.wa.gov/news/news-vi ... newsType=1
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Caterpillar
- Posts: 445
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Cat
Kaukl makes a bogus issue out of the so-called "brainwashing" claims of Jeff Knight. Jeff claimed he was due more money than he got but that he was not able to think clearly about challenging the god ramtha/JZ at the time because that is how he viewed the relationship. He thought the Ram was real when they broke up. The fact remains that JZ with her Ramtha act gained Jeff's confidence and devotion. She conned him. Once he awoke from the false perception he was ablewato go after her and his money in good conscience.
I got to know Jeff's partner Geoff who was a great guy and most responsible to bringing Jeff into reality about JZ.
Bottom line for me is that Jeff passed away at peace with himself reunited with his family according to Geoff.
JZ is still trapped in her con game.
You all can choose who won the court battle....and who was or is not brainwashed.
Kaukl makes a bogus issue out of the so-called "brainwashing" claims of Jeff Knight. Jeff claimed he was due more money than he got but that he was not able to think clearly about challenging the god ramtha/JZ at the time because that is how he viewed the relationship. He thought the Ram was real when they broke up. The fact remains that JZ with her Ramtha act gained Jeff's confidence and devotion. She conned him. Once he awoke from the false perception he was ablewato go after her and his money in good conscience.
I got to know Jeff's partner Geoff who was a great guy and most responsible to bringing Jeff into reality about JZ.
Bottom line for me is that Jeff passed away at peace with himself reunited with his family according to Geoff.
JZ is still trapped in her con game.
You all can choose who won the court battle....and who was or is not brainwashed.