Skeptical Updates

Bronwyn Rideout - 21 January 2025

As we ease into 2025, I thought it would be appropriate to give an update on topics I’ve covered over the past couple of years. There have been some significant changes or revelations that have happened in the MLM and cult space between late 2024 and now.

Trump selects Tulsi Gabbard as the Director of National Intelligence

Gabbard is a US military veteran, career politician, a flip-flopper on LGBTQIA+ rights, a former democrat turned MAGA/Trump supporter, and is/was associated with the Science of Identity Foundation (SIF), a Hare Krishna/ISKCON splinter group. I wrote about SIF in 2023, and their various connections to New Zealand in terms of their business dealings and membership. Gabbard married Otahuhu-born cinematographer and fellow child of SIF, Abraham Williams, in 2015.

The path had not been smooth for Gabbard since she was nominated by Trump on November 13th, 2024. Security experts, colleagues, and SIF defectors have criticised her lack of expertise and fitness for the position. Despite vocal concerns that Gabbard is still under the thumb of SIF leader Chris Butler, a spokesperson for Trump’s transition team claims that Gabbard has no affiliation with SIF, despite reportage to the contrary. Attempts to question the SIF/ISKCON connection have been deflected by Gabbard, who publicly identifies as Hindu, and have been attacked by others as religious or anti-Hindu bigotry. Otherwise, Gabbard has been mum on her current status with SIF this election cycle, as everyone else does the talking for her.

Still, Gabbard’s confirmation hearing has been delayed. On January 7th, it was reported that Gabbard’s FBI background check, ethics disclosure, or pre-hearing questionnaire had not been received. This was not indicative of any discovered malfeasance on the part of Gabbard; paperwork for several nominees were delayed by weather and logistical issues because, well, it’s winter in the US (and Los Angeles was on fire for a time last week). However, rumours indicate that lawmakers on both sides are uneasy. Concerns mainly centred on her lack of experience and questionable political judgement (such as meeting Bashar al-Assad) rather than her connections with SIF. As of January 17th, there was still no date set for Gabbard’s confirmation hearing, meaning it will likely have to wait until after Trump’s inauguration on January 21st.

Even at this late stage, it could still fall apart for Gabbard. While RFK Jr somehow passed muster, Matt Gaetz was forced to withdraw from consideration soon after his nomination to lead the Department of Justice.

Haircare MLM Monat continued freefall and looming troubles in Australia

2024 has not been Monat’s year. The impact of multiple lawsuits and the departure/dismissal of several top consultants has been palpable. Many have taken their energy and their downlines to other MLMs, like Olive Tree People and LifeWave, reducing the passive social media marketing presence provided by livestreams, demos, and the frequent and vigorous efforts to defend MONAT. Videography of their annual convention shows a depleted worker base, and a much more subdued event than in years past.

There are still consultants holding the fort in Australia/NZ. And while it could be said that the MLM is thriving in Australasia, with several Australians reaching the ranks of Director and Senior Executive Director in 2024, what does that imply for larger markets like the US and UK? Have they hit saturation? Why is there a plateau despite the space left by all the departed consultants?

LifeWave: Live Long like a Lobster

Since Katrina and I wrote about LifeWave, more information has come to light (pun intended) about what really sits behind the pseudoscience of LightWave patches, aside from a plastic acupressure ball.

Schmidt believes that lobsters hold the key to human longevity and age reversal. Lobsters can live a long time, but they aren’t immortal by any means. According to Wikipedia, they can live an estimated 45-50 years, while other anecdotes claim 120-140 years. Impressive, but it is difficult for scientists to give anything other than an estimate. It is suggested that lobster longevity is related to the enzyme telomerase they express throughout their lives and as they grow. However, they regularly grow out of their carapace and shed it through moulting. The bigger the lobster, the more energy-intensive this process is. Lobsters can die due to moulting or, if they are unable to sustain themselves beyond their daily metabolic needs, damage to their current carapace can lead to infection, and they can die due to infection and injury.

But let’s not let facts get in the way of an intelligently designed story, shall we?

While LifeWave isn’t headquartered in Utah, like so many other MLMs, it is still heavily influenced by the Christian faith of its founder, David Schmidt. According to Schmidt, he repeatedly returned to the idea, during his bible study, that life is in the blood. He also saw three numbers related to biblical codes in the story of creation: 777, 888, and 999. That led him to look at lobster blood, and he started to see various numerical patterns in the light wavelengths, ~550, 631, and between 700 and 710 nanometres. Some further funky math later, and he was able to transform his biblical code numbers into ratios that he could multiply against 631. The findings were 552 and 710. This convinced Schmidt that he had the mathematical evidence that the biocode in lobsters matched the math from the book of Genesis.

I certainly don’t remember this in the pitch I received at the Go Green Expo, but if I get the chance to sit in on a presentation again, either myself or Mark will be enquiring about this!

Tupperware makes its comeback to NZ, briefly

Tupperware initially closed its doors in New Zealand in 2022, but it was briefly brought back through a partnership with online retailer Laine Homeware in December 2023. However, the partnership might not last, as Tupperware brands filed for bankruptcy protection in the US in September 2024, being $821 million in debt.

Tupperware had been in NZ since the 1950s, and was successful in the Asia-Pacific region - accounting for a third of the company’s $2.6 billion sales in 2013 alone. This is notable as cultural differences and laws make MLM expansion into China, India, and throughout South East Asia difficult, while NZ is too small to be an independent market to target. Even when global and North American sales dropped through to 2018, Asian markets still led sales. However, the pandemic and the growth of local, affordable competitors (i.e. Rubbermaid and Sistema) took bigger and bigger bites from Tupperware profits.

In late October 2024, the lender takeover of Tupperware Brands was approved. This will ensure the ongoing survival of the brand for now, but unless the purchasers can find solutions to the brand’s money woes, they may be back in bankruptcy court again by 2026. One thing that is clear to pundits is that the company has to pivot away from the direct selling model, which is still in place elsewhere in the world.

ISTA in legal entanglementSome of ISTA’s business dealings have been put under the microscope courtesy of the legal imbroglio that has enveloped Rich Priddis, ISTA faculty member and current president. Twenty one music publishers originally sued Priddis for copyright infringement in 2016, regarding his karaoke business. Priddis initially settled, but allegedly breached that agreement. Under the terms of the original settlement, the plaintiffs (including several music companies like Sony Music) had grounds to pursue an increased settlement of $3,000,000. They then attempted to force Priddis into involuntary bankruptcy.

To preface, I am absolutely not a lawyer or an accountant, but there appear to be some issues with some of the arguments made by the petitioning creditor’s counsel.

Priddis’ case is ongoing, but the legal documents have been revealing, particularly as creditors sought financial information from ISTA to determine whether anything else could impact the settlement’s administration. The legal team of the petitioning creditors made many comments that detractors and critics of ISTA and Highden would agree with, i.e. “…a less cryptic description of ISTA’s core activity is that it is a sex cult”, but there were also erroneous assertions such as “Priddis is ISTA and ISTA is Priddis” which is stated at least 5 times in counsel James B. Ball’s memorandum to the US Bankruptcy Court in Arizona. For whatever reason, the counsel for the petitioning creditors seems convinced that ISTA is not only one of Priddis’ for-profit ventures, but also his alter ego and a sham non-profit. Anyone who has followed the ISTA saga with the Skeptics or elsewhere, like on Culty Conversations, knows this is a significant inaccuracy.

Having whiplash over the erasure of Baba Dez was not on my 2024 Bingo card, to be sure, but in claiming that ISTA belongs to Priddis, the creditors could force the bankruptcy of ISTA to help recoup some of the $3,000,000 if they were successful.

I will admit ignorance about American taxation and its related laws, and I understand that legal documents are not written for the hoi polloi. ISTA’s activities are undoubtedly unorthodox compared to what we usually consider an acceptable non-profit activity. However, the IRS did determine that ISTA was a charitable organisation in 2019.

I advise you search for “Temple Arts” in Arizona using the Tax Exempt Organization Search

But, Ball’s initial comments are unclear at first blush. Nonprofits in the United States can charge fees or tuition and sell items related to their mission with the requisite exemptions and limitations. Also, it’s a common misconception that nonprofits and charities must be run wholly on volunteer labour and on donated facilities, equipment, resources, etc. Rather, they can run much like for-profit entities, and that may include costs like salaries for employees, rentals, and so on. Ball points out in the clip above that the registration/tuition payments were listed as donations on ISTA’s 2022 income statement:

But on the 990 form that they submitted for 2022 to the IRS, with some discrepancy, the 20% event profit that ISTA takes back seems to be appropriately declared as service revenue:

Putting that aside, Ball’s memorandum continued down the ISTA is Priddis path. It is argued that Priddis made offshore investments using the ISTA bank account, with two investments having significant NZ connections: Highden Manor and the LUA app.

Regarding Highden Manor, Priddis allegedly made a $200,000 transfer from an ISTA bank account to Highden (“another sex cult”, as per Ball’s memorandum) in 2020 despite claiming in a 990 form that ISTA did not have any ownership interest in a foreign partnership. With no interest returning to the ISTA bank account, it was further argued that Priddis had an undisclosed bank account.

As for the LUA app, Priddis is accused of making similar transactions for $50,000 (total) to the Australian business. LUA was a dating app/Israeli start-up directed at conscious sexuality communities. Based in Israel, the startup operated for a couple of years before finally shuttering in 2024. ISTA faculty member and Kiwi Caitlyn Cook was involved in its development, and featured on LUA social media.

ISTA’s lawyers responded. While bristling at the sex cult verbiage, their counterarguments correct the narrative about Dez’s role in the establishment of ISTA, and the failure of the original organism structure that was in place:

In response to accusations that Priddis was redirecting funds, the defence claimed that ISTA used none of the money to purchase any partnership interest in Highden. The ISTA bank account was a pass-through for a $153,982.33 cash contribution from Sedona Temple, the Robert Nichols-led nonprofit from which ISTA was launched. The use of pass-through accounts is risky, but not illegal per se. It does however raise the question of what the intent of the Sedona contribution was. ISTA paid Highden the remaining $46,017.67 in the form of a grant restricted to scholarships. With LUA, the defense suggested a possible reporting error by the CPA did not involve Priddis.

Without a copy of Highden’s accounts, we cannot know whether there was any financial wrongdoing, or whether the transfers were above board as claimed by ISTA’s CPA and others. We await the release of further documentation.

At present, Priddis’ and ISTA’s activities continue unabated:

Bruce Lyon leaves ISTA

A significant sea change occurred on October 4th, 2024 when Bruce officially announced that Bruce Lyon was leaving ISTA, just before the start of his 2025 sabbatical, which he announced on April 21st, 2024. As I’ve prattled on about before, 2025 is supposed to be A Big Year for the Alice Bailey-types, and it will be interesting to see how things are spun regarding the Ascended Masters et al. Whether Bruce will maintain a presence in Palmy is, of course, unknown, but Highden Temple Trainings and ISTA workshops will continue to be held at the manor over 2025. I guess we’ll know when the social media posts come out!