A mysterious self-help guru is under renewed federal scrutiny following an investigation by The Daily Beast into allegations that she is running a cult that encourages women to cut ties with their families.
Liana Shanti, who leads the Lemurian Mystery School, has been summoned for a hearing on April 24 by the court that sentenced her to five years’ probation after she pleaded guilty to concealing assets in a bankruptcy case.
According to the Honolulu federal court docket, Shanti’s probation officer received several complaints that she had “induced” people “to leave their families, remove their children from their homes, and take other uncharacteristic actions.” The docket also cites The Daily Beast article published in March.
ADVERTISEMENT
The court noted that Monday’s hearing could lead to further proceedings and a revocation of Shanti’s probation—which could land her in jail.
The Daily Beast contacted Shanti by phone and email, and through her lawyer, but she did not respond.
“I hope this leads to an investigation into her teachings and her financial records,” says Jason Veras, who believes Shanti’s influence led to the destruction of his family. “She is a con artist and a criminal.”
The Daily Beast’s story on Shanti was based on court documents, leaked conversations from her private Facebook and Signal groups, and interviews with six former Shanti followers and 19 people who said they lost loved ones to the Lemurian Mystery School.
The reporting revealed that many of Shanti’s students made radical changes to their diets, began espousing QAnon-adjacent conspiracy theories, uncovered purported memories of childhood abuse, cut ties with their spouses and families, and took their children to new cities in regions that Shanti deemed safe from Luciferian forces.
Last year one of Shanti’s Canadian followers took her children and fled to Jacksonville, Florida, where she bought a $1.4 million McMansion. Four other Canadian Shanti followers and their children also moved into the house, which they named Destiny Manor.
After the owner of Destiny Manor posted in the Lemurian Facebook group about deceiving border patrol in order to get into the United States, Shanti responded, “You were on a mission. You accomplished it. 🙏”
An ex-member told The Daily Beast that at least 38 women moved to new cities due to Shanti’s insistence that they needed to flee certain states and countries.
Shanti has 22,700 followers on Instagram. The core group of students who pay to access Shanti’s private Facebook and Signal groups call themselves “Lemurian Sisters.” Some of the followers legally changed their names after Shanti gave them new Lemurian identities. Many of them have paid tens of thousands of dollars for her programs and audio courses, even though none of them have ever met her in person.
Liana Shanti is the creation, or alter ego, of Liane Wilson, a 52-year-old mother who lives in a Hawaii suburb. Wilson is a former lawyer who worked briefly at the New York-based firm Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom before moving to Hawaii and working as a timeshare salesperson for Wyndham.
In 2012, she began posting online as Liana Shanti, a women’s empowerment health coach. Shanti’s appearance was a mystery until 2018 when she started posting selfies. But the photos appear so heavily filtered that she seems almost ageless—leading some of her detractors to accuse her of being a catfish.
Shanti’s claims about her supernatural powers and career have evolved over time. She boasts in her audio courses, on social media, and in her podcast Deep Throat: And by that I mean Throat Chakra, that she has earned millions of dollars as a corporate lawyer and salesperson.
“I get asked ALL. THE. TIME: Liana: why the F do you do what you do?” she posted in her Instagram stories. “You made millions on Wall Street, and again in sales, and AGAIN with your nutrition biz. Everything you touch turns to gold.”
But her bankruptcy filings in 2011 painted a much different picture. She claimed that she had $1,840,277.75 in liabilities and $545,699 in assets—or more than $1 million of debt.
It turned out that this accounting wasn’t accurate. In May 2021, Shanti pleaded guilty to the felony of concealing bankruptcy assets. Those assets included cashier’s checks from the sale of a diamond ring, earnings from her company Rawganic Vegan, and proceeds from a disability insurance policy.
In December 2021, Shanti was sentenced to five years’ probation and fined $21,000. She was also ordered to give her probation officer access to any requested financial information, which the probation officer can share with the U.S. Attorney’s office.
Families who say Shanti wrecked their lives and isolated their loved ones think she deserves further investigation. More than 20 people affected by Shanti submitted victim impact statements to the judge overseeing the case.
“I’ve spoken to a lot of families affected by Liana Shanti,” says Jason, who submitted a letter about his experience to the court. “It’s clear to me she has manipulated and persuaded these women to break the law, to kidnap their children.”
A few months after Jason Veras’ wife Jennifer started following Shanti, Jennifer began sharing conspiracy theories about the COVID pandemic and vaccines, cut ties with her mother, left Jason, took their kids, and refused to share their location, he says.
In an effort to save their marriage, Jason began listening to Shanti’s teachings, which, he says regretfully, caused him to despise his mother and cut ties with her. Jason’s sister Beverly also started following Shanti in order to understand what was happening to her sister-in-law. She says Shanti’s teachings caused her to cut ties with her mom, disconnect from her husband, and start plotting to take her children to Florida out of fear that Luciferian entities would put her and her children in concentration camps where they would be forced to take the soul-killing COVID-19 vaccine.
Jason and Beverly eventually pulled away from Shanti when they realized her teachings were tearing families apart. They then began connecting with other people who had similar experiences.
“Me personally, and all the families I’ve talked to, we all have been mentally and emotionally affected,” Jason said. “I hope these women can see the truth of Liana Shanti—that she’s a fraud and that they’ve been lied to. It’s sickening because these women look up to her like she’s Jesus.”
Shanti claims that she speaks directly with Jesus and she is the primary vessel for his teachings. She also teaches that she is a descendant of the ancient civilization of Lemuria, and can access the “Akashic Records,” which, according to Shanti, are stored inside whales and contain all the information in the universe. Shanti says that this is how she is able to tell her followers about past trauma and abuse that they don’t remember. Some of Shanti’s followers have reported their spouses or family members to child protective services after Shanti convinced them that those people had abused children.
As Lemurian Sisters uncover new memories of abuse, they often share sensitive details about their personal life in Shanti’s private Facebook and Signal groups. Shanti has posted these intimate confessions on her public Instagram account after people leave the group or are kicked out. In some instances, she has tagged the exiled former members’ employers in these posts.
“I don’t know what the laws are around coercing money out of people—but when you know all their deepest, darkest secrets, and then you want money from them, in all likelihood, they’re going to give it to you,” says a former Lemurian Sister who followed Shanti for three years, and did not want her real name used out of fear of retribution. “She collects private information, and she weaponizes people’s pain points. I hope that someone can go in and look at all the different ways she’s collecting money from people.”
“I don’t think that it requires any stretch of the imagination to expect them to investigate her for more financial crimes,” the ex-member says. “She is an evil human being. What she is doing is fucked up. And she needs to stop. It’s abusive. It’s horrible. She’s a Machiavellian nightmare.”
