In part two of this five-part W5 investigation: “Fake Filtered Cult Leader,” CTV News’ investigative unit examines a self-described spiritual teacher whose online presence helped attract followers around the world. Drawing on interviews and extensive reporting, W5 explores concerns raised by former members and the questions surrounding the organization behind the carefully curated public image.
A Hawaii-based alleged cult leader persuaded more than two dozen Canadians to move to Florida, with accusations that Canada was a danger zone.
The Canadians were students of an online self-described spiritual teacher named Liana Shanti, whose real name is Liane Wilson.
At the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, in December 2022, 16 Canadians from in and around Regina, Sask. moved to Jacksonville, Florida. They say their spiritual instructor had repeatedly told them that Canada, with its vaccine rules and public gathering restrictions, was becoming an oppressive state. She also shared conspiracy theories that suggested the vaccine was dangerous.
“She’d speak of Canada literally turning into the depths of hell,” says former Shanti student, Amanda Brady. “And at one point we had a chat where she was likening it to The Handmaid’s Tale and we fully believed that if we stayed here our lives were in danger and our children’s lives were in danger.”
The Handmaid’s Tale is a dystopian television series and book about a totalitarian Christian theocracy that is especially oppressive for women.
Amanda and her husband bought a large property in Jacksonville so the Canadian followers could all live together. They nicknamed it Destiny Manor.
Was the run for the border a kidnapping?
Several of Liana Shanti’s followers took their children over the American border without the consent of the children’s fathers. Some considered it an outright kidnapping. Amanda Brady’s ex-husband, Wade Martin is one of them.
When Amanda fled with their two daughters to Florida, he did not see for much of the next four years.
“They left little girls and they came back - still my little girls - but not really, you know?” says an emotional Martin. “And it’s four years that I feel were stolen from me that no amount of money can ever get back.”
But he does not completely blame his ex-wife.
“I do feel that there was somebody in Amanda’s ear telling her what to do,” he says. “I don’t think this was all Amanda’s decision.”
Amanda Brady agrees.
“Do I understand Wade’s feelings? Absolutely, and that is something that I don’t know that I will ever be able to apologize enough for,” she says.
Amanda says that Liana Shanti had an overwhelming influence over everything she did. She has left the Shanti community and now believes that she was part of a cult.
Students start to question their teacher
Riley Lawson was one of the women who moved from Saskatchewan to Destiny Manor in Florida. She says the group eventually became disillusioned with the advice and perceived restrictions that Liana Shanti put on them. She says Shanti discouraged them from talking outside online platforms that she controlled.
“You just start constantly feeling like you’re being evaluated for what you do and don’t do,” she tells W5. “It was exhausting. … That was my life for that whole time.”
Riley says during their time in Florida, people began to share frustrations and dissent about Liana Shanti and her teachings. Eventually, all but one of them left the Shanti community and returned to Canada.
“There were 10 or 15 of us that actually had been questioning things for quite some time but never brought it up to anybody because we were afraid that somebody would turn on us even if they were our closest friend,” she says.
And she says when she decided to leave, Liana Shanti targeted her and others.
“She found out where I moved to in Canada, found out the town…she told her whole community that the reason I left the United States was because ICE was at my door,” she says, referring to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. “And since we left, we have been bullied online….and lied about.”
She and Amanda both say that Liana Shanti has a long history of vindictive behaviour, which includes doxxing people and sharing deeply personal information from what they thought were private conversations with their trusted teacher.
“I know there’s going to be repercussions from my sitting here with you today and talking about this,” says Riley.
The Canadians who fought back and won
In August, a civil jury in Honolulu found that Liana Shanti defamed three Canadians who were connected to ex-wives in the Shanti community. The spiritual guru carried out a relentless online hate campaign against the trio, calling them child abusers, pedophile supporters and Satanists, among other things. The jury awarded damages of more than C$55 million.
Despite the verdict, Liana Shanti has continued to post similar Instagram stories about the three and former followers. She says she is simply repeating information that other people have told her and that she believes to be true.
W5 repeatedly asked Liana Shanti for an interview. She declined, but says she intends to appeal the verdict.
“I have a team of appellate experts who have given us a very high level of confidence that there are serious errors of law that are very strong grounds for appeal to overturn the jury verdict and order a new trial,” she writes in an email to W5.
Watch the one-hour special presentation of W5’s Avery Haines Investigates Saturday at 7 p.m. ET live on W5’s official YouTube channel and on CTV and Crave
