Dear Marion, with currently four court cases against Surya Ma (as Ms West likes to be called this year) it is time for you to come out of hiding and tell your own harrowing tale which, on the face of it looks like a mirror image of what happened to Pat Cole recently.

Let us refresh our memories on what Ms West’s ex office manager, Rebecca West (no relation) had to say about her friend Pat Cole and what she had suffered at the hands of Devra West, The Master Teacher!

“Dr. Cole was severely beaten on several occasions and proof is available. With all my heart, I hope and pray, the law firm that is currently reviewing her documents will help Dr. Cole recover her losses and/or dignity, as she has no money left after Devra extorted more than $700,000 from her.

I know that unless the $30M comes in this week, the Naka Shela Retreat Center is lost to foreclosure along with the house that Dr. Cole bought in Lakeside, which is where Devra lives (in the basement) with her son Che, his wife Jamie, and their newborn and 7-year daughters living upstairs. Dr. Cole was forced to sign a "Quit Claim Deed" by Devra and will be yet another assault to her credit rating. My credit rating has taken a huge blow due to lack of timely paychecks, missing wages, bounced checks……”

Approximately three years ago I got a call at home from David Kushner, an ex student of Ms West’s, who alleged that he leant Ms West $30,000 which she refused to give him back. He has a written agreement covering the loan but Ms West simply refused to talk to him or entertain the idea of returning the money.  Listen to David in his own words talk about the 'loan!'  Click on this link. 

If this was not bad enough David then went on to talk about his friend Marion Cantwell.

David alleged that Marion, also a student of Ms West, had been severely beaten and had most of her savings extorted from her by Ms West! It seems that Marion had recently sold her home and had a large amount of money in her bank account – money Ms West coveted for herself.

So Marion, flush with funds, apparently got invited into the inner circle. Initially, so the story goes, Marion donated some of her money to Ms West – but that was not enough! To cut a long story short Marion was allegedly very badly treated until she relinquished most of her savings. David alleges that she was then told to leave and threatened with death if she told anyone what had happened!  Listen to David describe this in his own words.  Click on this link.
 

Now is it just me or is there a pattern here?  Didn't the same thing just happen to Pat Cole?

There is a cult run by Ms West which, through a fancy website and peer to peer recruitment, sucks in spiritual seekers who are then 'graded' according their usefulness to the leader (Surya Ma).  At some point people like Pat Cole and Marion Cantwell (and many others before them) get to learn all too late that this is not about spirituality at all - but about money – their money!

Some actually continue believe the 'cover story' used to raise funds for the latest 'grand scheme!'  When I was there five years ago the fund raising was notionally to buy land next to the existing property at Fred Burr Road in Victor.  None of that happened, most of it went to West's lifestyle costs and the property ended up being passed into her own trust fund.  This is the subject of Mike Hendrickson's lawsuit.

Those that give to these 'scams' are told by Surya Ma that they will be closer to God!  If they don’t give what they have or Surya Ma gets short of pocket money then some of the women victims are allegedly physically assaulted until they do give up their money. This has been going on for many years and only now is it coming to light.

Marion it is time for you to come forward and stand with Pat Cole and others to ensure that this wolf in sheep’s clothing gets put away so she cannot prey on others!  Tell your story to the police, the newspaper and anyone else that will listen I am sure Pat Cole in particular would appreciate you support!

Copyright 2007. John Watson. All rights reserved.