Woman at the Center
Haley Winter
“This was a decision I made on my own. Liana never once encouraged me to take my daughter out of the country.”
Read the StoryLIANA SHANTI TRUTHS
Beyond the
Liana Shanti
“Cult” Narrative
Go back before the story changed.Read their words. See for yourself.
Original Messages · Letters · Court Records
Who is Liana Shanti?
Before the defamation campaign against Liana, there was a much bigger story.
100,000+ women. 90+ countries. 15 years of teaching and healing. Decades of advocacy. Thousands of testimonials.
Liana Shanti is a former Wall Street attorney, spiritual teacher, health educator and founder whose work has reached women around the world through Liana Shanti®, HMI Wellness®, Illuminations® and The Relaxed Millionaire®.
Her advocacy for people facing abuse and persecution began decades before the families documented on this website ever entered her life. As an attorney, Liana devoted her pro bono work to people seeking asylum from religious persecution and gender-based violence. Later, her work expanded into helping women heal from family abuse, narcissistic relationships and deeply rooted family wounds.
So when women connected to the families documented here disclosed abuse, Liana did what she had been doing for decades: she believed them, supported them and spoke up for them.
WHO IS LIANA SHANTI? →Who Liana did this for
A little girl
named Isla.
Liana has been willing to go through all of this for a little girl named Isla.
Haley described her fear for Isla, her attempts to get help, and the pain of being unable to protect her daughter. Liana believed Haley. Liana believed Isla.
Read Haley and Isla’s story →
Dear Santa,
For Christmas I want a miracle to happen. The miracle is to see my mommy because I never get to have a weekend with my mom.
Merry Christmas Santa,
Love,
Isla
So how did the smear campaign begin?
Haley and Amanda spoke about serious abuse within their families. Liana listened to them, believed them, and supported them.
Their ex-husbands and other family members then turned their attention toward Liana. Relatives from seven additional families later joined them, along with a small number of former students.
The people who began attacking Liana were not her students. They were the family members her adult students had spoken about.
To discredit the women speaking out about abuse in their families, they first had to discredit the woman who believed them.
How the “cult” narrative began
01
The Two Women at the Center
It began with two family crises that had nothing to do with Liana.
Liana was not part of either family, involved in their marriages or custody disputes, or making decisions for anyone. Amanda Brady and Haley Winter brought Liana’s name into their family conflicts—and their relatives made her the target.
What actually happened
The Border Story That Never Happened
One of the most inflammatory claims was that Liana directed women to take children illegally across international borders. The record shows otherwise.
Haley acted without Liana’s prior knowledge. She was turned away at the border and returned home. She NEVER crossed.
Amanda moved to Florida legally with full custody, and Wade (her ex-husband) knew she was leaving.
Both women told a federal judge the decisions were theirs alone.
Liana always advised everyone in her community to follow the law—especially court-issued custody orders.
Yet Byron Horvath, Stephanie Horvath, Wade Martin, and Paula Haygarth used Haley’s unsuccessful attempt and Amanda’s lawful move—neither involving Liana—to claim children were being trafficked to a “cult” in Florida. Liana lives in Hawaii.
Haley never crossed. Amanda crossed legally. Liana directed no one.
Woman at the Center
Amanda Brady
“I’m a grown ass adult, and all of my decisions are my own, and such every consequence is mine to endure.”
Read the StoryThe people behind the lawsuit
02Two jealous stepmoms.
Two jealous stepmoms.
Their evil plan.
Paula was Amanda's best friend and bridesmaid in her wedding. UNTIL she hooked up with Amanda's ex-husband, Wade.
Stefanie is married to Haley’s ex-husband, Byron, and is stepmother to their daughter, Isla.
March 20, 2022 · Stefanie calls Paula (a complete stranger). Stefanie arranged dinner at Famoso Pizza in Regina, where she and Byron met Paula and Wade. Byron & Stefanie ask Wade to write an affidavit to take away Isla from her protective mother, Haley. Wade agrees to write an affidavit for a complete stranger to help Byron get custody of Isla.
The jealous stepmoms concocted a story that their partners' ex-wives, Amanda and Haley, were in a cult and that Liana was their cult leader. Their proof? Both women wanted to move to Florida. Both women took online classes from Liana.
Amanda’s ex-husband’s partner
Paula Haygarth
Amanda’s former best friend and bridesmaid became Wade’s partner. Paula admitted assuming Liana was involved in Amanda’s move, but acknowledged there were NO FACTS.
The private investigator assessed with “a high degree of confidence” that Paula played a primary role in the harassment campaign.
Read Paula’s record →
Haley’s ex-husband’s wife
Stefanie Horvath
Stefanie contacted Paula, a stranger, and arranged the meeting in a scheme to steal Isla away from her protective mother, Haley.
“(Stefanie) is trying to delete me and raise my baby.”— Haley Winter · October 31, 2022
Read Stefanie’s record →
Haley’s ex-husband
Byron Horvath
Haley said she immediately recognized Byron’s voice on the death-threat voicemails. The private investigator’s assessment: “Up to 95% confident that Paula and Byron were involved in posting the (slanderous) content.”
“When I heard the voicemails myself I immediately knew it was Byron’s voice.”— Haley, in her signed letter
Read Byron’s record →The legal record
Liana endured seven months of vicious online attacks before responding.
Liana says she remained silent for seven months while they viciously attacked and slandered her online. She then began publicly exposing those responsible and pursued legal action.
On December 6, 2022, Liana and her company sued Paula and Byron for defamation, false light, emotional distress, and civil conspiracy. Stefanie was later added. Liana sued first. The defendants countersued her for defamation.
Understand the lawsuit →The trial record & the appeal
What the jury didn’t see.
The appeal ahead.
Liana says she was prevented from presenting key evidence in her case. The jury did not see the full record: private investigative findings linking Paula and Byron to the online attacks, Isla’s recordings describing abuse, the excluded death-threat voicemail, Haley and Amanda’s messages, and the witness intimidation by Paul Thompson.
Liana is planning to appeal. See the evidence she says she was prevented from presenting—and why she is determined to have the full story heard.
The Smear Campaign
03
The Families of Nine Students Joined the Attack
The group that conspired together to harm Liana in an attempt to silence their family members.
Amanda’s and Haley’s ex-husbands’ new wives began the smear campaign against Liana. Byron contributed and made recorded death threats.
They then conspired with relatives of seven other students of Liana’s to cause her serious harm, continue the defamation, and spread the “cult” narrative.
The people who colluded together in this hate campaign were not Liana’s students.
They were ex-husbands, new wives, and family members about whom the nine adult students had disclosed horrific abuse—including child sexual abuse, domestic violence, and coercive control.
Liana’s students were finally speaking publicly about the abuse they said had happened within those families. Liana—and her community—listened, believed them, and gave them support and a platform to speak.
That made her a target.
It was a classic DARVO pattern: deny the abuse, attack those exposing it, and reverse the roles of victim and offender.
Why did people who had never been Liana’s students target her so viciously?Because the people accused of abuse wanted to discredit the family members speaking out, destroy the support around them, and keep the allegations from being exposed.Silencing Liana was a way to silence the victims themselves.But Liana will NOT be silenced.
The contradiction
These Were Adult Women Making Their Own Decisions
It was 2022. These were adult women. Women have the right to leave relationships, get divorced, move, establish boundaries, speak about abuse, and decide whom they trust.
When an adult woman leaves a relationship, speaks about abuse, establishes boundaries, or changes her life, why is her decision treated as proof that another person must be controlling her?
Calling her “brainwashed” becomes another way of refusing to accept her right to choose.
The contradiction is impossible to ignore: family members accused Liana of controlling these women while they themselves tried to control them—attempting to overrule their choices and refusing to accept their right to direct their own lives.
The Nine Families/The Victim Silencers
Amanda’s ex-husband
Wade Martin
“You're such a piece of shit. I won’t be signing a parenting agreement” - Wade to Amanda
Read the Story
Alleged Wife Abuser
Paul Thompson
“I am so angry at you I could kill you! You have no idea what I could do to you.” - threats to his wife, per Jess
Read the Story
Arrested for assaulting wife
Timothy Jensen
“The only way you will be able to protect our children is if you stay with me.” - threats to his wife, per Acacia
Read the Story
4 year domestic violence injunction
Jeff Lambrecht
“I escaped from my husband (Jeff Lambrecht) on November 4, 2011, almost a year BEFORE I met Liana. I had to literally take my kids and flee.” - Cahira
Read the Story
Mission to Harm Women
Joe Scoppino
“My ex-husband, Joe Scoppino, wrote false affidavits for abusive fathers HE DID NOT KNOW in an attempt to help them win sole custody of their children.” – Malana
Read the Story
Alleged Pedophile
Jack Fiorvante
“He sexually abused me when I was a child. They do not want me back. They just want me silenced.” - Malana regarding Jack & Ann
Read the Story
Jennifer’s ex-husband
Jason Veras
“I told her the abuse me and my kids had received over the last 20 years” — Jennifer
Read the Story
Gave His Wife an Ultimatum
Mitch Tarras
“It's either me. Or her (Liana). You choose.” — His ultimatum, as recorded by his wife, Stephanie
Read the Story
Had Her Daughter Committed
Shabeen Yadav
“Ms. Narang is an adult, entitled to make her own decisions, even if they go against her parents’ wishes.” — Dr. Kaia Alline
Read the Story
Friend of Byron
Andrew Cozier
“So hot but so young!” — Comment on Kara’s childhood photograph, attributed to Andrew
Read the Story04
The Former Students Who Joined the Abusers to Attack Liana
People Can Change Their Minds. They Cannot Rewrite the Past.
A small number of former students later aligned themselves with the nine families attacking Liana.
Their stories are not here because they left. They are here because they publicly joined the attack—and then asked the public to believe a new story while ignoring the record they created themselves.
People are free to leave, change their minds, or decide that a teacher or program is no longer right for them. But sometimes, when a person feels disappointed in her life or does not get the outcome she hoped for, it can feel easier to blame someone else than to face her own choices and take responsibility for them.
The relationship is then retold: guidance becomes control, encouragement becomes pressure, and choices made willingly become things she claims were done to her. To make that new story work, years of praise, gratitude, and documented experiences must be dismissed or explained away.
This website preserves the record when people later publicly attack Liana or describe their experiences in ways that conflict with what they said while they were actually living them. Their messages, testimonials, photographs, letters, and conversations allow the past to speak for itself.
Anyone can leave. Anyone can change their mind. But it does not erase what they freely chose, requested, purchased, praised, and said at the time. Their opinion may change. The documented history does not.
The Former Students
The True Cult Leader
Kaia Alline
Kaia presented herself as Liana’s right hand and close confidant to sell her own services. Behind the public praise of Liana were her own rules, a hierarchy of control, and labeling people “dark”—the very conduct later attributed to Liana.
Read the Story
Former Student
Nancy Brooke
“It’s through her programs that she (Liana) very literally saved my life.”
Read the Story
Former Student
Anna Kelley
“I don’t know where I would be if I had not found your work a few years ago.” - Anna to Liana
Read the Story
Former Student
Dana Chalamet
“So grateful for your gifts and for ALWAYS speaking/teaching TRUTH! Love it!!!” - Dana to Liana
Read the Story
Former Student
Joanna Foster
“My mother would distract the parent and my father would abuse. And I let it happen. I didn’t stop it. I didn’t protect my precious children.”
Read the Story
Former Student
Lacy Smith
“Thank you Liana for helping my soul course correct. Thank you for helping me remember who I am. You have been one of the most beautiful gifts in this lifetime.”
Read the Story
Former Student
Leta Hunt
“The allegation that Liana is leading a cult is completely false.”
Read the Story
Former Student
Kathleen Ashwill
“Liana honors her students as sovereign adults and never uses any methods of control or manipulation.”
Read the Story
Former Student
Carmen / Leia Vaihere
“I will always be forever grateful for Liana Shanti.”
Read the Story
Former Student
Mary Catherine Reilly
“Liana you are blessed with a gift and such a great source of information.”
Read the Story
Former Student
Jessica Shackelford
“This gives me so much clarity and I am ready to let go. Thank you Liana.”
Read the Story
Former Student
Joann Demerit
“I have been obsessed with finding solid (not feelings) truth to validate my feelings to prove I am right.”
Read the StoryWhy private messages appear here
When Private Conversations Become Part of the Record
Liana considers privacy sacred. Over 15 years, she has received private communications from thousands of people, and virtually none of them will ever become public.
But privacy cannot be used as a gag order. A person has the right to tell her own story, but not to make false public claims about Liana while insisting that Liana has no right to produce the person’s earlier words in response.
When someone publicly makes that relationship part of an accusation against Liana, Liana will share the full documented history of that relationship. The public deserves to see the complete record, not a rewritten version of it.
“I don’t reach into the bag of receipts first. I reach into it last.”— Liana Shanti
Community Response · In their own words
We Remember. We Stand with Liana.
They prayed for Haley, supported Amanda, and watched Liana show up for them. Now they’re speaking about the betrayal—and their disgust at how Haley & Amanda turned on Liana. Read their letters, public responses, and Liana’s full statement.
Hear the communityGo beyond the narrative. Read what they said themselves.
Their stories. Their words. Presented in context.
Begin with Haley’s story