A former employee claims to have been fired for wanting to expose the influence of a sect called “The Community of Friends”, reports the ‘New York Times’.
(Boursier.com) — Members of a cult placed in strategic positions within one of Google’s divisions? Laid off in February 2021, Kevin Lloyd, who then worked in a video production department for the American giant, began legal proceedings against his former employer for unfair dismissal, arguing that his dismissal is linked to the influence acquired within the undertaken by a religious organization.
In a lawsuit filed in a California court, the 34-year-old man, who is seeking $50,000 in damages, claims he was fired for “sounding the alarm about a cult within Google, a group called ‘Fellowship of Friends'” (or “The community of friends” in French).
In an article published on the site ‘Medium’, the videographer indicates that the members of the sect “dominate” his former team at Google, citing in particular “favoritism” and “cronyism, not to mention direct payments to the sect”.
At least 12 members
According to Kevin Lloyd, at least 12 of the 25 people who make up the Google Developer Studio (GDS) division, including director Peter Lubbers, are part of the “community”. The former employee also denounces an assembly created to finance the sect with the funds of the firm of Mountain View.
He says, for example, that Google allegedly used members of the cult to organize group events, such as the Google I/O after-party and the Android Summit, by serving wine produced by the wine estate owned by the religious organization, the “Grant Marie”. “The invoices I have seen suggest that we were buying hundreds of thousands of dollars [de vin] every year, just at Grant Marie,” he said.
In his complaint, the ex-employee also returned to the controversial history of this cult, which promises its followers to obtain a state of “higher consciousness” through art and spirituality. The organization has more than 1,500 followers, mostly gathered at the Oregon House farm in California.
Human trafficking and sexual abuse
Kevin Lloyd, for example, mentions a background in human trafficking. He also cites an investigation by the ‘Los Angeles Times’ revealing complaints against the organization’s founder, Robert Earl Burton, accused of sexual abuse.
“I filed a lawsuit,” said the former Google employee, adding that he published his story in the ‘New York Times’, which conducted the investigation. The testimony of Kevin Lloyd was corroborated by eight collaborators of the group. The American daily was also able to consult internal documents of the sect, in which appear the names of several people working within the GDS, starting with Peter Lubbers.
For its part, Google claims not to have been aware of the situation. A spokesperson for the group recalled that it was “against the law to ask the religious affiliation of those who work for us or for our suppliers”, adding however that the company will examine “those allegations thoroughly to detect any irregularity or improper contractual practice”.