USA, February 9, 2002: About 12 of the nearly 50 Hare Krishna temples in the United States will file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection this month because of a $400 million lawsuit over child abuse at Hare Krishna boarding schools, a spokesman for the movement said yesterday. The plaintiffs are 91 former students from around the world who allege that they were sexually, physically and emotionally abused at the boarding schools in Southern California, West Virginia and the state of Washington during the 1970s and ’80s. The organization has admitted that abuse has taken place. All the schools have since shut down. David Liberman, an attorney for the Krishna movement, said he hopes the Chapter 11 procedure will block the lawsuit, help the temples avoid huge legal fees and “enable us to show the plaintiffs that we don’t have the money and resources that they think we have.” A judgement of even $10 million “would effectively wipe out the assets of all the temples in North America,” he said. Although Liberman added that he believes the Hare Krishna movement could prevail in court, he said it has no interest “in defeating the children who were born and raised in our religion.” Rather, he said, the movement wants to use the bankruptcy process to establish “a significant fund” to compensate victims of abuse.
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