A Honolulu jury handed down a US$40.1 million verdict against Liane Wilson, the online guru operating as Liana Shanti, finding she defamed three Saskatchewan residents through a targeted campaign of online harassment. The award, totaling more than C$56 million, stands as one of the largest civil damages verdicts in the state’s history. The jury rejected Wilson’s original suit, which had accused the plaintiffs of defamation, and instead found she had accused them of supporting paedophiles and practising black magic.
The legal battle stemmed from Wilson’s online community, where she allegedly manipulated followers into leaving their families. Amanda Brady, a former follower from Regina, told CTV News that Wilson convinced her that her stepmother, Paula Haygarth, was performing witchcraft on the family. "She would message me and say, 'Oh, your energy came into my awareness today... Paula's doing witchcraft on your family,'" Brady recalled. Brady spent tens of thousands of dollars on Wilson’s sessions, believing the guru’s psychic claims.
During the pandemic, Wilson warned her Canadian followers that the country was becoming dangerous, prompting around two dozen people to move to Florida. Most returned to Canada after leaving the community. Wilson then turned on them, labeling them demonic and Satanic. UK-based cult expert Kacey Baker, who interviewed approximately 30 affected individuals, described an environment of coercion where personal data shared in confidence was weaponized against those who challenged the guru.
The financial toll on the plaintiffs has been severe. Haygarth stated her legal bills alone exceeded US$600,000, forcing her and her husband Wade to sell their Saskatchewan home and move into a trailer. "It's just so traumatic to be accused for all of those years for something you never did," Haygarth said. The trio has not yet received the awarded funds, and collection remains uncertain.
Wilson intends to appeal the decision. In an email to CTV’s investigative programme W5, she dismissed the allegations, claiming she was merely a "fiction" created by abusive men. "I sued them. I exposed them. They lashed out," she wrote. The case now moves to the appeals court, where Wilson will argue the jury’s findings.