McO client tells her story on KVAL-TV

Trigger Warning: This video describes allegations of sexual assault.

Extract:

In a lawsuit currently in U.S. District Court in Portland, Ore., a woman claims she was raped by a Buddhist teacher at a religious center in Veneta. People our news team spoke with say the center functions like a cult.

Rachel Montgomery says she experienced an awakening years later, which led her to filing a lawsuit requesting $8,000,000 in damages. Multiple defendants are listed in the suit, including individuals and the Dzogchen Retreat Center in Oregon.

KVAL News started looking into the lawsuit and allegations in early April. As we talked with people familiar with the Buddhist Retreat Center, we heard stories about financial pressure, sexual grooming and a godlike figure who rules at times like a dictator. In the lawsuit, which was originally filed in state court, Montgomery describes how she was a vulnerable teenager from Washington who moved to the Dzogchen Buddhist Retreat Center in a remote section of Veneta.

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