ILLINOIS
Chicago Tribune
Christy Gutowski
Chicago Tribune
More former followers of the DuPage County-based Institute in Basic Life Principles have joined a multimillion-dollar lawsuit alleging leaders of the renowned conservative ministry conspired to cover up decades of inappropriate conduct.
Five additional women, totaling 10 plaintiffs, filed an amended 110-page lawsuit Wednesday in DuPage County alleging they were victims of “sexual abuse, sexual harassment and inappropriate/unauthorized touching” while they were participants, interns or employees of the institute.
Besides monetary damages, the women asked a judge to impose a “constructive trust” on IBLP’s assets to prevent leaders’ alleged plans to liquidate resources estimated at more than $100 million while they close the institute’s headquarters near Oak Brook and relocate to Texas “in an attempt to flee the jurisdiction (state of Illinois) where this wrongful conduct occurred,” according to the lawsuit.
In October, five of the women sued IBLP and its board of directors. Naperville attorney Shawn Collins later sought to dismiss the suit on behalf of IBLP, arguing it lacked specific facts such as dates, acts and named perpetrators to support such claims. Lawyers for the women did not fight the challenge and instead refiled the suit this week with the addition of five more accusers.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.