The Cult Vault

THE INSTASCAMMER FULL SERIES HERE - Full INSTASCAMMER Podcast Feed!

In today's episode, Cult Vault host Kacey interviews Richard Velazquez about being born into a strict Jehovah’s Witness upbringing in New York City. Richard describes his mother’s recruitment through door-to-door preaching and promises of paradise healing, family conflict with his non-JW father, and prohibitions on holidays and birthdays that fueled a “split personality” and fear-based childhood with corporal punishment.

After his mother married an elder stepfather, he experienced severe abuse, leading to his father removing him at 11; subsequent instability included drug exposure, suicide attempts, and living on his own as a teen while selling drugs. Richard later became an adventure reality TV producer, struggled with long-term marijuana use, alcoholism and sexual addiction, then pursued sobriety, mindfulness training, and reconciliation with his mother, and now performs one-person storytelling shows in Los Angeles.

Richard's Instagram - Instagram
Richard's Show - TICKETS
Richard's RISK Show - https://www.risk-show.com/

FULL SERIES - https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-instascammer--7247429

No one expected it to happen online.

This is where the story begins: how a wellness figure built a devoted following through juice cleanses, food protocols, and private groups full of encouragement and before-and-after photos. What started as health advice quietly became something people trusted with far more than their diets. In this opening episode we trace that rise — the language, the promises, and the community that formed around a single voice — and set out how the series approaches what came next.

Sources & credits:
Short third-party clips are used as brief excerpts for the purpose of criticism, comment and review under fair dealing (UK) / fair use (US). Each copyright holder is credited below.

• Archive from Liana Shanti, Deep Throat: And By That I Mean Throat Chakra
(“Episode One: Intro”), 2022. 
• Archive from ABC News (WABC-TV), World News Now, 2016.
• Archive from Fox Business Network, Stossel, 2014.
• Archive from Joe Cross, Fat, Sick & Nearly Dead, 2010.

About this series:
THE INSTASCAMMER is an audio documentary based on interviews, recordings, documents and public records. The experiences you hear are the accounts of the people who lived them. Where possible we distinguish personal testimony from expert opinion and verified records. Some names and identifying details have been changed to protect contributors and third parties. Any ongoing legal matters referenced are just that — ongoing; we do not speculate on outcomes, and nothing in this series should be understood as a statement of criminal guilt. When we use the term  “InstaScammer” we are not alleging a criminal conviction.

Have you experienced something like this?

Support & resources:
If anything in this episode resonates with your own experience, you are not alone, and help is available.

• Recovering from a cult or coercive group: R.A.I.S.E. CIC (UK) — cultic-abuse support and peer-led recovery — recoverautonomy.org.

• Internationally: the International Cultic Studies Association — internationalculticstudies.org, hello@internationalculticstudies.org.

• If you’ve lost a loved one to a cult or coercion: The Family Survival Trust (UK) — thefamilysurvivaltrust.org/support.

• Childhood or sexual abuse: US — RAINN, 1-800-656-4673 (24/7). UK — NAPAC, 0808
801 0331.

• In emotional distress or crisis (including suicidal thoughts): UK & ROI — Samaritans,
free on 116 123, 24/7. US — 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline, call or text 988, 24/7.

• Domestic abuse or coercive control: UK — National Domestic Abuse Helpline (Refuge),
0808 2000 247, 24/7. US — National Domestic Violence Hotline, 1-800-799-7233.

(If you are in immediate danger, contact your local emergency number.)

Verification & evidence:
Much of what is described in this series is supported by recordings, documents, court filings and public records. If you are a journalist, researcher, or someone personally affected and you would like to verify what you’ve heard, you can reach the production at cultvaultpodcast@gmail.com.

A note on names:
To protect the privacy and safety of contributors and their families, some names and identifying details have been changed. Where individuals appear under their real names, they have consented to do so.

In this week's episode, host Kacey interviews cybersecurity professional Cheryl (Cyber Chick Boston) about her family’s experience when her niece became involved in the Twin Flames Universe. 

Cheryl explains the group’s origins under Jeff (Jeff Allen/Jeff Devine) and Shaleia (Megan), its online course-and-coaching business model likened to an MLM, escalating paid tiers, free labour, a “church” for tax advantages, and coercive tactics including forced pairings and gender transition.

Cheryl’s family hired a cult consultant, contacted ex-members, police, FBI, and journalist Alice Hynes, and used supportive contact to keep ties. Cheryl's niece suffered severe mental and physical decline, before returning home in 2022–2023, stayed partly involved until stopping completely in 2025; Cheryl now runs a YouTube channel to raise awareness and advise families to stay connected and nonjudgmental.

Cheryl's Channel - http://www.youtube.com/@CyberchickBoston
Amazon Series - Watch Desperately Seeking Soulmate: Escaping Twin Flames Universe - Season 1 | Prime Video

Crimecon UK - www.crimecon.co.uk (use code CULT for a 10% discount!)

In today's episode, Kacey interviews first-time podcast guest Stella, a US Army sexual assault victim advocate and US Navy reservist who began sharing her story on TikTok and wrote a memoir, Deliver Us From Mother: Faith, Fear, and the Family Cult That Broke Me.

Stella describes being raised in a “single family cult” led by her mother, defined by extreme control consistent with Steven Hassan’s BITE model, including severe physical punishment, psychological and information control, financial abuse, surveillance and “snitching,” parentification, and extreme evangelical purity culture, racism, and homophobia, alongside foster care and adoption in a nine-child household.

She explains how writing from journals and collaborating with her sister was healing, discusses no-contact with her parents, complex feelings about her father’s complicity, and realising the dysfunction after joining the military. Stella outlines her advocacy work, PhD research on juvenile reoffending, a planned second book, and the book’s release details and goals: recognize and label abuse, and keep talking to break secrecy.

Stella's TikTok - McCormick House Press (@stella_mccormick) | TikTok
Stella's Book - Amazon.com: Deliver Us From Mother: Faith, Fear, and the Family Cult That Broke Me eBook : McCormick, Stella: Kindle Store

Crimecon UK - www.crimecon.co.uk (use code CULT for 10% discount!)

In this episode, Kacey interviews journalist Harrison Hill about his first book, The Oracle’s Daughter: The Rise and Fall of an American Cult.

Hill describes The Aggressive Christianity Missionary Training Corps (ACMTC), founded in the early 1980s by ex-hippies Jim and Deborah Green, with Deborah claiming prophetic status and building a militarized “spiritual army” using broadcasts and leaflets, later fleeing legal trouble and ending up on a remote New Mexico compound raided in 2017.

The book’s through line is their daughter Sarah Green, who grew up in the group, later escaped at 26, and faced an impossible choice involving her children; it also examines who joins extremist groups, how people leave, and broader American religious history. Hill recounts meeting Sarah via his brother, expanding a 2021 Cut article into a book through extensive interviews, travel, and documents, handling hostility from the still-active group, and using its website as a key archive. He discusses balancing perspectives on Deborah, Sarah, and early member Maura, aiming to portray Deborah as a complex, tragic figure. Hill shares that Stephen King praised the book on Twitter, that he narrated the audiobook himself, and that he is returning to magazine work while considering another book.

Harrison Hill | Author of The Oracle’s Daughter
Aggressive Christianity--Home of Shim Ra Na Holy Tribal Nation

Crimecon UK - www.crimecon.co.uk (use code CULT for a 10% discount!)