A woman and the Kabbalah Centre of Los Angeles have settled her fraud suit against the organization and all of its entities alleging that $500,000 she invested in a program for children was not used as she intended.
An attorney for Courtenay Geddes filed a notice of settlement Thursday with Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Daniel Buckley. No terms were divulged.
The Kabbalah Centre is a spiritual and educational organization that teaches the tenets of Jewish mysticism. Its followers include the singer Madonna, actress Demi Moore and her estranged husband, actor Ashton Kutcher.
Geddes is a Bend, Ore. resident and an heiress to a German billionaire’s fortune. In her lawsuit filed in February 2011, she alleged that in April 2007, two years after she joined the Los Angeles chapter of Kabbalah, she invested $500,000 to start a home-school program to teach Kabbalah principles to children.
"I believed that the Kabbalah Centre, with the participation and support of other Kabbalah defendants, would be a perfect fit with me in this project, which could possibly educate and bring solidarity to family units around the world through a home-schooling program emphasizing the principles of Kabbalah," Geddes stated in a sworn declaration.
"I spent a substantial amount of time thinking about planning for this program."
The 64-year-old woman says that in April 2007, she transferred the $500,000, made up of stock holdings, to the Kabbalah Centre specifically for the home-schooling program. However, no such program actually existed, her declaration stated.
"At no time was I ever notified by the Kabbalah defendants that they had decided not to proceed with the home-schooling program or that they intended to apply my ... donation for ... any other purpose," Geddes stated.
