Who are the Fellowship of Friends? Whistleblower claims Google 'infiltrated' by doomsday cult
A former Google employee has sued the organization after accusing it of being penetrated by a “destructive” California-based cult led by a “pedophilic” leader. Kevin Lloyd used to work for the Google Developer Studio as a video producer after being employed through Advanced Systems Group (ASG) in August 2017. But soon he reportedly realized that the firm was filled with members of a cult group, called the Fellowship of Friends. Then in February 2021, he lost his job after he spoke about his colleagues’ and supervisors’ associations with the cult.
In his suit, the 34-year-old has alleged that the Fellowship of Friends’ members, who stayed in and around the group’s 1,200-acre headquarters, called Apollo, in California, were given promotions as well. The New York Post citing the filing reported that “at least 12 of the 25 employees in Lloyd’s division were members of the cult,” including one of Lloyd’s supervisors, Peter Lubbers.
READ MORE
What is the Shekinah Church? Miranda Derrick inducted into cult claims family in viral video
The suit by Lloyd claimed that “Mr. Lubbers gained status and praise relative to the increase of money flowing to the Fellowship through his efforts at Google that put (and kept) other Fellowship members — directly or indirectly — on Google’s payroll,” before noting, “Anyone outside of the Fellowship is seen as somehow inferior and at times adversarial. Those that express serious concerns, criticism or question the group may be eventually perceived as enemies.”
The filings also went on to add that the “plaintiff’s preliminary research into Oregon House and the Fellowship of Friends described the Fellowship as a destructive cult, with a pedophilic leader who makes false prophecies about the end of the world. Plaintiff became alarmed that Google was involved with and/or financially supporting such an organization.”
Lloyd has sued ASG too in the same suit and alleged that “all that was needed for the GDS department to get rid of troublesome ‘vendor’ such as plaintiff was to tell ASG that the particular ‘vendor’ was no longer needed. In plaintiff’s case, once upper GDS management had decided to get rid of him and at their direction, ASG summarily terminated plaintiff’s employment without providing any legitimate business reasons. Or any reasons whatsoever.”
Who are the Fellowship of Friends?
According to the cult group’s website, it was founded in 1970 by Robert Earl Burton in the San Francisco Bay Area. It states that “from its inception the vision of the Fellowship was, and remains, to establish a practical spiritual organization and to make it available to anyone interested in pursuing the spiritual work of awakening.”
“Today the Fellowship has approximately 1,500 members and maintains over 50 centers in various countries around the world. Along with the aim of making its teachings and practices available in all parts of the world, the increase in the diversity of its membership has transformed the Fellowship into an international spiritual organization that recognizes and learns from each of the esoteric traditions throughout recorded time,” the website adds.
However, it’s not the first time the Fellowship of Friends has found itself in trouble. Earlier, former group members have accused Burton of sexual abuse and misconduct in a six-part podcast series, called ‘Revelations’, which is available on Spotify since last year. The cult group had also faced two lawsuits in the past but both were settled outside of court.
According to the podcast’s investigative reporter Jennings Brown, who spoke with The New York Post in 2021, “[Former members] told me about these sex rituals where [the leader] would attempt to have sex with 100 followers in a day. He called them love fests.”