SALT LAKE CITY (CN) — Survivors of Utah’s notorious Kingston clan filed a lawsuit seeking punitive damages against 22 Kingston members on Wednesday for sex trafficking minors born into the organization, sexual battery, child abuse and more.
One of the survivors includes Amanda Rae Grant, who appeared on season two of A&E’s "Escaping Polygamy" to discuss her experiences with the polygamous organization.
“The Order,” as the Kingston clan calls itself, is a religious cult affiliated with the Latter Day Church of Christ, a Mormon fundamentalist denomination. The Southern Poverty Law Center recognizes the Kingston clan as an “incest and white supremacy” group for its practices outlined in Escaping Polygamy, which include teaching children to not associate themselves with non-white people and, as mentioned by the lawsuit, marrying underage children off to family members of The Order.
According to the lawsuit, defendants engaged in unlawful patterns practices that harmed survivors, including pre-arranged marriages of minors between family members, rape, physical abuse, forced pregnancy and child labor.
“It is a common and intentional practice in the Order to require girls and women to submit sexually against their will to their husbands to produce children,” states the complaint, adding: “It is a common and intentional practice in the Order for girls to be impregnated when they are young so they cannot leave; this is especially true for girls that may resist Order rules or may not show sufficient obedience.”
Additionally, the lawsuit outlines a series of other illegal practices such as duping birth certificates, managing a fake bank and so-called “bleeding the beast.”
“It is a common and intentional practice in the Order to Bleed the Beast by systematically preparing and filing false tax returns,” states the lawsuit. “It is a common and intentional practice in the Order for fathers not to be listed on their children’s birth certificates to create confusion, avoid criminal prosecution for fathering children in underage, plural and incestuous marriages and/or for illicit labor and tax reasons.”
Attorneys for the plaintiffs are Roger Hoole of Hoole and King LLC and Jaclyn Robertson of JR Law Group LLC.
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