Grace Hills, Kansas Reflector

Six ‘cult’ leaders convicted in scheme that forced children to work for no pay

KANSAS CITY, Kan. — A federal jury convicted six leaders in a quasi-religious group in a scheme that convinced parents to send their children to Kansas City, Kansas, for schooling but instead forced them to work long hours without pay and subjected them to beatings and other abuse.

The six defendants held high-ranking positions of influence within the United Nation of Islam, which a federal judge deemed a “cult.” They pleaded not guilty but were convicted Monday in federal district court in Kansas City.

United Nation of Islam founder Royall Jenkins, who claimed to be Allah and had multiple wives, court documents show, died in 2021.

In 1996, Jenkins told local government in Kansas City that the group was moving there to create its headquarters and make it their new “heaven.” From 1998 to 2000, the Unified Government of Wyandotte County and Kansas City and a public school board donated five buildings to the group for the purpose of revitalizing an area that was considered blighted and dangerous.

Instead, federal prosecutors said, the organization used fear to coerce children into working up to 16 hours a day in its storefronts, with names like, “Your Diner,” “Your Bakery” and “Your Gas Station.”

Although members could be of any age, court documents show the defendants primarily used the labor of minors, with the youngest only 8 years old. In return, they would get meager meals, sparse accommodations and crowded housing, according to court documents.

“The United Nation of Islam and these defendants held themselves out as a beacon of hope for the community, promising to educate and teach important life skills to members, particularly children,” said Kristen Clarke, of the U.S. Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, in a statement. “Instead, the defendants betrayed this trust, exploiting young children in the organization by callously compelling their labor.”

Attorneys for the defendants during the 26-day trial argued their clients used their positions in the organization to try and stop Jenkins and the abuse. The federal government wanted to prosecute Jenkins, they said, but he died.

The jury convicted each defendant of conspiracy to commit forced labor. Kabba Majeed — one of two defendants who testified during the trial — also was convicted of five counts of forced labor. Majeed and other defendants, except for Dana Peach, who was one of Jenkins’ wives, were part of an executive board that had planned to shut down the United Nation of Islam after they realized Jenkins was “a fraud.”

“We tried to do a stealth breakdown, remove everything, then have Royall find out,” Majeed testified. “Our attempt was to make sure this didn’t happen again. Period.”

Ultimately, Majeed said, there was nothing they could’ve done to stop him.

“Going to the police would’ve stopped him,” said Myryam Zhuravitsky, an attorney with the Civil Rights Division’s Human Trafficking Prosecution Unit, during cross-examination.

Multiple victims testified during the trial. One woman spoke of her time at the United Nation of Islam school, where children were taught an unregulated curriculum, including that “women were not needed.” Children were humiliated and beaten regularly, she said.

“I was scared,” she said. “Hearing a little boy scream, knowing he’s defenseless.”

Kansas Reflector doesn’t identify survivors of domestic and sexual violence without their consent.

Defendants are scheduled for sentencing on Feb. 18. Majeed faces up to 20 years in prison and restitution. The other defendants face up to five years in prison: Peach, Yunus Rassoul, James Staton, Randolph Rodney Hadley, and Daniel Aubrey Jenkins.

Kansas Reflector is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Kansas Reflector maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Sherman Smith for questions: info@kansasreflector.com. Follow Kansas Reflector on Facebook and X.

Controversy erupts as Kansas AG Kobach slams Pfizer's 'misleading' vaccine marketing

TOPEKA — Attorney General Kris Kobach filed a civil lawsuit Monday against pharmaceutical company Pfizer, alleging that “Pfizer misled the public that it had a ‘safe and effective’ COVID-19 vaccine,” violating the state’s Consumer Protection Act.

The state seeks “civil monetary penalties, damages, and injunctive relief from misleading and deceptive statements made in marketing its COVID-19 vaccine,” Kobach said.

In the complaint, Kobach alleges that Pfizer wilfully concealed, suppressed and omitted material facts relating to the COVID-19 vaccine, the “most egregious” ones regarding safety of the vaccine for pregnant people, in regard to heart conditions, its effectiveness against variants and its ability to stop transmission.

“Pfizer marketed its vaccine as safe for pregnant women,” Kobach said. “However, in February of 2021 (they) possessed reports of 458 pregnant women who received Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine during pregnancy. More than half of the pregnant women reported an adverse event, and more than 10% reported a miscarriage.”

The percentage of “adverse events” – which is a term that means any negative reaction – was higher in pregnant women than the general population by roughly 17 percent, according to a study published in the journal Medicine in February 2022.

An earlier study published in the New England Journal of Medicine in April 2021 offered preliminary findings that did not show any significant safety concerns among pregnant individuals who received the mRNA COVID-19 vaccine, indicating that observed miscarriages were not unusual and likely not a direct result of the vaccine.

Kobach says that Pfizer marketed the vaccine as safe in terms of heart conditions such as myocarditis and pericarditis. He referenced a question Albert Bourla, Pfizer CEO was asked in January 2023 of if the vaccine caused severe myocarditis, to which Bourla responded “we have not seen a single signal, although we have distributed billions of doses.”

“However, as Pfizer knew, the United States Government, the United States Military foreign governments and others have found that Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine caused myocarditis and pericarditis,” Kobach said.

According to the CDC, cases of myocarditis and pericarditis caused by the COVID-19 vaccine are rare, and most patients experienced resolution of symptoms by hospital discharge.

Kobach says Pfizer marketed its vaccine as effective against COVID-19 variants, “even though data available at the time showed Pfizer’s vaccine was effective less than half the time.”

His final allegation in the complaint was that the company falsely marketed the vaccine as preventing transmission.

“Pfizer urged Americans to get vaccinated in order to protect their loved ones, clearly indicating a claim that Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccination stopped transmission,” Kobach said. “Pfizer later admitted that they’ve never even studied transmission after the recipients receive the vaccine.”

Kansas is the first state to file such a lawsuit, though Kobach says five other states will be joining. They will make announcements independently. The only other confirmed state is Idaho.

“More suits may follow, depending on Pfizer’s reaction,” Kobach said.

In 2023, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton sued Pfizer for “unlawfully misrepresenting the effectiveness of the company’s COVID-19 vaccine and attempting to censor public discussion of the product.” That suit was also based on the state’s Consumer Protection Act.

The case is filed in Thomas County. Kobach says this is because they wanted to go to a place with a lighter workload, to make sure they had the time to deal with it.

When asked if he’d received the Pfizer vaccine, Kobach declined to answer. “I think whether I’ve received the vaccination is irrelevant to the lawsuit, it’s not about me,” he said. “It’s about the statements that were made to the people of Kansas.”