Skip to main content

Issue of Defamation on Google

Gerald Joe Moreno (Equalizer)

In his campaign to attack all critics of Sathya Sai Baba (d.2011) and himself, Gerald Joe Moreno proved nothing except that the role of a cyberstalking sectarian apologist is acutely misleading and reprehensibly libellous. 

In January 2009, a lawyer passed verdict on the internet attacks by Gerald Joe Moreno (alias Equalizer) in my direction: 

I think that [Gerald] Joe Moreno has been quite defamatory, and I would be very surprised if he has not taken the precaution of ensuring that no property of any value is in his own name, and thus not available to execute against action exerted to satisfy an award of Damages for Defamation. His web writing comes across to me as that of a petty and fanatical lout who always needs to have the last word, and that in itself makes me wonder about his motivation and, thus, to doubt his good faith and his credibility. His output realistically amounts to little more than a hopefully face-saving smokescreen for the benefit of his own cheer squad. 

The count against Moreno increased substantially by 2010. From 2007, he ignored my detailed protests at his misrepresentation and libel. He is reported to have suffered decease in 2010, at the age of forty. Only part of his web output remained visible on Google. 

Hostile and misleading representations of myself were sustained at diverse Moreno sites and blogs. Those incursions included the blog called sathyasaibaba, where Moreno misleadingly referred to himself as “sathyasaibaba,” thus creating an impression that his guru Sathya Sai Baba was here the voice of authority.

In more general terms, the collective toll of Moreno victims aroused the verdict of lawyers, in three different countries, that the web attacks of Gerald Joe Moreno were markedly libellous. His output remains a warning of what sectarian zeal can do in the furtherance of “hate campaign,” treating any kind of criticism as a punishable offence. This situation has served to illustrate the extent of abuse which can occur on Google, along with the satellites blogspot and wordpress, a largely unmonitored field with no due regulations in force. 

A pertinent question exists as to the status and propriety of blog defamation surviving on blogspot and wordpress after the decease of a malpractitioner,  in the face of active complaint.

The Moreno inquisitorial web labyrinth, prior to his death, was an obvious attempt to annul all criticism of his guru Sathya Sai Baba. Moreno frequently repeated his mantra that the Puttaparthi guru had never been convicted of any crimes. The “allegations” were therefore invalid, he liked to assert. The reason for a massive loophole in the law was that socially prominent devotees like Dr. Michael Goldstein (of California) blocked all investigation. Goldstein appeared in a well known BBC interview (dating to 2004), during which he dismissed all critical factors via his emphatic belief that no guilt could apply to Sathya Sai (the Western medic also rated his own ability to discern cases of sexual abuse). A BBC complaint emerged that Goldstein relied on the testimony of the accused, not any due process of enquiry.

Goldstein had been requested to confront Sathya Sai Baba with the abused instance of Alaya Rahm, a young American devotee. The guru responded: “Swami [Sathya Sai] is pure.” The Puttaparthi avatar was not slow to negotiate the new threat to his ascendancy. The next day, he imparted a discourse in which he lavishly praised Goldstein, more than he had ever praised anyone. Goldstein proudly referred to this eulogy as “the peak of my life.”  According to ex-devotees, Goldstein subsequently started to fund Moreno in his apologist project online. 

The Danish documentary Seduced by Sai Baba had caused a stir in 2002, being opposed by devotees who resorted to a legal procedure that failed. Produced by Ojvind Kyro of Denmark Radio (DR), the Seduced feature profiled “Sam Young,” meaning Alaya Rahm (who at that date adopted a protective pseudonym against potentially accusing devotees). During the 1990s, from the age of 16, this American was sexually molested for several years after being “oiled” (on the genitals) by Sathya Sai. Alaya and his parents were gifted with money and  jewels (also cheap gold watches that soon faded in lustre). His parents later described these offerings as bribes from the guru. The testimony of the victim includes the following:

One time he [Sathya Sai] had his robe completely off and he tried to have anal sex with me, because he came from behind and started climbing up on top of me. (Testimony from Sam Young on the video SEDUCED, exbaba.com, Witnesses tab)

Kevin R. D. Shepherd

May 2014 (modified 2021)

ENTRY no. 27

Copyright © 2021 Kevin R. D. Shepherd. All Rights Reserved.