Deprogrammer and Remini advisor Steve Hassan is a former CAN member with a decades-long history of violence. His modus operandi was to spew false and alarming fabrications about a religion, create fear and divisiveness within families, and use that to extract exorbitant sums to kidnap and physically abuse his targets.
Arthur Roselle detailed in affidavits the mental and physical abuse he suffered at the hands of Hassan. Roselle was forcibly kidnapped and imprisoned by several men who bound his hands and feet so tightly they “were badly swollen and…the color of a bruise.”
Deprived of sleep for three days, Roselle was not allowed to shave or wash and was denied all privacy, even when using the toilet. Hassan subjected him to methods the victim later described as “brainwashing” and “mind control,” threatening him with injections of drugs if he did not recant his religious beliefs. Roselle finally managed to escape after seven torturous days. Female victims—Claire Kelley, Lorne Salah, and others—also reported physical abuse by Hassan who sought to forcibly break their faith.
Hassan promoted himself as an “expert” on religions in a scam to enrich himself testifying in court cases. Basing his “expertise” on the debunked theories of psychologist Margaret Singer, whose work was rejected by the American Psychological Association as “unscientific,” Hassan was disqualified as an expert by numerous courts.
