Ten women have filed a lawsuit against Bill Gothard, founder of the Institute in Basic Life Principles linked to the Duggar family, famous for their reality TV show, for sexual abuse.
Contrary to Gothard's claiming "never in my life have I touched a girl sexually", the lawsuit accuses him of raping a woman and sexually assaulting others.
The lawsuit is part of a larger battle between dozens of women and the Institute in Basic Life Principles (IBLP), which Gothard founded and of which he was president until 2014. He resigned after more than 30 women accused him of sexual harassment. Some of those involved were minors at the time.
According to reports, the Duggar family, whose 19 Kids and Counting show was axed after revelations about Josh supported and been involved in the IBLP ministry. It was recently reported in In Touch magazine that Josh Duggar had been sent to its training centre as a teenager after he admitted to sexually abusing his four younger sisters and a family friend.
The lawsuit filed on Wednesday builds upon a lawsuit filed in October 2015 and names Gothard specifically as a defendant.
Speaking to the Washington Post on Wednesday, Gothard denied the allegations: "Oh no. Never never. Oh! That's horrible. Never in my life have I touched a girl sexually. I'm shocked to even hear that."
The 10 plaintiffs are seeking at least $50,000 in damages.
The IBLP made a statement on Wednesday welcoming "the structure and integrity of the court process as a means for determining the truth with respect to these allegations".
One of the plaintiffs has alleged that her telling Gothard about abuse she had suffered from her father and other relatives resulted in him threatening her. She said she had been raped by her father and other relatives and later sold into human trafficking as a minor. She alleges she told IBLP staff who failed to report it to the authorities.
When at one of the ministry's training centres, she said she called her father with Gothard present and asked him to confirm the truth of her allegations. When he denied them, she says, Gothard threatened her. She alleges that he later raped her, as did a Bible counsellor employed by IBLP.
The adopted daughter of the counsellor in question, Ruth Copley Burger, who is also involved in the lawsuit, has alleged he sexually molested her.
Another woman, Gretchen Wilkinson said while working for Gothard from the age of 16 he would play footsie with her and hold her hand. She claims he also sexually molested her in a car ride from the airport.
"He was built up to a god-like state in our eyes because he was a man who could do no wrong. I looked up to him as a father figure, almost like how catholics look up to priests, bishops or their pope," said Wilkinson.
Jamie Deering, another woman involved in the lawsuit, has alleged Gothard sexually abused her on multiple occasions.
The IBLP conducted an internal investigation which found "no criminal activity", but described what he had done as "inappropriate behaviour" and "sin". The investigation failed to contact any of the women involved.
