New 80-Page Report! Ravi Zacharias and RZIM Spent $1,000,000 Suing Abuse Victim

Ultimately they surmise:

Staff Writer

After it was revealed that esteemed apologist Ravi Zacharias was a sexual predator and that his organization RZIM, run by his family and an anonymous board helped cover it up, the board commissioned a report to investigate and detail how they as an organization failed to properly handle the allegations. After holding on to it for 7 months, RZIM finally made it public. This 80-page document has been openly questioned by RZIM executives, however, who note that while they don’t agree with much of their findings, they are releasing it anyway for transparency:

Although we are releasing this report, we do not agree with everything in it. We believe there are inaccurate accounts or pieces of information that were either overlooked or omitted by Guidepost and we disagree with some characterizations therein. Regardless, we believe this report provides an important assessment of our organization’s actions to investigate Zacharias and the steps we sadly failed to take. 

Of course, we absolutely led the way in investigating and shouting this from the rooftops. We were excoriated for it but eventually vindicated. Back in in 2018 we published his emails showing that he threatened to kill himself if Lori Anne Thompson told her husband about their interactions, which Ravi claimed were innocent and pure as the driven snow. We were also the first news organization to break the story of the abuse of the Spa workers, which kick-started all this back on September 9th 2020, nearly 3 weeks before Christianity Today or anyone else did their piece and gave it national attention.

That aside, one startling bit of information that came out is how much money Ravi spent in order to try to take Lori Anne out, and who paid for it. The report explains:

“RZIM’s Executive Committee of its Board of Directors approved the use of almost $1,000,000 of ministry money to pay for Zacharias’s legal battle with Thompson, even to the point of paying for the tax liability on the money Zacharias used to settle the litigation with the Thompsons, thus ensuring that Zacharias himself did not pay a single penny, even though RZIM was not a party to the legal action. Zacharias and RZIM falsely represented to the public and the ministry itself that “no ministry funds were used” in the Thompson litigation.”

At the time the RZIM board strenuously insisted that they never gave him a dime, but now admit:

“As the report highlights, the ministry did provide money to Zacharias, which was used to pay the settlement and expenses. While the payments were legal and properly accounted for, we were wrong to let this misstatement stand.”

They also recount that there were allegations in 2008-2011 about Ravi being seen holding hands of a woman who was not his wife, as well as a suggestion that he acted inappropriately with a massage therapist. The report further reveals that RZIM, for all their claims of transparency and willingness to be open, has not been particularly helpful or forthcoming in providing them with information

For the most part, those leaders we interviewed were generally cooperative. However, we are not confident that RZIM has provided us with all information relevant to our investigation. In other words, we fear that if we did not specifically request an exact piece of information – for example, if we were not aware of its existence, but its relevance to our work would be apparent – RZIM would not have provided it proactively, even if RZIM knew that it would provide clarity.

Ultimately they surmise:

RZIM’s leadership structure and the failings of its leaders themselves enabled Zacharias to act with impunity. While not knowledgeable at the time, when serious allegations were raised about Zacharias’s improper conduct, those leaders defended Zacharias without question, relied upon his explanations, ignored red flags, and failed to push for further investigation. This automatic loyalty at the top of the organization created a culture in which RZIM employees were encouraged to flatly reject the allegations against Zacharias without question or doubt, and those who did question or doubt felt as if they could not speak up.

In response to the report, Lori Anne Thompson, the object of the million dollar spend, wrote: