Gaia used clothes bins in USA and UK - Humana People-to-People Alert

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  The other Gaia companies

  Gaia's claims  

  The offshore companies  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Gaia used clothes

  Gaia is part of Tvind  

Gaia - or 'Gaia-Movement Trust Living Earth Green World Action' - is a Tvind enterprise.

The object is apparently to collect old clothes for charity. But Gaia is an important source of income for the Tvind cult and part of a large multinational business. It is controlled by the Teachers Group, a body tainted by allegations of criminal financial misconduct.

  Gaia and the Teachers Group 
  financial network  

Gaia is hardly a straight forward charity. It belongs to an $860m family of enterprises controlled by the Tvind Teachers Group.

It is one of three 'charity' used clothes collectors controlled by the Teachers Group in the United States and Britain, that collect and sell clothes donated by the public.

The Teachers Group also controls several commercial clothes trading concerns. In addition it runs several linked colleges which provide it with cheap labour.

Ultimately, all these charities, companies and colleges are connected to a network of Tvind-controlled, tax-efficient offshore companies.

  The fraud trial  

This is the very same network of offshore companies that is at the heart of the current European fraud trial against Amdi Petersen (left) and five other leaders of the Teachers Group cult. Petersen is currently on the run from Danish police.

See our report on the fraud trial, and the 2001 Danish police report.

  Gaia's claims, and our findings

   Other media investigations

  What happens to the clothes?  

They are not given away to Africa. They are sold for a profit.

Most charities do this, but the Teachers Group has a unique financial system. It sells many of the clothes to its own offshore companies, we believe evading tax and creaming off most of the profit along the way to offshore accounts.

In Europe, journalists have discovered that the Teachers Group has been operating a financial scam for years. For a clear explanation, read Michael Bjerre's article on Humana Holland in the Danish newspaper, Berlingske Tidende (24th Aug 2002).

How much money from Gaia goes to the Third World? Some, but probably not much..

  The Swiss letter box  

What exactly is the Gai-Movement Trust, and why is there a Swiss flag on the box?

When we investigated in 2000, we found the Gaia-Movement Trust to be a rented room in an office building in Geneva. Letters were being forwarded to a Humana address in Amsterdam, and there was no sign of any charity work. All but one of the trustees were Teachers Group members. Read more >>>

  The wildlife park manual  

We are in possession of an impressive book on game management apparently produced by the Gaia Movement. There is one problem. The book is not the work of Gaia, and has nothing to do with any Gaia wildlife reserve.

We contacted safari park manager Mike La Grange, author of 'Game Management Africa', a manual on how to handle wildlife, in Zimbabwe. He confirmed the book was his work. But he had never heard of Gaia. Then he remembered 'the Danes' in Zimbabwe who had paid him for the material which had already been published elsewhere.

The world headquarters of Humana People-to-People is located in Zimbawe. What exactly were 'the Danes' up to?

  The environmental projects  

So just what ARE these environmental projects, and how much money is spent on them? Do they bear any resemblance to this impressive list?

According to Danish police, some of the other Tvind 'environmental projects' they investigated in 2000-2001 turned out to be a commercial sawmill, a forestry plantation in Brazil, and various bogus charities and front companies for transferring money to the Teachers Group. Read the 2001 Danish police report.

  The Chicago Tribune 

The Green Bins of Gaia (February 2004) by David Jackson and Monica Eng.

Gaia's clothing collection business flourishes in Chicago, but its promises to promote the environment are questionable. Meanwhile, the organization's leaders are under criminal indictment in Europe.

  San Francisco CBS5  

Behind the Green Box (December 2006) report by Anna Werner

In this season of giving, a new charity in the Bay Area is welcoming volunteers and clothing donations through its green-colred bins with the friendly Gaia label. But behind the green box, investigative reporter Anna Werner uncovers a Danish organization.

  Who runs Gaia? 

 

  Other reports  

Sonoma Index-Tribune (14th Sept 2004) Bins Fund Siskiyou Nonprofit. By Sarah Berkley. Story questioning link between Gaia clothes bins in California and CCTG.

Wisconsin State Journal: Recycling Group Meets Resistance (7th April 2002)

The Independent on Sunday (UK): Charity's recycling claims mislead public (17th December 2000)

Gaia's managers are undoubtedly dedicated charity workers. However the leading managers are members of the Teachers Group. Helle Lund, one of Gaia's managers, used to be the company secretary and director of Humana UK, the company closed down in 1998 by the British Charity Commission.

The CEO of Gaia, Chicago, Eva Nielsen, has been with the Teachers Group since the beginning - at least 32 years. A former teacher at Tvind schools, then project leader in Honduras, Armenia, Africa and India. 

  Green World Recycling  

UK used clothes company (1998)

Read the Tvind Alert dossier

  The Gaia-Movement Trust  

Swiss trust (founded 1998)

Founding trustees included Jonas Israel, manager of a Tvind company, and Søren Sørensen, manager of Tvind companies in Belize. Both are TG members.

  Links  

Gaia website

http://www.clothingbincult.com/ - critical website

 

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