By Tim Binnall
A New York City man claims that a self-described psychic swindled him out of more than a million dollars over the course of a few months after she convinced him that there were 'evil spirits' plaguing his life. The very strange case reportedly came to light earlier this week when William Young filed a lawsuit against 'spiritual healer' Shaina Samiel. In the legal complaint, his lawyer explained that the man met the purported clairvoyant back in May and the two quickly became friends. After hearing about various problems in his life, Samiel allegedly convinced Young to begin seeing her as a client, which is when the relationship took a darker turn.
According to the lawsuit, "Samiel told the man that his family was cursed by dark spirits" and that the forces "were very strong and that so long as they were there, Young will not be able to find love or happiness or have a good relationship with his family." As 'luck' would have it, the psychic just so happened to know a series of rituals "using arcane and occult arts" which would eradicate the sinister spirits that had torn Young's life asunder. The lawsuit goes on to contend that Samiel convinced the man that the potency of these 'healing sessions' was directly tied to how much money he was willing to pay for them.
Incredibly, Young's lawsuit says that he paid Samiel a staggering $100,000 for the first such ritual and then another $32,000, in six smaller installments, over the course of the same month. Shortly thereafter, the 'spiritual healer' told her beguiled client that she was in desperate need of a car in order to "travel on his behalf, gather materials for rituals, and consult and contact "superiors" who were other psychics in her organization for consultation." This issue was swiftly solved when Young actually went so far as to lease a new car for the woman and assumed all of the monthly payments for the vehicle.
All told, over the course of the next six months, Young claims that he paid Samiel a jaw-dropping $1.1 million for her psychic 'services.' As one might imagine, the man's life did not improve and, in fact, it took a considerable turn for the worse as he had spent his entire life savings on these rituals. However, the Young says, Samiel managed to persuade him to tap into a joint bank account belonging to his family and wire her a whopping $496,000. Fortunately, the massive payment was stopped by the bank, who likely suspected something was amiss, which is when it seems that the psychic's spell over the man was broken and he subsequently filed suit in order to recoup some of the money from the 'magical misadventure.'