http://www.maine.gov/ag/press_release_pop_up.php?press_id=317

NEWS FROM MAINE ATTORNEY GENERAL STEVEN ROWE

STATE ENTERS INTO CONSENT DECREE WITH THE GENTLE WIND PROJECT FOR
DECEPTIVE PRACTICES AND VIOLATIONS

AUGUST 14, 2006

CAROLYN A. SILSBY, ASSISTANT ATTORNEY GENERAL, (207) 626-8829

Attorney General Steven Rowe announced today that the State has
entered into a consent decree with The Gentle Wind Project, a
Kittery-based charitable organization, and six named defendants
(collectively, "GWP") who served as officers or directors for many
years. The consent decree resolves violations of the Maine Unfair
Trade Practices Act relating to GWP's claims about its so-
called "healing instruments," and violations of law relating to the
mismanagement of the charity and its funds by those who held
positions of fiduciary responsibility.

The "healing instruments" were manufactured and distributed by GWP
from designs that allegedly came from the "Spirit World" via
telepathic impressions received by the charity's founder, John
Miller. GWP claimed that the instruments repair a
person's "etheric," or invisible energetic structure, which then
improves one's emotional, mental, and even physical functioning.
The instruments were sold to consumers via GWP's website and
through "seminars" for requested "donations" of often hundreds or
thousands of dollars, depending on the design. The research that
GWP claimed to have done on the instruments does not support their
alleged benefits. The Unfair Trade Practices Act, as interpreted by
the Federal Trade Commission and the federal courts, requires that
any express or implied health claims be substantiated by objective
and reliable scientific evidence. In the absence of such evidence,
the claims are deceptive.

The named defendants have agreed to pay civil penalties and costs
and to an injunction that prohibits them from making certain health
and research claims about the "healing instruments" or from serving
as fiduciaries or advisors for any other Maine nonprofit. The
parties have also agreed that GWP will be dissolved, and its
remaining assets distributed by the Attorney General as restitution
to consumers who purchased a "healing instrument" since 2003 and to
a Maine charity whose charitable mission is to provide services to
those with mental health disabilities.

"We believe that this is a just resolution of the violations of law
committed by the defendants. People who give money to a Maine
charity should be able to trust in its integrity, and in the
integrity of those who are charged with its operation. This charity
damaged the public's trust and it should not be allowed to
continue," Rowe said.

The consent decree and order that were filed in the York County
Superior Court late last week will become final once approved by the
Court. Attorney General Rowe praised Assistant Attorney General
Carolyn Silsby for her work in the case.