Werner Erhard

In the three months he was pursuing a Republican congressional nomination, Nathan Rosenberg maintained again and again that his brother Jack--better known as Werner Erhard, founder of the internationally known est human potential movement--had nothing to do with his campaign. Whenever his opponent, five-term Rep. Robert E. Badham (R-Newport Beach) made the charge, the young Newport Beach management consultant would angrily deny it. "That's absolutely a lie," he would say.

Now and then, a new psychology movement bursts onto the popular scene and shakes up the mental health establishment. Typically these efforts tickle the fringe of accepted science, buoyed by celebrities and alternative therapy enthusiasts -- which is to say, they often settle in California. Some, like est or primal therapy, traffic in mental transformation. Others, like Transcendental Meditation, whisper of ancient wisdom. Still others, like lucid dreaming, have echoes of science fiction.

His blue eyes are blazing and a vein throbs in his forehead as Werner Erhard talks up his longtime passion: coaching people in exploring life's possibilities. For Erhard, the father of Erhard Seminar Training (est), anything does seem possible. Despite two failed marriages and jabs about his slick packaging, this super-salesman of personal effectiveness just keeps attracting buyers. Since the birth of est in 1971, his power switch has been perpetually on.

In October of 1989, a private detective was called into the Church of Scientology's offices in Los Angeles and asked to conduct an investigation in Northern California. Ted Heisig, a non-Scientologist based in Orange County, said he was led into a room and shown five file cabinets filled with documents Scientology had been collecting for years. The subject: Werner Erhard, founder of the worldwide self-awareness movement known as est.

In October of 1989, a private detective was called into the Church of Scientology's offices in Los Angeles and asked to conduct an investigation in Northern California. Ted Heisig, a non-Scientologist based in Orange County, said he was led into a room and shown five file cabinets filled with documents Scientology had been collecting for years. The subject: Werner Erhard, founder of the worldwide self-awareness movement known as est.

Now and then, a new psychology movement bursts onto the popular scene and shakes up the mental health establishment. Typically these efforts tickle the fringe of accepted science, buoyed by celebrities and alternative therapy enthusiasts -- which is to say, they often settle in California. Some, like est or primal therapy, traffic in mental transformation. Others, like Transcendental Meditation, whisper of ancient wisdom. Still others, like lucid dreaming, have echoes of science fiction.

Werner Erhard, the founder of est, the multimillion-dollar self-awareness movement, is selling the assets of his company to a group of employees and going fishing, a spokesman said. The holdings include real estate in California and New York, computers, furniture and an 18-year licensing agreement. The agreement covers "technology and intellectual property" used in the weekend est workshops that have been marketed in recent years as "The Forum."

- In 1971, Jack Rosenberg, formerly a car salesman from Philadelphia, goes through a divorce and emerges in San Francisco with a new name, Werner Erhard, and a new idea, a human potential movement called est. The name stands for Erhard Seminars Training, a mix of Zen, Scientology and Erhard's own ideas for motivation and self-improvement. In the 1970s, Erhard's programs catch on.

Est founder Werner Erhard is suing the IRS, contending the agency has illegally claimed $7 million worth of his property. Erhard, accused by the IRS of owing millions in back taxes, has asked a federal judge to declare the agency's action improper and bar it from collecting on liens against his real estate. The suit, the latest twist in a long-running feud between the human potential guru and the IRS, was filed in U. S. District Court in San Francisco.

Est founder Werner Erhard has for years transferred assets from his human potential empire to dodge taxes, an IRS investigator told a federal judge. "It is my opinion that Mr. Erhard has been involved in sham transactions for more than 20 years," IRS agent Louis Kraushaar said. The IRS seized $7 million of Erhard's property in April after concluding he had sold business interests or properties to his brother and associates, Kraushaar said.

Est founder Werner Erhard is suing the IRS, contending the agency has illegally claimed $7 million worth of his property. Erhard, accused by the IRS of owing millions in back taxes, has asked a federal judge to declare the agency's action improper and bar it from collecting on liens against his real estate. The suit, the latest twist in a long-running feud between the human potential guru and the IRS, was filed in U. S. District Court in San Francisco.

Werner Erhard, the pop psychology guru who in the 1970s parlayed his est human-potential program into a multimillion-dollar enterprise, has been accused of attempting to thwart creditors by transferring valuable assets to close associates under the guise of a sale. In a suit filed in Marin County Superior Court, Charlene Afremow, a former Erhard associate, said Erhard arranged a phony deal to shift the assets of Werner Erhard & Associates to Transnational Education Corp.

Werner Erhard, the founder of est, the multimillion-dollar self-awareness movement, is selling the assets of his company to a group of employees and going fishing, a spokesman said. The holdings include real estate in California and New York, computers, furniture and an 18-year licensing agreement. The agreement covers "technology and intellectual property" used in the weekend est workshops that have been marketed in recent years as "The Forum."

Werner Erhard & Associates, a firm based in San Francisco, announced Monday that it will appeal an Orange County Superior Court decision last December that disallowed the company's libel claim against Rep. C. Christopher Cox (R-Newport Beach). In May, Werner Erhard, the head of Werner Erhard & Associates, filed a suit charging that Cox's congressional campaign last spring both libeled and slandered him. The suit asked for $15 million in damages.