Why she brought the case. What it has cost her. Why she says she will keep going.
“When truth cost me something, I paid it.”— Liana Shanti, Substack
After 7 months of being viciously attacked and slandered online, Liana began defending herself and sued the defendants. The defendants countersued.
The online campaign first targeted Amanda and Drew, then turned toward Liana. Anonymous posts accused Liana of running a cult and spread defamatory claims. Death threats to Liana and her family followed.
Liana Shanti and Life Mastery Network filed suit against Paula Haygarth and Byron Horvath in Hawaiʻi state court.
The case alleged defamation (libel), false light, intentional or negligent infliction of emotional distress, and civil conspiracy, and sought punitive damages.
Paula and Byron answered and brought counterclaims alleging that Liana had defamed them.
The court allowed Liana to add Stefanie. The defendants’ amended counterclaims included Stefanie, and the case moved to federal court.
Timeline and claims: May 22, 2026 order, ECF 92, pp. 3–7.
That line from Shelter stayed with Liana. In her Substack, she wrote of the relationships she has lost, the attacks she has faced, and the children she refuses to look away from. These are her account of the cost, in her words.
“I have paid enormous prices for refusing to look away from children. I have lost relationships. I have been lied about. I have been attacked.”— Liana Shanti, Substack
The attacks against Liana began because she publicly supported Haley Winter and her daughter Isla as Haley tried to protect her. Haley described her fear for Isla, her attempts to get help, and the pain of being unable to protect her daughter. In a signed letter to a federal judge, Haley wrote:
“I have been working to advocate for Isla’s safety since I left Byron in 2016. I have not been successful at all.”— Haley Winter, signed letter to a federal judge, April 29, 2023
Haley also described Isla saying she was frightened after a visit with her father. In Haley’s story, two recordings preserve Isla’s own account of what she said happened at her father’s home. Haley’s signed letter sets out a mother’s efforts to protect her daughter, and credits Liana with helping her find her voice.
Her lawsuit grew out of the ensuing anonymous posts that were part of a long, vicious defamation and slander campaign against her. Read the background in Haley’s story. Haley’s reports and Isla’s words are presented there as their accounts, not as findings made in Liana’s lawsuit.
Through it all, she keeps returning to the questions she believes matter most: “What happened to the children? Who protected them? Who did not?” In her Substack, she asks why adults’ comfort so often takes priority over those questions.
“My willingness to protect a child cannot be purchased.”— Liana Shanti, Substack
Her attorney told the jury that Liana waited seven months before posting a response to the anonymous attacks. In closing argument, he said she had hoped they would stop.
“She waited seven months. … What was she supposed to do, folks, after seven months of anonymous posts?”— Liana’s attorney, closing argument · Trial transcript 8-49:24–25; 8-50:4–5
At the end of her testimony, Liana was asked why she was in court. She told the jury she had nearly dropped the case after four years of litigation.
“I almost wasn't. I almost let this all go and dropped it, just the four years and the time and the money and the stress.”— Liana Shanti · Trial transcript 3-37:1–2
She said she continued because she believed the case could address harm caused through anonymous online attacks. Then she explained that most women facing this kind of attack could not afford the legal fight she had undertaken.
“And to show women that 99 percent of women could not have gone through what I've done. They wouldn't have the money to hire the lawyers. And sure, I could have kept that money for a lot of other things, but at the end of the day that is the most important thing.”— Liana Shanti · Trial transcript 3-37:16–20
After the verdict, she explained the legal question she still wants examined:
“There is a huge learning curve at the intersection of internet anonymity and defamation law. Someone has to walk it.”— Liana Shanti, public statement
Liana wrote that she believes profoundly in freedom of speech. She also described the harm she believes anonymous defamation can do. In her public statement, she draws a distinction between the accounts she challenged and the way she speaks herself.
“I am one of the very few who speaks under my own name. My own accounts. And I stand behind every word...”— Liana Shanti, public statement · Screenshot 15 below
She says her words are based on facts she can prove or on what people have shared with her, including photographs, videos, and written communications. She ends that passage plainly: “And I do not do anything anonymously.”
In her Substack, Liana distinguishes public approval from what she calls her soul reputation: who she is when Jesus looks at her choices. She writes that protecting vulnerable people matters more to her than being liked or believed by everyone.
“And if following what I believe Jesus is asking of me costs me someone who once sat at my table, then I will grieve her and continue walking.”— Liana Shanti, Substack
Her public statement says she had hoped to be done with the lawsuit and calls litigation distressing and painful. Yet she describes continuing as a matter of faith.
“Jesus clearly has other plans. Thy will, not my will, be done.”— Liana Shanti, public statement · Screenshot 11 below
She says she does not know God’s reason for the process overall, but believes Jesus has guided her through it. In her Substack, she writes, “If it costs money, I will make more.” And she returns to the cost in one line: “When truth cost me something, I paid it.”
Liana’s public support for women and children who described abuse is the background to this story. The cost she and her family described in court went beyond her reputation, legal fees, and anonymous posts. They testified about threats, fear for their safety, and leaving home for a time.
Chance told the jury what he saw when he came home from practice and watched his mother struggle with what was happening.
“I observed her become a shell of herself. There were days that I would come home from practice or being out, and I would see her just kind of, like, blank staring trying to work on her computer or writing notes or what not, and she was just not able to do her work.”— Chance Wilson · Trial transcript 2-17:14–18
He said she tried to keep the burden from him and his sister. He also described hearing people talk about his mother in their tight-knit community and said the effect on the family was “very damaging.” Trial transcript 2-17:19–23; 2-19:1–7.
Bianca, Liana’s daughter, said she had read threats against her mother and watched Liana try to shield her children from them.
“I have read stuff about people threatening to -- to rape and kill her. And, like, as someone who lives with her, it's really hard to watch.”— Bianca Wilson · Trial transcript 2-47:18–24
Bianca described seeing her mother shut herself in a room and cry for hours. Then she told the jury what the threats did to her own sense of safety.
“I -- you know, my brother, my mom and I were, like, all threatened, like, our lives. You know, there had been threats made.”— Bianca Wilson · Trial transcript 2-48:8–10
She described taking a different turn when she feared a car was following her, watching cars move slowly near their house, contacting police, and leaving Kauaʻi for Oʻahu. Trial transcript 2-48:11–21.
Robert Beard described making that decision out of fear for the family’s safety.
“When the threats came in, the death threats, I was so concerned that I hid them over here.”— Robert Beard · Trial transcript 4-86:3–8
Robert said he feared for their safety and that the stay on Oʻahu extended beyond three weeks. He described the children’s fear as something that did not simply disappear: “It's like living with an injury.” Trial transcript 4-86:21–4-87:14; 4-90:8–13.
At a hearing during trial, Liana testified that Paul Thompson had threatened to kill and rape her. She said she believed his presence in the courtroom was meant to intimidate her. Trial transcript 3-8:15–3-9:8.
“I have a security team specifically for Paul Thompson”— Liana Shanti · Trial transcript 3-9:9–12
She told the court she had a panic attack after learning he was present and asked for him to be removed. The judge initially declined, citing the public’s right to attend and courtroom security. Trial transcript 3-10:1–24; 3-12:17–3-13:3.
What happened later with witnesses outside the courthouse brought Thompson before the judge again.
In her public statement, Liana described three female witnesses being chased, harassed, and intimidated outside the federal courthouse by a close associate of a defendant. She said one witness did not testify, while two testified under duress. She also said her request for a mistrial was denied.
After hearing about Thompson’s conduct toward witnesses, the judge excluded him from the courthouse for the rest of trial, barred contact with witnesses, and referred the matter to the U.S. Marshals. The judge called the behavior “very concerning.” Trial transcript 6-8:4–25; 6-9:1–19.
The video below is the courthouse footage she referred to. It is also included on Paul Thompson’s page.
Liana is planning to appeal.
“We did not get the verdict we wanted. We are filing an appeal.”— Liana Shanti, public statement
Liana said she consulted appellate experts and intends to move forward. She described an appeal as expensive and potentially lengthy, with a new trial possible if the verdict is overturned. She wrote that this was not an outcome she wanted, after four years of litigation.
Her stated reasons for continuing are in the original public statement below.
The narrative above draws from the Instagram statement she published after the verdict. The original screenshots appear below in order. Select any image to read it at full size.
People responded publicly to Liana’s post. Their comments are shown in the original screenshots, with the authors’ names and wording intact. The comments below are the speakers’ own accounts and views.
Every remaining comment screenshot is displayed below. Select one to read it at full size.
Liana initiated the lawsuit. But the jury did not see the full record that led her to publicly expose the defendants—and sue them.
How was Liana supposed to present her case if she was not allowed to show the FACTS that led to her making the choice to publicly expose the defendants and why she sued them?
The private investigation. The IP-address evidence. Isla’s recordings. The photographs, pleas for help, and messages Haley and Amanda sent directly to Liana.
See what the jurors did not see →