The W5 Liana Shanti report, released on November 2, 2026, is the first part of a five-part CTV investigation into Liana Shanti (Liane Wilson), the online spiritual teacher at the centre of the August 2026 Hawaii civil jury trial. According to W5’s description of the report, the jury awarded three Canadians C$56 million (US$40.1 million) after Shanti called them child abusers and Satanists, and Shanti plans to appeal.
Watch the W5 Liana Shanti report
Video: W5 / CTV News, “Canadians win massive defamation suit against alleged cult leader | W5 Investigates” (2:47), published November 2, 2026. Watch on YouTube.
What W5 and CTV News reported
CTV News describes the W5 series as “Fake Filtered Cult Leader.” Part one, written up by CTV News reporters Jack Hauen and Derek Miller, examines the self-described spiritual teacher whose online presence helped attract followers around the world, drawing on interviews and what W5 calls extensive reporting. The award was C$56 million, or US$40.1 million.
Read the CTV News coverage: “Exclusive: They said an online spiritual teacher destroyed their lives. A jury awarded them $56M.” (CTV News, November 3, 2026) and the W5 video page (November 2, 2026).
What the court record shows
Liana Shanti Watch publishes the filings, rulings and transcripts behind the case. For the August 13, 2026 verdict and the rulings that preceded and followed it, start with The Verdict and After the Verdict. For the question many viewers are asking after the W5 report, see Is Liana Shanti a Cult? What the Court Record and Experts Say. New to the story? Start Here and Who is Liana Shanti? explain the case in order, and Podcasts About Liana Shanti collects the long-form audio coverage.
Background: the case W5 is reporting on
The civil case W5 describes, Life Mastery Network LLC v. Haygarth, was brought by the company in federal court in Honolulu. After a two-week trial, a unanimous jury, polled on August 13, 2026, rejected the company’s claims and awarded US$40.1 million on the defendants’ counterclaims, as recorded on this site’s verdict pages. Wilson separately pleaded guilty in a federal criminal case to concealing bankruptcy assets and was sentenced in December 2021 to five years’ probation. The primary documents for each of these events are linked from the pages above, so readers can compare what W5 reports with what the filings say.
W5 has described its report as part one of five. CTV News says the one-hour special presentation, W5’s Avery Haines Investigates, airs Saturday, November 7, 2026, at 7 p.m. ET, live on W5’s official YouTube channel and on CTV and Crave. As the remaining parts are released, this page will add a short summary of each, the date it was published, and links to the matching documents on this site.
W5 and Liana Shanti: common questions
What is the W5 Liana Shanti report? A five-part W5 investigation from CTV News. Part one was published on November 2, 2026.
When was the W5 Liana Shanti report released? Part one of the W5 Liana Shanti series was published on November 2, 2026, on the Official W5 and CTV News YouTube channels, and CTV News published its written article on November 3, 2026.
Who reported the W5 Liana Shanti story? The part-one article was written by CTV News reporters Jack Hauen and Derek Miller. The video runs 2 minutes 47 seconds.
Has Liana Shanti responded? According to W5’s description of its report, she plans to appeal the verdict. At the time of publication (November 2026), this page does not carry any other response from her.
Where can I read the court documents? Filings are linked from this site’s verdict and background pages and are available through CourtListener.
This page was published in November 2026 and will be updated as further parts of the W5 series are released. W5 and CTV News content is credited to its owners and linked at source.