—Do you mind me asking what sort of stuff…?
—Just stuff that without having Zach, I would have just kept somewhere inside, in a box, never looked at. Never processed. Without it I’d be just like my ma and da are.
—Do you still see your parents?
—Fuck no. After Zach helped me, I uncovered a lot of shit they’d done in the past. Abuse. Neglect. All that stuff gets buried; your brain tries to cover it all up, to protect you. But Zach’s therapy taught me you’ve got to look at these things.
—You’ve got to face your monsters.
At this, Sasha pauses and looks at me. Her stare is long, unblinking – it’s actually rather spooky. I hastily think back, wonder if I’ve said something wrong. I’m about to apologise, but Sasha shakes her head and speaks.
—That’s it. That’s exactly it. Without what Zach did for me, I’d have never been able to do that.
—I’m really glad that it was so beneficial for you, that those … um … demons from your past were eventually purged.
—Me too, believe me. I’m doing well for myself now and it’s all down to Zach.
This is certainly evidenced in Sasha’s setup. From what I can see, her flat is spacious, clean, even luxurious, and her recording equipment for her podcast is top of the line. Her income, she tells me, comes from lucrative advertising she attracts for Crystal-Cast. However, she tells me that Crystal never contacted her again after her stay at Crystal Forest, despite her reaching out to him a few times in the ensuing years.
Sasha is reluctant to say any more about her personal experiences with Crystal. She’s overwhelmingly positive and insists that Crystal was a gentleman at all times and that the allegations against him are simply people taking advantage now he’s dead.
—When someone is as big as Zach Crystal, you see, there’s always going to be people who smell money, like those girls. Honestly, I was there when girls like that came to Crystal Forest. They were awful.
—Are these the same women who are speaking up?
—I don’t know – some of them, probably. But they were the same. So many of them just took the piss when they were at Crystal Forest.
—How do you mean?
—They caused havoc. They were hooligans, some of them. That’s what the media manages to forget to report half the time. Some of these lasses from the homes or whatever, they ran amok up at Crystal Forest – demanded food, money, everything, trashed the place. You should have heard how they spoke to the staff. They used to just set the fire alarm off constantly, just to make everyone have to clear out. They thought it was funny. Zach Crystal had such a good heart, and people like them, they just wanted to take advantage and get something from him.
—Like Ian Julius?
—Precisely. People like him. There’s others too. People who like to use Zach’s name to elevate themselves, try and make themselves more relevant. There’s always some maniac on YouTube popping up with some half-arsed theory or some deranged accusations about Zach. I do my best here to shut that sort of shit down. I go after these people, destroy them with facts and reason. They can never come back from that.
This is a rather tame way to describe some of the more vicious online pile-ons that happen to those who dare to speak out against Zach Crystal. I’m not in any way accusing Sasha here, but there have been a few Crystal detractors who have been doxxed, one famously even swatted for airing their views on Zach Crystal. Sasha shrugs at this, she says people get what they deserve.
—Someone has to speak up when he can’t. Ian Julius deserves to be where he is. He’s another one who just wants his name out there. Just like all the others, he wants to profit off Zach Crystal. It’s always about money when anyone has a go at Zach. Money first, ethics later.
—Does Ian Julius deserve what’s happening to him now?
—He’s getting attention, isn’t he? I imagine he’ll be getting paid to tell his story. I thought that’s what he wanted … or am I wrong? Zach Crystal isn’t the bad guy here – can we just remember that? It’s not just me Zach Crystal has helped along the way.
This is certainly true. Crystal did similar things, under the radar, for a great many young people. He would give huge donations to residential homes for young people with difficult backgrounds, and he always did these things on the downlow, the media always one step behind.
—You’ve said that Zach Crystal worked with these damaged young women as a way to help repair his own damage. Can you talk a little bit about that damage?
—I mean, it’s the stuff everyone knows, really. Zach grew up in a rough place; the Hopesprings Estate in England. It was a fucking ghetto. He managed to get himself out of there because he was talented; he had a natural talent for music and that’s what got him out. But it was hard for him. He could never be a normal kid, he never got to be a teenager. When he was the same age as the kids he was helping, he was practising and recording and playing gigs. That leaves you with damage.
—I’ve heard that Zach Crystal was rather ruthless. Didn’t he drop his own sister from his act when they began to get famous?
I know how inflammatory this may be, and I prepare for Sasha’s fury. However she doesn’t rise to it, only shakes her head.
—It’s funny how someone like, I dunno, Elon Music, Richard Branson – someone like that – gets rich, and they’re applauded for it. Really, can you think of anything these people actually did that benefitted the world? Except being good at business and making money for themselves? That’s all they were good at – making ruthless decisions. There’s no one out there who’s rich who’s done it through being nice to everyone all the time. But when someone like Zach does it, someone who has gifted the world with his music, who has actually helped people, he’s the bad guy? It’s fucking crazy how that works. Right?
Yeah, so Zach made a tough decision, he wanted to strike out on his own. See where it got him – see where he is now because he made a tough decision. I don’t see Naomi Crystal being overly concerned, do you? She and her kid lived in a mansion of her own in LA, for fuck’s sake! She never had to work a job. Her daughter went to all the best schools, had every opportunity money could buy. He gave her everything. I don’t see her complaining, do you? She was right there when he vanished wasn’t she?
—To play devil’s advocate again, Sasha, one of the big questions people ask is why it was always girls that Zach focused his efforts on. Why not the elderly or boys?
—Oh my God, I’ve heard that one so many times. It’s like this: if I give some money to … I dunno, let’s say a donkey sanctuary, you could then ask me, but what about the bird sanctuary? What about the starving-kids charity? Why didn’t you give your money to something else? It’s exactly the same thing with Zach. He chose to do what he did because he thought he was doing a good thing. He was doing a good thing, people! I honestly don’t understand how people can sit back and criticise a man giving his own time and money to a good cause.
—Of course, two of Zach Crystal’s accusers, Zofia Kowalski and Jennifer Rossi, were both in residential care when they were invited to Crystal Forest, where they allege the abuse occurred. I’m not allowed to speak too much about their particular cases but I wonder what your views are?
—I mean, yeah. They were in homes. I mean, the fact that they were in the care system wasn’t good for them. They were desperate girls, weren’t they? The problem is, because of their background, everyone felt sorry for them. People thought butter wouldn’t melt, right? These two, like the others, were out for money, but you can’t say that, can you? Because of their circumstances. You can’t say that those two might have been manipulators. They might have – shock horror – actually just made things up. But, oh no, you can’t possible say that, right? Thing is, I’ve been there. I’ve had it rough as fuck, but it doesn’t give me a right to be an arsehole does it?
It is only recently that the voices of Zofia Kowalski and Jennifer Rossi have been widely heard. They both claim, like Sasha, to have spent
time at Crystal Forest when they were between twelve and fourteen years old. They both claim that after Crystal provided them with luxury accommodation in Crystal Forest, he coerced them into ‘sexual acts’ with him.
—There’s also something that the mainstream media tend to leave out when reporting on those girls.
—What’s that?
—Just a trifle really. Just the fact that both of them had been moved from their care homes several times for their behaviour. I mean just little things, you know? Just assaulting staff, stealing from other residents and … oh yes, surprise, surprise – making accusations against members of staff that were subsequently proved false.
At this, Sasha’s eyes seem to get even wider, her mouth turning into a thin, defiant line. These details were part of Sasha’s episode about the victims on Crystal-Cast. It’s a tough watch: Sasha shares scans of internal faxes and official documents from two residential homes in the UK, with their details covered up. I don’t feel comfortable with giving out the finer detail as I have no way of proving the authenticity of these documents so I’m going to allow Sasha to summarise.
—OK, first of all, let’s look at Zofia Kowalski. She was, what, thirteen in 2008, right? By the time the girl was barely a teenager, she’d had three failed adoptions. Three. And these weren’t the fault of those parents, believe me. These were some of the nicest people, specifically trained and ready to take on some of the most challenging children. They were no match for Zofia. Put it that way.
—What is Zofia alleged to have done while she was with these families who wanted to adopt her?
—OK, so let’s take the Williamsons for a second. They were good, Christian people who’d already adopted two children, so it wasn’t as if they didn’t know what they were doing, right? Within a month, Zofia had assaulted both the other children, stolen money from Mrs Williamson’s purse, which she’d spent on drugs, I may add. When she was challenged, she proceeded to accuse Mr Williamson of assaulting her. I know, right? Remember, these were kind, loving people. All they wanted to do was provide a home for Zofia. The next couple were the McCabes. Mr McCabe was getting over cancer, for fuck’s sake, when Zofia accused him of rape. Why you may ask? Oh, just because the McCabes had actually put some rules, some fucking structure, in Zofia’s life.
—How do you mean?
—I mean like they asked her to be home at certain times, to not hang around the local park, fighting, drinking and smoking weed, that sort of thing. Pretty horrible parents, right? How on earth did Zofia cope? I’ll tell you: she broke Mrs McCabe’s nose and accused her husband. Not both in the same day, but I mean, c’mon.
—From what you’ve shown me, the picture was similar in her residential home.
—Homes, plural. Zofia was moved twice. Once for violence, and if you look here, this was the protocol that had to be introduced for her in her second residential home – no member of staff to ever be alone with Zofia at any time; open-door policies in communal areas; Zofia to be supervised. It goes on and on. And this is the person we’re supposed to believe was ‘attacked’ by millionaire celebrity, Zach Crystal.
—And Jennifer Rossi?
—Oh this one was slightly different but only in that, where Zofia liked to fight, Jennifer liked to … well, let’s have a little look at her incident reports shall we?
The reports that Sasha shows me are alleged summaries of Jennifer Rossi’s behaviour in one of her residential homes. Each incident is dated and co-signed by two members of staff. There are pages and pages of these reports. Sasha flicks through them, shaking her head.
—So these behaviour logs are for the lovely Jennifer Rossi who was, let’s see, twelve at the time she accused Zach Crystal of molesting her after he invited her and her key workers to come to stay at Crystal Forest, all expenses paid.
So here we go: June, 2005 is a good place to start. Jennifer absconds from her bedroom all night; police called. Found at a ‘party’ in a local drug dealer’s house, average age of attendees at the party – mid to late twenties. All men. Lovely.
And you know, Scott, that’s just the tip of the iceberg with little Jenny Rossi. Her notes also talk about her having a ‘boyfriend of considerably older age’, who she would sneak out and go to see pretty much every night. Here’s some police-incident forms from when she had to be brought back, drunk, to the residential home. One, three, loads, too many to count. These were only the ones that the police reported. The other times are all in her behaviour logs.
The boyfriend situation was constant too. Not just that one, there were many, many. All of them older – significantly older.
—It seems both had their own issues to deal with. Do you know, Sasha, if either Zofia or Jennifer said anything about Zach Crystal at the time? I mean, did they raise the issue back then?
—Well, that’s it isn’t it? Seems weird that neither of them mention Zach Crystal at the time, but then years later, when he’s dead, they accuse Zach of assaulting them.
See, that’s the clever thing about those two. Back then, when they were both underage, apparently vulnerable girls, it would have been the perfect time to accuse Zach of something, right? Not now they’re both fatter and older, and up to their eyeballs in debt to drug dealers, right? Now, look what happens when #metoo came along, when suddenly you’re not allowed to question anyone, when whoever wants to make any spurious claim about anyone else is automatically believed. Up pop two known liars, Zofia Kowalski and Jennifer Rossi, to suddenly start accusing multi-millionaire Zach Crystal when he’s been gone for the last couple of years. Pretty convenient, don’t you think?
—Some may argue that the #metoo movement suddenly gave voice to those who felt like they couldn’t speak up for themselves. It was a show of solidarity.
—You could think about it like that, yeah. I mean, I’m not saying all women are lying, of course I’m not. I’m saying that there were certain people who were exploiting it for their own ends.
—Jennifer and Zofia?
—Right. Making an absolute mockery of the women who were actually assaulted. But of course, you’re not allowed to question them. This is the problem with the media and its reporting on Zach. They failed to mention so many things because it wouldn’t have matched this great big evil portrait they were painting of Zach.
—What things?
—Everything I’ve just been saying. The background of those two girls, the fact that their ‘assaults’ only magically materialised after therapy.
—Therapy provided by Crystal?
—Um. No. From other therapists who were just after money as well. Obviously. Isn’t it amazing that their allegations against Zach only came out during a movement where no one was morally allowed to question them, and that both were proven liars and troublemakers?
It’s funny how they don’t mention all the other girls who spent time with Zach Crystal and nothing untoward happened. It’s funny that these people don’t get mentioned at all. But that’s the mainstream media for you.
—Have you ever been approached to give your side of the story anywhere other than your own show?
—Yes. I actually have. There was a morning television show that invited me on not long ago, just when all the accusations were springing up. I’ll not say which show it was, but they gave me a research call, just to get a gist of what I was going to talk about. Imagine my shock when I get another call, not long after, telling me that they’re sorry, but I’m not quite right for the angle of the show right now. What a joke. All I was doing was giving them facts about Zach Crystal, facts about the accusers. I didn’t even give them my opinion, which is what they wanted. They were scared shitless. That’s what it was – they couldn’t bear to have the facts up in front of them like that.
—There’s the other three accusers as well: Sammy Williams, Mary Wooton and Gabrielle Martinez.
—I could tell you all about them as well. They weren’t all in care. They had slightly different circumstances. Yet they all had the same thing in
common – the thing that the mainstream media don’t like people knowing. All these women had a past, you see. All of them. There wasn’t a single one who, really, you could say was an upstanding citizen. Drink, drugs, shoplifting, vandalism, assault, even soliciting for sex. It’s all there, in their pasts, these black marks that, try as they might, they can’t scrub clean. Just like Ian Julius, just like everyone who tries or has tried to exploit Zach Crystal for money. Isn’t it weird that there’s no one who’s just innocent. No one who’s been good in their life has accused him of anything. No one who’s just a normal, law-abiding citizen has jack shit to say against Zach Crystal.
Pretty weird, don’t you think?
The pasts of Zach Crystal’s victims were noticed by more than Sasha Stewart. A few tabloids ran stories about the darker shades of the lives of those who accused Zach Crystal of sexual assault. These stories were not front-page news, though. Crystal’s return, the announcement of a new album and tour, eclipsed them completely. Now, the voices of these people are starting to get louder once again.
—Why is it important to you to make sure these people are shut down?
—It’s important to provide balance. The media simply doesn’t like to do this. It’s up to people like me to defend Zach now he’s gone. He helped me and so I’m giving something back. That’s how that works, see?
—We’re coming to the end of our chat, Sasha, and I want to thank you for allowing me to speak to you about Zach.
—It’s been good, Scott. To be fair, you’ve allowed me to speak, you’ve allowed me to be able to get the truth out there about Zach and about the people who are trying to cancel a dead man. Amazing, isn’t it, that all these things come to light after the guy is dead?
Deity Page 8
