UNCAGED is the main sponsor of the WorldTeach Association in Romania, headed by Beniamin Lup. Kim Westfall, president of Atlanta-based Uncaged, refers to Beniamin Lup on the organization’s website and Facebook page as „our European Director.”
In the thick biographies posted on Linkedin, websites, FB, Beniamin Lup appears as director of several entities, an activity for which, if real, would require minimum 48-hour days: president of WorldTeach Romania, Uncaged director for Europe, Allied Attorney at Alliance Defence Fund, director for Eastern Europe at Walk Thru the Bible, etc. And recently Mr. Lup communicates his status as „university assistant” at the Tibiscus Law School, a private university in Timisoara.
On October 23, 2024 we sent Ms. Westfall a link to our investigation translated into English Shocking. Criminal Investigation in Romania and Republic of Moldova for the Suspicious Deaths of Two Wives of Beniamin Lup, President of an Anti-Human Trafficking Association youcan read HERE.
We received no reaction. However, on October 25, I received a message on my personal e-mail, from Laurie Towns, name unknown, which was not addressed to me or to the editorial staff. The message signed by Kim Westfall is addressed to Uncaged members and sponsors. It is a message of reassurance to them, presumably in the wake of the echoes that the case of Benjamin Lup’s two wives who died under suspicious circumstances is having in American communities. The message is not public on any of Uncaged’s media outlets.
Beyond the usual wording about the organization’s noble mission, Kim Westfall assumes that Uncaged is „are facing heightened accusations and rhetoric on multiple platforms. These claims have been directed toward Uncaged, WorldTeach, our European Director Beni Lup (who also serves as President of WorldTeach in Romania), and myself”.
We do not know what the Uncaged allegations are or which of the ongoing investigations Ms. Westfall might be referring to. Our article concerns suspicions about the deaths of two wives of Beniamin Lup.
We were alerted in this communication by an exhortation suggesting members and funders not to discuss the „situation”, as the message is labeled, externally: „: ”If anyone approaches you with questions or concerns regarding these matters, please feel free to reach out to me directly”.
This isn’t the first time Uncaged has come out as a non-transparent organization. As is journalistically correct, I got in touch with Ms. Kim Westfall in 2022 when investigating the situation of the Butterfly Sanctuary in Zolt, Timis County, where, according to public claims by WorldTeach and Uncaged bosses, there should already be a functioning center for the care of women rescued from trafficking. We asked Ms. Westfall three questions, including one about the amount of the Zolt estate purchase. We also asked for access to Uncaged’s financial report. We did not receive a concrete answer to any of our questions, but were directed to the European director, Beniamin Lup.
Uncaged, founded in 2018, is a 501(c)(3) tax-deductible organization registered in the US, which means it pays no taxes. The posted descriptions show that until 2016 Kim Westfall was Executive Vice President of Westfall Gold, where her husband, Bob Westfall, is a founding owner and longtime CEO.
As of 2023, the Westfall Gold company had accumulated $315 million, according to the public descriptions. The company collects donations and funds from „charities,” then directs them to organizations like Uncaged, non-tax-paying. Westfall Gold is the gold mine from which the Uncaged and WorldTeach organizations feed.
Uncaged’s board of directors is made up of members of civic organizations, psychologists, lawyers, journalists, book authors, even a retired former FBI member. Although in 2022 Presshub sent them a letter accompanied by the English version of the article Investigation.Ghost Center for the Recovery of Trafficked Women, no member had any reaction.
In 2024, the situation of Uncaged’s relationship with the WorldTeach association is even more complex, given the two ongoing criminal investigations in Romania and the Republic of Moldova into the suspicious deaths of two wives of Beniamin Lup. „We navigate this sensitive situation with care” Kim Westfall concludes her recent message to members and donors.
(Photo: Kim Grosshans Westfall, Uncaged President, Atlanta, USA)
