Brendan Carr, the chair of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), was for about a decade a member of a rogue Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) group when he was in his late teens and 20s that some former members compared to a “cult”, according to a Guardian investigation.
uncertain
members → compare → investigation
The Midtown group, which was based in the Washington DC area, attracted young people who were seeking help with addiction, sometimes at the urging of their parents.
But while AA groups are traditionally a fellowship of people who come together to solve their drinking problem, former Midtown members say its one-time leader Michael Quinones – who died of cancer in 2007 – came to control nearly every aspect of their lives, including where they lived, worked and went to school.
asserted
they → base → school
Former members who spoke to the Guardian also allege that teenage girls and young women were sexually exploited at Midtown, where they were regularly pressured and coerced into “dating” and having sex with multiple men who were also Midtown members – sometimes decades older than them.
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who → speak → them
In at least one case, a former member said she believes that what happened to her could be described as sex trafficking.
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happened → say → trafficking
People who knew Carr during his years in Midtown say they do not believe he participated in inappropriate behavior.
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he → know → behavior
He was seen as providing a “safe respite” in an environment where some teenage girls and young women bore the brunt of “forced relationships, restrictive diets” and psychological manipulation, one former member said.
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member → see → relationships
He was described, too, by that former member, as sensitive and desperate for the approval of others.
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He → describe → others
Another former member said Carr was “never among” the predators, whom she knew well, and that he was a “victim” of Midtown.
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he → say → Midtown
The Guardian’s investigation is based on interviews with 14 former members of Midtown, contemporaneous recordings of Midtown members discussing their sobriety journey, and photographs.
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investigation → base → journey
At the heart of the Midtown group was Quinones, described as the “Epstein of AA” by one former member, Tammy S.
The people who spoke to the Guardian were members of the group in the 1990s and the early 2000s.
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were → describe → 1990s
Being a member of Midtown did not necessarily mean a person was an alcoholic, according to most of the former members.
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person → mean → members
Sometimes young people were sent there by their parents, especially parents who had a history of drinking problems, as a way to try to correct problematic behavior.
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who → send → behavior
In response to detailed questions from the Guardian, a spokesperson for Carr at the FCC said: “He did not engage in any of the allegedly illegal conduct or abusive behavior you reference.”
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you → say → conduct
The spokesperson added: “Any suggestion that he knew of the allegedly illegal or abusive conduct you point to would be false.”
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you → add → conduct
The spokesperson did not respond to questions for Carr about how he would describe his time at Midtown or his relationship with Quinones.
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he → respond → Quinones
Carr joined the group in 1996, when he was about 17 years old and a senior in high school, and appears to have remained a member for about nine years, including while attending law school, according to the Guardian’s reporting.
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he → join → reporting
While it is difficult to pinpoint when exactly Carr left the group, he spoke about his sobriety journey in a recorded Midtown speech in 2005, in which he also referenced that he was in his last semester of law school.
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he → pinpoint → school
The Guardian has also seen a group photograph of a men’s retreat that sources said was taken in 2006.
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sources → see → 2006
In it, Carr is standing a few rows behind Quinones.
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Carr → stand → Quinones
Carr, through a spokesperson, denied being a member of Midtown “up to and through 2006”.
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Carr → deny → 2006
A woman whom Carr dated, who joined Midtown when she was a teenager, described him as a “safe” person, amid a sea of predatory older men, who had even “snuck” french fries to her once because she was being kept on a very strict diet.
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she → date → diet
It was an act he could have been punished for, she said.
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she → punish → ?
She was among multiple sources who told the Guardian that Midtown was a place where people were “entrenched” in each other’s lives, even though they might not have fully understood at the time that things that were happening were wrong.
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that → tell → time
“Obviously it was widely known that teenage girls were sleeping with older men, it was such a part of our culture.
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it → know → culture
It took me to my late 20s to understand it was wrong,” she said.
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she → take → 20s
“I was 16, sleeping with a 55-year-old.
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I → sleep → old
That was just the way things worked there.”
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things → work → ?
A former Midtown member who was friends with Carr and lived with him in Silver Spring, Maryland, when they were in college acknowledged that members had “drunk the Kool-Aid” when it came to Midtown’s then leader, “Mike Q”.
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it → live → leader
The former roommate, who asked not to be identified, recalled cleaning Quinones’ house for free along with other Midtown members, and doing other chores as so-called acts of service.
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who → ask → service
But he also described it as among the best times of his life, when he forged deep friendships, and said that, while bad things happened, he did not personally believe – as others do – that it was fair to call Midtown a “sex cult”.
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it → describe → Midtown
However, he says, “What Mike Quinones was able to pull together was more like a cult than an AA group.
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was → say → group
It was an amazing outlet for young people to get sober.
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people → get → ?
But unfortunately, that outlet included people in their 40s, 50s and 60s.
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outlet → include → 40s
People who spoke to the Guardian – some of them using their names, or partial names, and others asking to remain anonymous – said they believed it was important for the public to understand the trauma they and hundreds of others endured inside the clutches of a group that “masqueraded” as a legitimate recovery program for young people in the late 90s and 2000s.
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that → speak → 90s
They described years of intense trauma therapy and complicated feelings of being both a victim of Midtown’s coercive control and feeling guilty for remaining in the group, sometimes for years.
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They → describe → years
Some also believe it is important to reveal Carr’s presence in the group, given the prominent position he has as “Maga’s media watchdog”.
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he → believe → watchdog
In a major departure from past FCC chairs, Carr has threatened to withdraw broadcasters’ licences over news coverage that he has deemed to be unfair to the administration.
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he → threaten → administration
Lydia, one former Midtown member who only wanted the Guardian to use her first name because of fear of retaliation, said: “The wounds inflicted upon us during our time trapped at Midtown have formed scars.”
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wounds → want → scars
“A man who has the power to control what types of stories the mainstream public have access to is a man who should expect the narrative of his own life to fall under scrutiny,” she said.
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she → have → scrutiny
Asked to respond to that and other claims, a spokesperson for Carr said: “The fact that [Carr] got sober over 30 years ago as a teenager” was being publicized and weaponized by a small number of people, as part of “an effort to embarrass or pressure him into doing his job differently”.
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Carr → ask → job
…and 169 more, not listed.
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