"Three Cups of Tea" author Greg Mortenson faces new troubles
(Read article summary)Two Montana legislators, saying that millions of readers were bilked by "Three Cups of Tea," are pursuing a class action lawsuit against author Greg Mortenson.
In today's litigious society, it was the inevitable next step: There is now movement toward a class action lawsuit against "Three Cups of Tea" author Greg Mortenson.
Mortenson, whose popular book has helped him to raise millions to support his efforts to build schools in central Asia, was one of America's most respected and best known philanthropists – until last month. That's when author Jon Krakauer appeared on "60 Minutes" to allege that Mortenson had lied in his book, misused the funds entrusted to him, and misrepresented the degree of the success of his school-building mission.
Mortenson has admitted that he "compressed" the timeline of some of the incidents in "Three Cups of Tea" but otherwise denies any claims of wrongdoing. His charity, the Central Asia Institute (CAI), has stated that in order to "address the recent media allegations" it is "gathering relevant facts from our field managers in Pakistan and Afghanistan to provide more comprehensive reporting." According to those close to Mortenson, pending heart surgery has prevented him from being able to speak out more fully in his own defense.
