Universal Medicine, abbreviated as UniMed or UM, is a cult founded and led by Serge Benhayon, a former bankrupt tennis coach from New South Wales (NSW) Australia who has no medical qualifications.

[22][23] "The Teachings" are classified into meditation, self-care, nutrition, exercise, music, reincarnation, psychological wellbeing and the esoteric, and are supported by audio, books, and online lectures.

[4][24][7] They also believe he "was the one sent from (the mythical kingdom of) Shambhala to awaken us all", is the only human to have achieved the "highest level of initiation" on earth and claim the NSW Supreme Court ruling against him is "totally untrue".

[32][33][34] Serge Benhayon devised Universal Medicine's healing practices based on the belief that disease is caused by energetic disharmony resulting from ill choices made in this and previous lifetimes.

[36][24] He has also controversially stated on many occasions that sexual abuse, including that towards children, is karma from past lives and the universe attempting to stop a person from continuing to make non-loving choices.

[56][42][37] In 2019 the Supreme Court published that "evidence (was) tendered in the proceedings that there had been significant and persistent opposition to attempts to expose (UM's) bogus healing claims and practices, often involving personal and professional attacks on any critics...

[61] Critics say Universal Medicine places unreasonable pressure on followers to adhere to a severely restricted diet and to avoid most exercise for fear those things might "infect their spiritual alignment" and lead to poor health.

[25] Cult expert David Millikan was quoted as saying "[Mr Benhayon] knows what they should read, what they should wear, what they should eat, how they should exercise, what sort of sexual life they should have and so they end up in this closed world".

[21][71] Benhayon's "esoteric connective tissue therapy" is said to improve the patient's energy flow by "allowing the pulse of the lymphatic system to symbiotically correspond with the body's own ensheathing web".

[20] Universal Medicine also provides counselling services to parents, body-awareness education workshops to young women, cardiosacral pulse and craniosacral readings, as well as "exorcism sessions" where children were reportedly present.

[76] Universal Medicine's registered allied health practitioners allegedly encourage followers to seek GP referral for Medicare treatment plans to pay for sessions.

A former patient who received treatment from a UM physiotherapist under a Medicare plan reported the "Universal physio claimed her health was improving from 'craniosacral pulse' therapy", however, "her GP ordered tests that found she had cancer".

[92] The Australian Health Minister, Greg Hunt, wrote to AHPRA's CEO, Martin Fletcher, regarding "concerns for public safety in relation to the provision of certain services being provided by organisations allegedly with links to cults".

Accusations of misconduct against Universal Medicine have drawn attention from the regulatory bodies; the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA) and the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA).

[94][89][39][95] The NSW Office of Liquor, Gaming and Racing investigated claims of breach of Australian charitable fundraising laws by the charity the "College of Universal Medicine" and referred these to the police.

[99] Universal Medicine is reported to have received a portion of AUD$709,493 federal funds to provide six public lectures and "counselling services to parents" under a Commonwealth grant scheme applied for by the YWCA.

After receiving a 12-page letter from a third-party whistleblower The Journal of Medical Internet Research (JMIR) raised "serious concerns" as to the conflict of interest of the authors of the UM related articles it published.

The editorial director stated that: "the omission of this conflict of interest, which appears to be highly significant in this case, is a clear violation of our policies" and suggested both articles published in the JMIR should be retracted.

The Council heard evidence from a Senior Specialist and thoracic physician, who stated: The HCCC alleged Samuel Kim had withheld conventional therapy and the investigation focused on his referrals to his now wife Jasna Jugovic (esoteric lung massage) and three "Universal Medicine practitioners" Neil Ringe (chakra puncture), Serge Benhayon (spiritual healing) and Michael Serafin (non-medically trained pharmacist).

[70] Following the enquiry, the HCCC found 5 out of 6 allegations against Kim proven, him "guilty of unsatisfactory professional conduct" (which he admits to), and concluded by placing permanent restrictions upon his practice.

In reaching its decision the ATO also noted conflicts of interest where the College's fundraising to renovate the building, owned by Serge Benhayon, was a "potential capital benefit" to the owner in earning $80,000 a year in rent from it.

[122] In a later unrelated trial, a NSW Supreme Court jury found it was substantially true to say that Benhayon "preys on", "swindles" and "exploits cancer patients by targeting them to leave him bequests in their wills" and that he exercised "undue influence" on Ms McIntyre to inherit the bulk of her million-dollar estate.

[112][1][11][65][128] The Northern Star also reported further findings of substantial truth including that "Serge Benhayon engages in inappropriate conduct towards women", "instructed students at Universal Medicine training workshops to touch the genitals of victims of sexual assault", "has engaged in bullying to stop Esther Rockett exposing that he is guilty of inappropriate behaviour with children" and "is not a fit person to hold a Working with Children Certificate".

[65][104][68] The jury found imputations that Benhayon was "delusional", had "a propensity to touch girls inappropriately", "groped the genitals of various women under the guise of treating them" or "instilled fear and guilt in children to get them to do his bidding" were not substantially true, instead they were covered by Rockett's defences of honest opinion and qualified privilege.

[127][133] In addition, during final hearings, Justice Lonergan criticised Benhayon's Mullumbimby-based lawyers Universal Law, calling solicitor Paula Fletcher's 31-page legal letter sent to the defendant on the day of Rockett's father's funeral "disgraceful" and "demeaning", saying it contained "personal insults" that were "at best, unprofessional and most discourteous" and "at worst, bullying and harassment".

[134][135] Lonergan added "there is no place for any such personal remarks and insults in any professional correspondence in legal proceedings" and that the letter "suggests that the solicitor who authored them had a lack of independence from, or objectivity about, the litigation".

The ABC obtained exchanged messages and emails, including 800 and 900 word documents from Walsh directing UM complainants on how to file police reports and pressure a Byron Bay detective.

[141][142] In January 2020, Judge James Meston QC ruled that a mother must make "an immediate and definitive break" from "Universal Medicine... a cult with some potentially harmful and sinister elements" or face losing custody of her daughter.

[71][8] The former Queensland mental health commissioner was scathing of Universal Medicine after the UM "Facts Team" breached privacy and published an ex-UM client's full name, image and schizophrenia diagnosis online after he criticised them.

[9][148][48] He and his associates had submitted numerous legal complaints to Google Australia to remove links to Internet news articles, websites or blogs that might question or criticise UM.