Trigger warning : This article contains descriptions of abuse.
Netflix's new documentary "The Plan: Flaws, Cults, and Kidnappings" explores the disturbing history of New York's Ivy Ridge College. The institution and many like it - part of the controversial "troubled youth industry" - are affiliated with the World Association of Specialized Programs and Schools (WWASPS), which is founded by a man named Robert Lichfield. ) was founded by people.
In "The Program," documentary filmmaker Katherine Kubler recalls the "pseudo-psychological, emotionally abusive and humiliating" treatment she experienced at Ivy Ridge. Other alumni have shared similar harrowing stories of abuse.
However, Kubler said that despite multiple reports of abuse and mistreatment at the organization's schools, the founder of WWASP has not "spent a day in jail." So, where is Robert Litchfield today?
Family business
Journalist Maia Szalavitz said in a three-part documentary series that the way WWASPS was organized into separate LLCs helped Litchfield "evade responsibility."
Kubler spoke with Litchfield's nephew, Nathaniel Litchfield, who criticized the kind of project his family once relied on to make a living. They visited Robert's Utah estate, but the WASPS founder himself was no longer there, and his whereabouts were unknown. "Bob is going to die one day and this will all be over...what's the point of it all?" Nathaniel wondered.
Nathaniel's father - Robert's brother - Naveen Lichfield does appear in the documentary, albeit not of his own volition. Instead, Kubler found him at a local karaoke night in Utah. Narvin has previously assisted with marketing, admissions and other parts of the WWWASPS organization.
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In 2013, Litchfield told the New York Times For more than a decade he "provided only commercial and educational services to these projects."
"I was not there, I did not mistreat or mistreat students or encourage or instruct others to do so," he said. "I provide business services that are not supervisory, nursing or therapeutic services to independently owned and operated schools."
But Litchfield's legacy can still be felt throughout the troubled teen industry. As recently as 2023, there was a petition to prevent Utah's Hurricane Recreation Center from being named after the controversial figure. The city's mayor, Nanette Billings, explained that Litchfield donated the building so, as is customary, he would be "recognized" for it, the Salt Lake Tribune reported.
For a former teen on the show , though, he would be recognized in a different way.
"Obviously, I would love to see Robert Litchfield go to jail for what he did, but I can't do that," Kubler said near the end of the show. "But what I can do is expose the methods of these places in this documentary so other parents don't get manipulated into this scheme."
