Durek Verrett

Durek Verrett (born November 17, 1974 as Derek David Verrett) is an American businessman, alternative therapist, self-professed shaman and author. He advocates several conspiracy theories and has been characterized by Norwegian media and other critics as a conman. He is engaged to Princess Märtha Louise of Norway. Background Verrett grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area town of Foster City, California, and changed his name to Durek Verrett in 2014. He claims to be a 6th generation shaman. He has claimed that his mother is of Norwegian-West Indian descent and that his father is of Haitian origin. In a 2009 interview Verrett claimed to be "born into the lineages of Haitian voodoo and indigenous Norwegian medicine". Verrett has said that he was convicted and sentenced to five years imprisonment in the United States after he had organized a party in an abandoned house that was set on fire. He said that he served one year in prison before being released on parole. He was formerly married to Zaneta Marzalkova, a Los Angeles resident of Czech nationality. They married in 2005 when she was 21 years old. In 2008 he reported his then-wife to the immigration authorities as an illegal resident, and as a result she was jailed and deported from the country. They divorced in 2009, and Verrett has claimed that his wife "exploited" him. From 2007 to 2015 Verrett also had a boyfriend, a masseur named Hank Greenberg, who was also his business partner. They broke off their engagement prior to their planned wedding in 2015, and Greenberg later accused Verrett of being manipulative, violent and dangerous, and said he has a "brainwashed" cult of followers where "his word is law." Verrett lived for six years with his then-manager Tiana Griego, who said that "Durek controlled my whole life. It was as if he became jealous of anything that stole his attention. I was not allowed to start a serious romantic relationship or raise my son. It was all about Durek." In an interview with Norwegian media, Verrett's mother called him "ingratiating", "manipulative", "dangerous", and prone to lying, and said she has no contact with him.