It's a church US intelligence said helped overthrow a government, invited Donald Trump to speak at its events and saw former Soviet Union leader Mikhail Gorbachev meet its founder.
The Unification Church, a religious movement derived from Christianity, has had deep connections to world politics for decades.
But the shooting of Japan's former prime minister Shinzo Abe might have been the beginning of the end.
His death sparked investigations that revealed the lengths the church was going to to fund its operations and its links to Japan's political establishment.
Three years since Mr Abe's death, a court in Tokyo has now ordered the church to effectively disband.
Here's what we know about the Unification Church and its ties to world politics.
What is the Unification Church?
The church was founded by the late Reverend Sun Myung Moon in 1954, who preached new and conservative interpretations of the Bible.
He claimed that Jesus had entrusted him to be the second messiah and had tasked him with bringing about world peace.
Devotees are known as "Moonies" after the church's founder.
Formally known as the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification, the church champions anti-communism and the unification of North and South Korea.
It's perhaps best known for mass weddings, where it paired off couples, often from different countries, and renewed the vows of those already married.
The group is said to have millions of followers around the world, including in Japan, the United States and South Korea.
It also owns the Washington Times newspaper in the US, where the church's membership base has grown dramatically outside of Asia.
Why is it controversial?
The church's recruitment and fundraising tactics have often come under scrutiny.
In the 1970s and 1980s, it was accused of brainwashing followers into pouring huge portions of their salaries into the organisation.
It denied the allegations, saying many new religious movements face similar accusations in early years.
But those claims persisted for decades.
Some experts say Japanese followers are asked to pay for sins committed by their ancestors during the country's colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula.
Others say most of the church's funding comes from Japan.
How was Shinzo Abe linked to the Unification Church?
Close ties between the church and Japan's Liberal Democratic Party were unearthed following investigations into the assassination of Shinzo Abe in 2022.
The man arrested after allegedly shooting Shinzo Abe, Tetsuya Yamagami, told police he had killed Japan's former prime minister because of his links to the church, which he had a grudge against because his mother had been a member.
Mr Abe was known for his conservative views on security and history, appearing at events organised by church affiliates, but the organisation has said he was never a member or an adviser.
Dr Jeffrey Hall from Kanda University of International Studies told the ABC's The World program the Liberal Democratic Party was still dealing with the fallout.
"More than half of the party was involved in some way, be it attending church events or relying on volunteers from the church, or appearing in church-sponsored publications," Mr Hall said.
"It was a very strong anti-communist organisation, so it had a lot of overlap with Japan's ruling conservatives for many decades.
"The church seemed to have some influence in pushing its conservative viewpoints on things like gender, same-sex marriage and on constitutional revision."
He said some MPs today still have ties to the church but were operating in a "grey area", where church members continue to work for politicians but say it isn't on behalf of the Unification Church.
"It [the LDP] hasn't really cleaned house or punished the politicians who had ties to the church," he said.
But its influence extended far beyond Japan.
US intelligence agencies reported that in the 1980s, the staunchly anti-communist Reverend Moon sent cash and supplies to groups who would go on to overthrow Bolivia's democratically-elected government.
How is Donald Trump linked to the Unification Church?
Shinzo Abe wasn't the only political leader with ties to the church.
Donald Trump, Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan and George HW Bush all had links with the organisation at some stage.
Former prime minster Abe had spoken at a church-affiliated event previously.
Donald Trump did too before coming US leader.
"It's said that Donald Trump received more than $US2 million to speak at some of their events," Mr Hall said.
"They [politicians] lent credibility to the church and thus helped the church to raise money … and convince people, or the people's families that, 'we're not a shady organisation, it's OK to give lots of money to us — look, Donald Trump is speaking on our behalf," he said.
Why has the Unification Church been ordered to dissolve?
Japan's education ministry accused the church of using manipulative fundraising and recruitment tactics, which sowed fear in followers.
The ministry had submitted 5,000 documents and other pieces of evidence to the court in Tokyo, after interviewing more than 170 people.
"They [investigators] found cases amounting to some $US130 million where donations had been made in these gratuitous ways that were a bit shady," Mr Hall said.
In the ruling, the court said the church's problems were extensive and continuous, and a dissolution order was necessary because it was not likely it would voluntarily reform, according to NHK television.
The Tokyo District Court ordered the church's legal status be revoked, meaning it will lose its tax-exemption privileges and require its assets to be liquidated.
The South Korea-based church said it was considering an immediate appeal of the ruling.
Mr Hall said it could set a precedent for other smaller religions in Japan, who rely on donations to survive.
What about Shinzo Abe's alleged killer?
Tetsuya Yamagami is yet to stand trial for allegedly shooting Shinzo Abe.
"Some people say today's decision [against the Unification Church] is rewarding him or giving him what he wants," Mr Hall said.
"But we're not really sure exactly what he wants, he hasn't been speaking to people since he was arrested."
His trial date has not yet been set.
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