If the layman's family strayed, or he brought friends into trouble through cheating or bad deals, he lost respect and a yogi who looked like a drowned cat and could neither inspire himself nor others was no yogi at all. People knew exactly what everybody had to do. In the closely knit traditional Buddhist societies, the cases of gurus leading their students astray are not frequent for the simple reason that everybody was busily checking everybody else's behavior. When Buddhism came to the West, however, it entered societies that are quick-moving, idealistic, open and free, and where people lack those checks. We just do not have rules for monks, lay people and yogis.
People live far apart and nobody really examines what gurus do, at least in their inner circles.
Everybody wants an emotional respite from having to be critical in politics and jobs and hardly anybody knows the boundaries of their teachers disciplines. Thus people with suggestive power, with words and organizations capable of catching the spirit of the time and evoking strong feelings, came into completely uncharted waters. Being from the East, nobody expected solidarity, democracy or other European values from them and in this way they entered a vacuum where for years they could do almost anything. Having learned from several recent scandals that Buddhist teachers must also be checked, things now have to be clear right from the beginning. The teacher must act as he speaks.