| The Underground Bunker

Tony Ortega is a journalist who was formerly the editor of The Village Voice. He's written about Scientology since 1995, and in May 2015 released a book about Scientology's harassment of Paulette Cooper titled 'The Unbreakable Miss Lovely.' He continues to monitor breaking developments in the Scientology world from an undisclosed location in an underground bunker he shares with four cats and one of them wrinkly Shar Pei dogs. Despite his super-secret security protections, you can still reach him pretty easily by sending him a message at tonyo94 AT gmail.com (Drop him a line if you'd like to get an e-mail whenever a new story is posted.) [Header image courtesy John Rickard]

Garcia federal fraud lawsuit survives another challenge by Scientology

Luis and Rocio Garcia’s federal fraud lawsuit against the Church of Scientology has survived another challenge as Judge James Whittemore denied the church’s latest motion to dismiss.

The Garcias say they were defrauded by Scientology when it pressured them to donate hundreds of thousands of dollars in building projects, but since their lawsuit was first filed […]

Ted Babbitt’s gambit: Recasting the Garcia federal fraud lawsuit against Scientology

Luis and Rocio Garcia

After several months delay in the federal fraud lawsuit that Luis and Rocio Garcia brought against the Church of Scientology, the Garcias have filed a surprising new motion: They’re dropping three defendants from the suit and asking Judge James Whittemore for the right to amend their original complaint.

If you remember […]

SCIENTOLOGY DENIED: Federal judge finds that Garcia fraud lawsuit can continue

Luis and Rocio Garcia

Federal District Judge James D. Whittemore today issued an order denying a motion by Scientology that would have ended the fraud lawsuit brought last year by former church members Luis and Rocio Garcia, who say they were scammed for hundreds of thousands of dollars in donations.

The Garcias were longtime members […]

LIVE FROM TAMPA: The Garcia v. Scientology Federal Fraud Lawsuit Mini-Trial!

Greetings from Tampa, Florida, where we’re on the scene for an unusual and potentially very entertaining evidentiary hearing in a fraud lawsuit that’s been derailed by accusations of unethical conduct.

We’re anticipating that it will be a fairly grueling day for former Scientologist Brian Culkin as he’s probably going to be something of a hostile witness […]

Judge Whittemore Sets Evidentiary Hearing in Garcia Federal Fraud Lawsuit

Judge James Whittemore has scheduled an evidentiary hearing for July 24 in Luis and Rocio Garcia’s federal fraud lawsuit against the Church of Scientology.

At issue will be the church’s motion to disqualify the Garcias’ attorneys — Ted Babbitt and Ronald Weil — who, the church alleges, improperly worked with Robert Johnson, an attorney who previously […]

Will Scientology’s Motion Demolish the Garcias’ Federal Fraud Lawsuit?

On Friday, Scientology filed a motion to disqualify the attorneys for Luis and Rocio Garcia in their federal fraud lawsuit against the church. We very rapidly posted the motion and several supporting declarations with only a brief description of their contents.

We’ve had some time now to digest the church’s motion, and we thought we’d take […]

Dave’s winning streak: Has Scientology made itself lawsuit-proof?

Last Friday evening, we got the news that another lawsuit filed by former Scientologists had been torpedoed by a […]

So David Miscavige is now a defendant: But can the trafficking lawsuit avoid arbitration?

[You got him, Valeska]

Naturally, after yesterday’s news that David Miscavige had finally been found by a court to be evading service in the Baxter v. Scientology labor trafficking lawsuit, and that the court had officially named him a defendant in the case, there was much rejoicing in the […]

Judge in labor trafficking lawsuit refuses relief for ex-Scientology trio: Bad omen?

[Judge Thomas Barber. Photo: Diego M. Radzinschi/ALM]

Is it nailbiting time in the Baxter v Scientology […]

‘Arbitration,’ again: Here’s Scientology motion to derail new labor trafficking lawsuit

Last week, we reported that Scientology had tipped its hand that, once again, it would be trying to derail a lawsuit filed by former Scientologists with its “religious arbitration” […]

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