ABCMouse honcho gives Scientology another $10 million — for construction of ‘LRH Hall’

Scientology’s long planned L. Ron Hubbard Hall, an auditorium to join its ‘Flag Land Base’ in Clearwater, Florida, is still soaking up million-dollar donations from the church’s wealthy donors, and we get to see who they are in a new church publication.

Among them is wealthy couple Doug and Laurie Dohring, who are familiar Scientology donors. We reported in 2017 that they had reached $20 million in donations to the International Association of Scientologists, Scientology’s membership organization. (Their son, Jason Dohring, is the Veronica Mars actor.)

Doug Dohring is well known for turning Neopets into a massive success in the 1990s. Then he founded a business he called Age of Learning, which in 2010 launched ABCMouse, the subscription literacy program for toddlers. For years now we’ve pointed out that parents who subscribe to ABCMouse are helping Dohring contribute millions to Scientology, but Age of Learning flacks deny it when reporters ask them if it’s true.

Dohring not only founded Age of Learning, he was CEO from 2007 to 2019, and he’s still executive chairman. It’s undeniable that the success of ABCMouse has helped him give such huge amounts to the church. And in this new publication, we learn that he’s given another $10 million, specifically for the new hall.

That’s a total of $30 million in giving from the ABCMouse honcho for these two initiatives, the IAS and the LRH Hall. Wealthy donors like the Dohrings are also hit up for many other projects, and so they may have given much more.

The Hall is planned for a lot adjacent to the Flag Building, the huge block-sized edifice that took 20 years to build that sits across from the Fort Harrison Hotel. The new hall will allow Scientology leader David Miscavige to hold big events like LRH Birthday on their own campus rather than at Ruth Eckerd Hall. Perhaps it will also become the home of the annual New Year’s Eve party that is usually held at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles.

Anyway, like any big church project, it’s an opportunity for Miscavige to fleece his millionaire supporters, and this is the first comprehensive list he’s put out with their names in a long time.

Let’s start with the small fish and work our way up!

First, a note on the amounts we’re listing: Scientology itself put out a published list of the different giving levels, which have slightly changed names over the last few years. (Here’s an example.) Some intermediate steps we’ve had to make some assumptions, and the highest two levels we’ve had to do some extrapolating. But in general, this is a very solid list of amounts based on Scientology’s own disclosures.

 
LRH Hall Member: $25,000

The magazine lists about 300 people under this category, the single largest. Some names that jumped out at us:

Alley Family
David Brier
Chait Family

 
Elite Member: $50,000

The magazine has about 75 of these donors. A few names:

Willow Bellotti
Craig & Sally Jensen
Aaron Kyro

 
Key Member: $100,000

About 60 donors have achieved this level.

 
Founding Member: $250,000

There are about 50 entries here.

 
Master Member: $500,000

About 25 names make up this level.

 
Legion of Honor: $1 million

Previously we reported that Nancy, the voice of Bart Simpson, had topped $17 million in donations just to the International Association of Scientologists, the membership organization of Scientology. But she’s given millions more to “Ideal Org” projects (specifically the San Fernando Valley facility) and here she’s being recognized for another cool million for LRH Hall.

Other Legionnaires…

 
Legion of Honor with Honors: $1.5 million

Besides wealthy San Diego donors the Listugs, here are the other recipients of the awkward status “Legion of Honor with Honors”…

France: Laplantif Family
Hungary: Lenkei Family
Italy: Flag Italian OTC
US: Banke Family
Jigar Gandhi & Karol Molina
Brandon & Angela Marion
Warren & LeAnn Meyer
The Taufers
Rosa Tran

 
Senior Legion of Honor: $2 million

The other senior Legionnairies…

Hungary: Gabor & Viktoria Kovacs
US: Timothy & Sara Baxter
Gigi & Jim Bridgeforth
Claire & Rudi Loehwing and Family
Sheryle Festa
Edward Marsh

 
Legion of Elite Honor: $2.5 million

Also: The Holstein Family from Denmark

 
Legion of Distinction: $5 million

Just two additional entries here:

The Cardone Family
Rebecca & Stu Sjouwerman

 
Legion of Distinction with Honors: $7.5 million

Tom Cummins sells deregulated electricity in Florida and has donated about $32.5 million to the IAS, as well as millions more for Ideal Org building projects.

 
Legion of Nobility: $10 million

 
Doug and Laurie Dohring have this level all to themselves, adding to the $20 million they’ve given the IAS. That’s $30 million which has been given to the Church of Scientology from the man behind ABCMouse, the program for teaching toddlers to read. What a racket.

 
Opus Extraordinaire: $20 million?

This special designation has been set aside for the Pumphrey family, who run the Harlem org and have given another $10 million to the IAS. Is this the wealthiest African-American family in Scientology?

 
Illuminare: $30 million?

We’ve had to estimate these last two levels, and in the past former executives who worked donations told us our guesses were, if anything, conservative. And for this highest of categories, there’s no surprise that it is Bob & Trish Duggan, the wealthiest Scientologists who have given something close to half a billion to Scientology.

But we wonder if this donation was made some time ago, because their divorce was final in 2017.

Well, whatever. Once again the Duggans are the big moneybags. Hip, hip, hooray!

 
——————–

Source Code

“I don’t know what number the GPM is back at the year 200 trillion. On some PCs it will probably be number 52; and on some PCs it’ll be number 31, don’t you see? So to get a consistent numbering, when we say the first GPM, we mean the one which is nearest or the latest formed one. It’s the goal of that one that you have to have, but some pcs have skidded their wheels. They’ve listened to speeches by the Democrats or they’ve they’ve looked over Australian legal procedure or something like that, and they’ve skidded their wheels. And they’ve gone back to the second GPM and are living this life in the second GPM. You understand that? They’ve met an oppterm, let us say, in the second GPM of sufficient magnitude to cause them to be the terminal of the second GPM. You understand? That’s horrifying, isn’t it? Well, I’ll tell you why it’s horrifying. Because if you found the goal that they are living at this moment, it wouldn’t run. That makes some PCs more difficult to find goals on than others. You follow that? Now, what is more complicated is that the first GPM may or may not be fully formed. You may have only the first eight items of the first GPM formed, or you may have only the first 16 items of the first GPM formed because of course the PC normally is forming these things progressively as you move on up the track. Well, as we were saying last night, it is really too bad that we didn’t have somebody at various points of the track, and he took a gun and he said, ‘Everyone will now postulate his 65th GPM goal’ —bang! You see, and we all did it at once. Only it didn’t work that way. Some fellows postulated theirs thousands of years ago, some billions of years ago, and some trillions of years ago. So this of course makes it an uneven number.” — L. Ron Hubbard, March 21, 1963

 
——————–

Avast, Ye Mateys

“Vixie is OK. She was taken to the vet this morning. Her leg isn’t broken. It was a torn ligament. Mary Sue gave her a touch assist last night. Vixie went totally anaten. The pain shock was in her shoulder and went up to her head which she for awhile refused to permit to be touched. The touch assist was done on both sides of the body (other leg too) and near and far areas. You wear thick gloves in giving a dog or cat a touch assist as they snap and scratch and disassociate. The swelling went down and she came up to growl tone. On return from the vet she got a bone and sat in the foyer where she could bark at people.” —The Commodore, March 21, 1970

 
——————–

Overheard in the FreeZone

“I was three months into being a Scientologist and auditing was great for my PTSD but the church isn’t happy that while they were closed for the pandemic I got psychiatric help. Now I’m ‘not stable enough’ to even donate. It’s hard. I love the tech but they can be overbearing. I’m hoping to find an independent auditor. And hoping to learn the assists. But the church has made it clear I’m not welcome there anymore. I do believe in spiritual healing as a general thing but just never got to explore it.”

 
——————–

Past is Prologue

2001: The film Battlefield Earth, based on a book by L. Ron Hubbard, won seven “Razzie” awards, given to the worst films of the year. “Worst Picture: Battlefield Earth (Warner Bros.) Elie Samaha, Jonathan D. Krane and John Travolta, Producers. Worst Actor: John Travolta/Battlefield Earth and Lucky Numbers (Paramount). Worst Screen Couple: John Travolta and Anyone Sharing the Screen with Him/Battlefield Earth. Worst Supporting Actress: Kelly Preston/Battlefield Earth. Worst Supporting Actor: Barry Pepper/Battlefield Earth. Worst Director: Roger Christian/Battlefield Earth. Worst Screenplay: Battlefield Earth Screenplay by Corey Mandell and J.D. Shapiro, Based on the Novel by L. Ron Hubbard.”

 
——————–

Random Howdy

“So when some little kid says ‘goo goo ga ga’ during an auditing session the auditor tells the parents that junior was speaking in a whole track alien dialect?”

 
——————–

Full Court Press: What we’re watching at the Underground Bunker

Criminal prosecutions:
— Danny Masterson charged for raping three women: Masterson arraigned Jan 20. Next conf to set prelim, March 24.
— Jay and Jeff Spina, Medicare fraud: Jay’s sentencing delayed to April 13.
— Hanan and Rizza Islam and other family members, Medi-Cal fraud: Trial scheduled for May 20 in Los Angeles
— David Gentile, GPB Capital, fraud: Charged in Brooklyn federal court on Feb 4. Arraigned on Feb 9. Pretrial conference set for Apr 29.

Civil litigation:
— Luis and Rocio Garcia v. Scientology: Oral arguments were heard on July 30 at the Eleventh Circuit
— Valerie Haney v. Scientology: Forced to ‘religious arbitration.’ Petition for writ of mandate denied Oct 22 by Cal 2nd Appellate District. Petition for review by state supreme court denied Dec 11.
— Chrissie Bixler et al. v. Scientology and Danny Masterson: Dec 30, Judge Kleifield granted Scientology’s motions to compel arbitration. June 7: Status conference.
— Matt and Kathy Feschbach tax debt: Eleventh Circuit ruled on Sept 9 that Feshbachs can’t discharge IRS debt in bankruptcy. Dec 17: Feshbachs sign court judgment obliging them to pay entire $3.674 million tax debt, plus interest from Nov 19.
— Brian Statler Sr v. City of Inglewood: Second amended complaint filed, trial set for Nov 9, 2021.
— Author Steve Cannane defamation trial: Trial concluded, Cannane victorious, awarded court costs. Case appealed on Dec 24.

Concluded litigation:
— Dennis Nobbe, Medicare fraud, PPP loan fraud: Charged July 29. Bond revoked Sep 14. Nobbe dead, Sep 14.
— Jane Doe v. Scientology (in Miami): Jane Doe dismissed the lawsuit on May 15 after the Clearwater Police dropped their criminal investigation of her allegations.

 
——————–

SCIENTOLOGY BLACK OPS: Tom Cruise and dirty tricks

The Australian Seven News network cancelled a 10-part investigation of Scientology and its history of dirty tricks. Read the transcripts of the episodes and judge for yourself why Tom Cruise and Tommy Davis might not have wanted viewers to see this hard-hitting series by journalist Bryan Seymour.

SCIENTOLOGY: FAIR GAME

After the success of their double-Emmy-winning, three-season A&E series ‘Scientology and the Aftermath,’ Leah Remini and Mike Rinder continue the conversation on their podcast, ‘Scientology: Fair Game.’ We’ve created a landing page where you can hear all of the episodes so far.

LEAH REMINI: SCIENTOLOGY AND THE AFTERMATH

An episode-by-episode guide to Leah Remini’s three-season, double-Emmy winning series that changed everything for Scientology watching. Originally aired from 2016 to 2019 on the A&E network, and now on Netflix.

SCIENTOLOGY’S CELEBRITIES, from A to Z

Find your favorite Hubbardite celeb at this index page — or suggest someone to add to the list!

 
Other links: Scientology’s Ideal Orgs, from one end of the planet to the other. Scientology’s sneaky front groups, spreading the good news about L. Ron Hubbard while pretending to benefit society. Scientology Lit: Books reviewed or excerpted in a weekly series. How many have you read?

 
——————–

THE WHOLE TRACK

[ONE year ago] Scientology and the coronavirus: Keeping the orgs open as ‘essential services’
[TWO years ago] That feeling when Scientology tries to creep you out as a recruiting strategy
[THREE years ago] Kirstie Alley goes OT 8, celebrates her ‘confront’ level on Scientology’s cruise ship ‘Freewinds’
[FOUR years ago] Reza Aslan is already being dishonest about indie Scientology ahead of CNN episode
[FIVE years ago] No longer working for Monique Rathbun to sue Scientology, Ray Jeffrey opens up
[SIX years ago] ‘Going Clear’ subject Tom DeVocht reveals new info about Tom Cruise and Scientology’s leader
[SEVEN years ago] Video Vault: L. Ron Hubbard at his campiest, in 1960’s State of Man Congress!
[EIGHT years ago] SCIENTOLOGY DRUG REHAB CENTER HIT WITH FIVE MORE LAWSUITS
[NINE years ago] Battlefield Earth: Still Making the World Safe From Scientology Nearly 12 Years Later

 
——————–

——————–

Posted by Tony Ortega on March 21, 2021 at 07:00

E-mail tips to tonyo94 AT gmail DOT com or follow us on Twitter. We also post updates at our Facebook author page. After every new story we send out an alert to our e-mail list and our FB page.

Our new book with Paulette Cooper, Battlefield Scientology: Exposing L. Ron Hubbard’s dangerous ‘religion’ is now on sale at Amazon in paperback and Kindle formats. Our book about Paulette, The Unbreakable Miss Lovely: How the Church of Scientology tried to destroy Paulette Cooper, is on sale at Amazon in paperback, Kindle, and audiobook versions. We’ve posted photographs of Paulette and scenes from her life at a separate location. Reader Sookie put together a complete index. More information can also be found at the book’s dedicated page.

The Best of the Underground Bunker, 1995-2020 Just starting out here? We’ve picked out the most important stories we’ve covered here at the Underground Bunker (2012-2020), The Village Voice (2008-2012), New Times Los Angeles (1999-2002) and the Phoenix New Times (1995-1999)

Other links: BLOGGING DIANETICS: Reading Scientology’s founding text cover to cover | UP THE BRIDGE: Claire Headley and Bruce Hines train us as Scientologists | GETTING OUR ETHICS IN: Jefferson Hawkins explains Scientology’s system of justice | SCIENTOLOGY MYTHBUSTING: Historian Jon Atack discusses key Scientology concepts | Shelly Miscavige, 15 years gone | The Lisa McPherson story told in real time | The Cathriona White stories | The Leah Remini ‘Knowledge Reports’ | Hear audio of a Scientology excommunication | Scientology’s little day care of horrors | Whatever happened to Steve Fishman? | Felony charges for Scientology’s drug rehab scam | Why Scientology digs bomb-proof vaults in the desert | PZ Myers reads L. Ron Hubbard’s “A History of Man” | Scientology’s Master Spies | The mystery of the richest Scientologist and his wayward sons | Scientology’s shocking mistreatment of the mentally ill | The Underground Bunker’s Official Theme Song | The Underground Bunker FAQ

Watch our short videos that explain Scientology’s controversies in three minutes or less…

Check your whale level at our dedicated page for status updates, or join us at the Underground Bunker’s Facebook discussion group for more frivolity.

Our non-Scientology stories: Robert Burnham Jr., the man who inscribed the universe | Notorious alt-right inspiration Kevin MacDonald and his theories about Jewish DNA | The selling of the “Phoenix Lights” | Astronomer Harlow Shapley‘s FBI file | Sex, spies, and local TV news | Battling Babe-Hounds: Ross Jeffries v. R. Don Steele