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PODCAST: Sunny Pereira spills secrets of Scientology’s Hollywood Celebrity Centre

 
One of our favorite correspondents here at the Bunker has been Sunny Pereira, a former Sea Org member who served in the Hollywood Celebrity Centre. She’s written devastating pieces for us not only about what happens there, but also how her own family was ripped apart by Scientology’s toxic policies.

We were communicating with her recently and realized she has a key piece of the puzzle in regards to when Scientology developed the “religious arbitration” legal strategy that is derailing lawsuits filed by former church members.

We also knew she’d have some interesting things to say about Scientology celebrity Danny Masterson and the curious way the church is backing him so strongly through a five-year criminal investigation of the That ’70s Show actor.

And of course, we discussed the crazy things she saw at the Celebrity Centre, and she told us some new things about the celebrities that was a real surprise.

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Today, we’re releasing the fifth episode of our podcast to our paid subscribers at Substack. You should receive it presently at your email inbox if you’re on the list.

We hope you enjoy the hour we spent talking to Sunny, who knocked us out with some new secrets of the Celebrity Centre.

Not a paid subscriber? Well, we have something for you, too. Last week’s episode was with Bruce Hines discussing the Sea Org’s insanity. In the weeks before, Jeffrey Augustine helped us review Scientology’s latest moves in litigation, Claire Headley exposed Tom Cruise in some new ways that really blew us away, and Claire’s husband Marc told us some great stories about Scientology leader David Miscavige that we had never heard before.

Those first four episodes are now free to all of our subscribers, paid and unpaid. All of our podcast episodes can be found here.

 
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Source Code

“Now your understanding is that when you die, why somehow or another about 15 minutes later you appear in another body. Let’s look at this thing from a time disorientation basis. That is a lie. It takes 69 days plus. More than 69 days. See, this has upset some of our calculations. We’ve wondered what has happened to some of our people, why they didn’t show up again immediately, that sort of thing. You’ve gone as long as eight or nine years between death and birth. Now what happens — I’ll just give you a fast rundown on this situation — what happens is, you’ve got a compulsion to appear at the between-lives return-point. And, of course, you just do a disappear at death and an appear there. You don’t travel to there, see. It’s all nicely implanted and you’re supposed to arrive at this exact point. And having arrived at this point you go through the works. And the works consist of a false death given to you in pictures. You’re caught there and beamed in, and you get a bunch of pictures which they have taken — these aren’t your pictures — and it tells you all about the death you just died. Only that’s not the death you just died. They give you a completely false death.” — L. Ron Hubbard, July 23, 1963

 
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Avast, Ye Mateys

“Today at 0900 we will move the bow of the ship over to the best fixed location of the port anchor which was researched last night. It’s just to the north of where we searched today. We will lower the port anchor and when secure, divers will go down the chain to see what an anchor looks like on the bottom and start a search radius from it. Have sleds ready again, they can stand off as we move forward.” — Capt. W.B. Robertson, July 23, 1970

 
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Overheard in the FreeZone

“There is no ‘LRH 2.’ Ron does come back — I have no doubt in that — Ron is on our side, you can trust that. But I can tell you what LRH is thinking or would think about us: ‘Why don’t you do your job, you have the tech. What are you waiting for? When do you start?’ Do you know what is going on in Switzerland regarding the coronavirus? In Switzerland an MD was institutionalized because he called coronavirus a fake. Ron warned us even back in 1952. And also in KSW: There is no democracy. Friends, the situation is more serious than you may think.”

 
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Past is Prologue

1999: “Fier” protested this week at the Canberra, Australia org. “Louise and I spontaneously decided to hand out some Xenu flyers, and we got quite a reaction! Starting at midday, we began to hand out the flyers to pedestrians near the cult headquarters. Within seconds, several staff came down to attack the attackers… Soon after we began, the troops of staff came down and started to give out ‘What is Scientology’ pamphlets. The majority of people were happy to get both sides of the story though. The Ethics officer verbally abused me again and again, with very sly libelous comments to me, like ‘have you fucked any sheep lately?’ ‘How do you screw the sheep, Hemi, from behind?’ He called me a child molester, and a turncoat SP… At 2:00pm (stat time) the DSA gave me a letter from their lawyers. ‘TO BE DELIVERED BY HAND RE: CHURCH OF SCIENTOLOGY: We are the solicitors for the Church of Scientology. We are instructed that you are engaged in distributing documents which contain unpublished Church Scriptures which are subject to copyright. You are acting in breach of the Copyright Act. We have instructions to commence proceedings in the ACT Supreme Court for an injunction if you continue this activity. We would ask the Court to order that the costs of the application be borne by you.'”

 
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Random Howdy

“L. Ron Hubbard is dead but that didn’t stop lawyers for Monique from introducing his works as evidence in a court of law. There is a paper trail for Joseph Smith leading back to the early 1800’s also. Evidence clearly demonstrates that L. Ron Hubbard and Joseph Smith were con men. Smith was a convicted con man. The Abrahamic religions are obviously too old for this.”

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

Criminal prosecutions:

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Danny Masterson charged for raping three women: Trial scheduled for October 11, pretrial conference August 17.
‘Lafayette Ronald Hubbard’ (a/k/a Justin Craig), aggravated assault, plus drug charges: Last hearing was on January 18, referred to grand jury. Additional charges also referred to grand jury after January 5 assault while in jail.
Jay and Jeff Spina, Medicare fraud: Jay sentenced to 9 years in prison. Jeff’s sentencing to be scheduled.
Rizza Islam and other family members, Medi-Cal fraud: Readiness hearing scheduled for August 22 in Los Angeles
David Gentile, GPB Capital, fraud: Next pretrial conference set for September 19.
Yanti Mike Greene, Scientology private eye accused of contempt of court: Found guilty of criminal and civil contempt.

Civil litigation:
Baxter, Baxter, and Paris v. Scientology, alleging labor trafficking: Complaint filed April 28 in Tampa federal court, Scientology moving to compel arbitration.
Valerie Haney v. Scientology: Forced to ‘religious arbitration.’ Selection of arbitrators underway. Next court hearing: February 2, 2023.
Chrissie Bixler et al. v. Scientology and Danny Masterson: Appellate court removes requirement of arbitration on January 19, case remanded back to Superior Court. Stay in place, next status hearing October 25. Scientology petitioning US Supreme Court over appellate ruling.
Brian Statler Sr v. City of Inglewood: Third amended complaint filed, trial set for December 6.
Author Steve Cannane defamation trial: New trial ordered after appeals court overturned prior ruling.
Chiropractors Steve Peyroux and Brent Detelich, stem cell fraud: Lawsuit filed by the FTC and state of Georgia in August, now in discovery phase.

 
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THE PROSECUTION OF DANNY MASTERSON

We first broke the news of the LAPD’s investigation of Scientology celebrity Danny Masterson on rape allegations in 2017, and we’ve been covering the story every step of the way since then. At this page we’ve collected our most important links, including our four days in Los Angeles covering the preliminary hearing and its ruling, which has Danny facing trial and the potential sentence of 45 years to life in prison.

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 BLACK OPS: Tom Cruise and dirty tricks. 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?

 
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THE WHOLE TRACK

[ONE year ago] The Scientologist who played a role in Tuesday’s historic Blue Origin launch
[TWO years ago] Scientology not only opposes Valerie Haney’s do-over, but wants $160,000 in sanctions
[THREE years ago] Hey, slacker, come on back to Scientology — things are peachy now!
[FOUR years ago] SCIENTOLOGY CAVES: MISCAVIGE SETTLES FORCED-ABORTION CASE TO AVOID TRIAL
[FIVE years ago] Scientology shifting front group strategy — it’s all about kids, kids, kids
[SIX years ago] Bomb diggety! It’s more Scientologists high on L. Ron Hubbard and the everloving ‘tech’
[SEVEN years ago] The Church of Scientology: A rollicking legacy of belligerence, profanity, paranoia, and violence
[EIGHT years ago] LIVE BLOG: The Elli Perkins story tonight on the ID Network, ‘The Scientology Cure’
[NINE years ago] Claire Headley: Scientology’s Own Rules Prove That it Uses “Disconnection” To Split Up Families
[TEN years ago] ‘The Master’ Screenplay: Scientology History from Several Different Eras Skillfully Woven Together

 
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Scientology disconnection, a reminder

Bernie Headley (1952-2019) did not see his daughter Stephanie in his final 5,667 days.
Valerie Haney has not seen her mother Lynne in 2,734 days.
Katrina Reyes has not seen her mother Yelena in 3,239 days
Sylvia Wagner DeWall has not seen her brother Randy in 2,789 days.
Brian Sheen has not seen his grandson Leo in 1,779 days.
Geoff Levin has not seen his son Collin and daughter Savannah in 1,670 days.
Christie Collbran has not seen her mother Liz King in 4,975 days.
Clarissa Adams has not seen her parents Walter and Irmin Huber in 2,845 days.
Carol Nyburg has not seen her daughter Nancy in 3,619 days.
Doug Kramer has not seen his parents Linda and Norm in 1,950 days.
Jamie Sorrentini Lugli has not seen her father Irving in 4,423 days.
Quailynn McDaniel has not seen her brother Sean in 3,739 days.
Dylan Gill has not seen his father Russell in 12,305 days.
Melissa Paris has not seen her father Jean-Francois in 8,224 days.
Valeska Paris has not seen her brother Raphael in 4,392 days.
Mirriam Francis has not seen her brother Ben in 3,972 days.
Claudio and Renata Lugli have not seen their son Flavio in 4,234 days.
Sara Goldberg has not seen her daughter Ashley in 3,270 days.
Lori Hodgson has not seen her son Jeremy and daughter Jessica in 2,985 days.
Marie Bilheimer has not seen her mother June in 2,510 days.
Julian Wain has not seen his brother Joseph or mother Susan in 865 days.
Charley Updegrove has not seen his son Toby in 2,040 days.
Joe Reaiche has not seen his daughter Alanna Masterson in 6,591 days
Derek Bloch has not seen his father Darren in 3,740 days.
Cindy Plahuta has not seen her daughter Kara in 4,060 days.
Roger Weller has not seen his daughter Alyssa in 8,915 days.
Claire Headley has not seen her mother Gen in 4,034 days.
Ramana Dienes-Browning has not seen her mother Jancis in 2,390 days.
Mike Rinder has not seen his son Benjamin and daughter Taryn in 6,693 days.
Brian Sheen has not seen his daughter Spring in 2,799 days.
Skip Young has not seen his daughters Megan and Alexis in 3,197 days.
Mary Kahn has not seen her son Sammy in 3,073 days.
Lois Reisdorf has not seen her son Craig in 2,656 days.
Phil and Willie Jones have not seen their son Mike and daughter Emily in 3,151 days.
Mary Jane Barry has not seen her daughter Samantha in 3,405 days.
Kate Bornstein has not seen her daughter Jessica in 14,514 days.

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Posted by Tony Ortega on July 23, 2022 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, 1995-2021 Just starting out here? We’ve picked out the most important stories we’ve covered here at the Underground Bunker (2012-2021), 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

 

Tony Ortega at The Daily Beast

 

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