Just a week ago we showed you evidence that Scientology’s big whales are being hit up for huge donations not only for the membership organization, the IAS, but also for building projects.
If you give at least $100,000 to these “Ideal Org” building projects, Scientology dubs you a “humanitarian.” And then you’re pressured to donate even more “humanitarians” to up your status.
This week again we have examples of richies who have given church leader David Miscavige millions for this effort, which creates gleaming new cathedrals around the country that then sit empty.
Tony and Danica Twomey are being celebrated for donating 27 humanitarians, which in English works out to $2.7 million. And Jim Bridgeforth, another of Scientology’s electricity deregulation tycoons in Florida, comes in with a whopping 203 humanitarians, or $20.3 million just for new Ideal Orgs in the US. And they’re both dwarfed by none other than Jim’s electricity pal, the ubiquitous Tom Cummins, who comes in with 621 humanitarians, or $62.1 million for the Ideal Orgs. Wow!
That’s on top of the $40 million Tom has forked over to the IAS. Cummins truly is one of Scientology’s most valuable whales!
Now, although these notices from Scientology only just arrived (and thank you to the Bunker readers who sent them in), it looks like these photos were taken at the convention held in April at the Valley Ideal Org.
Cummins and Bridgeforth were featured speakers at the convention, as well as the Fabos Factor (Steve and Peggy Fabos).
We swung by the convention and even managed to get a “Yo!” from Cummins.
The marks are told that this “alliance” of humanitarians is a final push to create 13 more churches that will finally make the US fully “ideal,” which will then usher in a new civilization as Scientology clears the planet.
The truth is, Scientology is seriously hurting as its overall membership remains anemic following years of hemorrhaging people and then the ravages of the pandemic.
But leader David Miscavige still has these wealthy whales he can rely on, who continue to fork over prodigious amounts. And for now, that’s keeping this pony show going.
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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 as Danny faces a potential sentence of 45 years to life in prison. NOW WITH TRIAL INDEX.
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THE PODCAST: How many have you heard?
[1] Marc Headley [2] Claire Headley [3] Jeffrey Augustine [4] Bruce Hines [5] Sunny Pereira [6] Pete Griffiths [7] Geoff Levin [8] Patty Moher [9] Marc Headley [10] Jefferson Hawkins [11] Michelle ‘Emma’ Ryan [12] Paulette Cooper [13] Jesse Prince [14] Mark Bunker [15] Jon Atack [16] Mirriam Francis [17] Bruce Hines on MSH
— SPECIAL: The best TV show on Scientology you never got to see
[1] Phil Jones [2] Derek Bloch [3] Carol Nyburg [4] Katrina Reyes [5] Jamie DeWolf
— The first Danny Masterson trial and beyond
[18] Trial special with Chris Shelton [19] Trial week one [20] Marc Headley on the spy in the hallway [21] Trial week two [22] Trial week three [23] Trial week four [24] Leah Remini on LAPD Corruption [25] Mike Rinder 2022 Thanksgiving Special [26] Jane Doe 4 (Tricia Vessey), Part One [27] Jane Doe 4 (Tricia Vessey), Part Two [28] Claire Headley on the trial [29] Tory Christman [30] Bruce Hines on spying [31] Karen de la Carriere [32] Ron Miscavige on Shelly Miscavige [33] Karen de la Carriere on the L’s [34] Mark Bunker on Miscavige hiding [35] Mark Plummer [36] Mark Ebner [37] Karen Pressley [38] Steve Cannane [39] Fredrick Brennan [40] Clarissa Adams [41] Louise Shekter [42] John Sweeney
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“If you don’t administer a good, tough Security Check, and if you don’t keep that Security Check good and keep it whole, you’re just setting it up for PCs not only to not be cleared but actually to start feeling miserable. Oddly enough, feeling miserable, they’re better off than they were being irresponsible. You got the idea? And they’ll tell you so, too. But you just peg them. You peg their processing gain. It isn’t that you do something overt that forces their case down; you peg their processing gain. And it’ll peg right up to the point where they become responsible for some overt act in the past. And there the case will hang. And that’s it. They’ve had it from there on. And you won’t get any further advance out of that case. So one of your rules is, is when a person ceases to advance rapidly, you just pick up Mr. Joburg and start in at the beginning and run through to the end. And you all of a sudden will find out why.” — L. Ron Hubbard, June 6, 1961
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“Running on entheta rumours without verifying them, not studying stats before action are deadly sins. Anyone who manages that way is really in treason. What really happened was NY staff apparently had some mutineers on it and former EC NY must have had them held down. The staff played ‘My Boss is an SP.’ So ECUS unwittingly listened to false reports, supported the mutiny, shot down the EC and crashed the org. The story is obvious from the stats.” — The Commodore, June 6, 1970
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“Hubbard was not just another protoplasm packet on the loose running around Earth. Spanning Hubbard from good to bad could probably kill someone if they managed to do it. Since the term Clear is pretty well not defined at this time, I have no idea what anyone is talking about, except that maybe they missed an implant or two or three or twelve which some of us probably did. He was without question one of the greatest minds to walk the earth, and was on a good roll for most of his stay here. What is clear is that Hubbard was an expert in Scientology long before he ever hit mud on Earth. Or else he was channeling experts who already knew what they were talking about when he did his work. It’s kind of like music, if your mind is open, the music starts pouring in. If your mind is open, the tech starts pouring in. It did take some extra human confront though.”
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Past is Prologue
1996: Lance Buckley posted a report on the lightning picket held several weeks ago outside the London Org on Tottenham Court Road. “As we descended on the org, we couldn’t help but notice that they knew we were coming. In fact they had probably been set up quite a while. I remember wondering at the time if they were getting bored waiting for us to turn up. We had our own pair of police officers to make sure the three of us didn’t start a riot or something. It’s nice to know someone cares. We said our hellos to anyone who was interested, hoisted our signs high and had at the leaflet distribution with a will. As usual we were the centre of attention for 3 or more people with cameras. Why can’t they issue decent cameras to these people? All they ever use are the ‘point’n’shoot’ models. Since we like Jaques so much, we decided to tell him that one of the signs the droidz was carrying had a slight typo. I can’t remember the context right now, but they had misspelled ‘L Ron Hubbard’. This stunning testament to the much vaunted study tech had written on her sign: ‘P. Ron Hubbard blah blah’! ‘P’? How the hell can you misspell a single letter? Shit, ‘L’ doesn’t even -sound- like ‘P’. We decided it had to be due to those seafood engrams again. ‘P Ron’ sounds like ‘Prawn’ so for the rest of our stay our favourite conman was referred to as ‘Prawn Hubbard’. I don’t think they appreciated the joke.”
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“Scientologists, like vaLLarrr for example, have told me that it doesn’t matter if LRH was nuts or a criminal, and they love to use Issac Newton as an example of someone who was supposedly psychotic and believed in alchemy, but his law of universal gravitation ‘tech’ is observed to be true.”
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Full Court Press: What we’re watching at the Underground Bunker
Criminal prosecutions:
— Danny Masterson charged for raping three women: Found guilty on two counts on May 31, remanded to custody.
— ‘Lafayette Ronald Hubbard’ (a/k/a Justin Craig), aggravated assault, plus drug charges: Grand jury indictments include charges from an assault while in custody. Trial scheduled for August 15.
— Rizza Islam, Medi-Cal fraud: Trial scheduled for June 26 in Los Angeles
— David Gentile, GPB Capital, fraud.
Civil litigation:
— Baxter, Baxter, and Paris v. Scientology, alleging labor trafficking: Forced to arbitration. Plaintiffs asking permission for interlocutory appeal.
— Valerie Haney v. Scientology: Forced to ‘religious arbitration.’
— 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 at least through June 28.
— 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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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] Scientology under scrutiny? A stunning new document in the Danny Masterson case
[TWO years ago] When going OT was the bomb: Testimonials about Scientology in its heyday
[THREE years ago] Scientology mega-donor ABCMouse family is more complicated than we realized
[FOUR years ago] ‘Scientology is Security for South Africa’: How L. Ron Hubbard sought to prop up apartheid
[FIVE years ago] EXCLUSIVE: The rise and fall of the ‘Pope of Scientology’ — in his own words
[SIX years ago] Designer Rebecca Minkoff’s involvement in a Scientology front is pretty perfectly bad timing
[SEVEN years ago] Chick Corea’s glib revelation to the New York Times about Scientology’s ‘Maiden Voyage’
[EIGHT years ago] Jon Atack: The ‘Getting Clear’ conference and L. Ron Hubbard’s lies about his life
[NINE years ago] Where is Scientology keeping Samantha Sterne?
[TEN years ago] Cheering Up Will Smith, and A Survey For You SPs!
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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 3,052 days.
Katrina Reyes has not seen her mother Yelena in 3,557 days
Sylvia Wagner DeWall has not seen her brother Randy in 3,107 days.
Brian Sheen has not seen his grandson Leo in 2,097 days.
Geoff Levin has not seen his son Collin and daughter Savannah in 1,988 days.
Christie Collbran has not seen her mother Liz King in 5,292 days.
Clarissa Adams has not seen her parents Walter and Irmin Huber in 3,163 days.
Doug Kramer has not seen his parents Linda and Norm in 2,268 days.
Jamie Sorrentini Lugli has not seen her father Irving in 4,715 days.
Quailynn McDaniel has not seen her brother Sean in 4,057 days.
Dylan Gill has not seen his father Russell in 12,623 days.
Melissa Paris has not seen her father Jean-Francois in 8,542 days.
Valeska Paris has not seen her brother Raphael in 4,709 days.
Mirriam Francis has not seen her brother Ben in 4,291 days.
Claudio and Renata Lugli have not seen their son Flavio in 4,552 days.
Sara Goldberg has not seen her daughter Ashley in 3,588 days.
Lori Hodgson has not seen her son Jeremy and daughter Jessica in 3,304 days.
Marie Bilheimer has not seen her mother June in 2,868 days.
Julian Wain has not seen his brother Joseph or mother Susan in 1,183 days.
Charley Updegrove has not seen his son Toby in 2,358 days.
Joe Reaiche has not seen his daughter Alanna Masterson in 6,909 days
Derek Bloch has not seen his father Darren in 4,040 days.
Cindy Plahuta has not seen her daughter Kara in 4,378 days.
Roger Weller has not seen his daughter Alyssa in 9,233 days.
Claire Headley has not seen her mother Gen in 4,352 days.
Ramana Dienes-Browning has not seen her mother Jancis in 2,708 days.
Mike Rinder has not seen his son Benjamin and daughter Taryn in 7,011 days.
Brian Sheen has not seen his daughter Spring in 3,117 days.
Skip Young has not seen his daughters Megan and Alexis in 3,515 days.
Mary Kahn has not seen her son Sammy in 3,391 days.
Lois Reisdorf has not seen her son Craig in 2,974 days.
Phil and Willie Jones have not seen their son Mike and daughter Emily in 3,469 days.
Mary Jane Barry has not seen her daughter Samantha in 3,723 days.
Kate Bornstein has not seen her daughter Jessica in 14,832 days.
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Posted by Tony Ortega on June 6, 2023 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, 1995-2022 Just starting out here? We’ve picked out the most important stories we’ve covered here at the Underground Bunker (2012-2022), 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
