TODAY AT SUBSTACK: If you’ve signed up for free emails at Substack, you will receive today’s feature story at your inbox: We’ve said it before: Scientology’s ‘OT 3’ auditing level gets all the attention, but the other ‘Operating Thetan’ levels are just as wacky, and deserve to be better known. We have a new OT 4 testimonial for you, and some thoughts about a famous OT 4 husband-wife team! [What is this Substack thing, anyway?]
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Technology Cocktail
“When an auditor or C/S encounters out-Int on a case there is a choice of what action to take to handle it. The choice depends on what actions have been taken previously on the case on the subject of Int. The first thing to determine is whether or not Int is actually out. You cannot audit a person on anything else besides Int, if Int is out. You also cannot run anything which is not charged (reading), as to do so hangs the pc with a wrong/uncharged item. An auditor getting a read on the Int section of the C/S 53 must be careful to verify that this is a valid read, and not a false read or protest read. This is very important as you must not audit a pc on Int if it is not charged, and you must not audit a pc on anything else if Int is out.” — L. Ron Hubbard, 1979
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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 [43] Tory Christman [44] Kate Bornstein [45] Christian Stolte [46] Mark Bunker [47] Jon Atack [48] Luke Y. Thompson [49] Mark Ebner [50] Bruce Hines [51] Spanky Taylor and Karen Pressley [51] Geoff and Robbie Levin [52] Sands Hall [53] Jonny Jacobsen [54] Sandy Holeman [55] Mark Bunker [56] Trish and Liz Conley [57] Trish Conley [58] Alex Barnes-Ross [59] Alex Barnes-Ross [60] Alex Barnes-Ross [61] Alex Barnes-Ross [62] Alex Barnes-Ross [63] Alex Barnes-Ross [64] Tory Christman [65] Tammy Synovec [66] Dennis Erlich [67] Alex Barnes-Ross [68] Valerie Ross [69] Kat in Austin [70] Mark Bunker [71] Phil Jones
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“The only death, I think, that ever occurred in the eastern area occurred on the part of a boy who came into the New York Foundation to receive some Dianetic auditing. We had a psychiatrist there who was on duty, because the publisher there in New York said that that was the legal thing to have. And anybody who came in and looked a bit desperate or something of the sort would be a mental case and therefore should be interviewed by the psychiatrist. He went in, saw the psychiatrist, the psychiatrist said there was nothing could be done. The psychiatrist told the auditor in question that he wasn’t to audit him and they sent the boy back out of the Foundation, and he went home and killed himself. That happened in New York City. It was smoothed over very quietly but there’s no particular reason to smooth it over because we didn’t kill him. That was an interesting thing.” — L. Ron Hubbard, September 2, 1956
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“ETHICS: The unauthorised use of a master key to enter any FINANCE Office, without the FINANCE personnel permission will be considered illegal entry. (Other than an emergency such as fire or water leakage.)” — Lt. L. Steinberg, 3rd Mate, September 2, 1970
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“I am not a fanatic of Admin. But it is a necessity so that one person can recognise and meet the counter effort of the environment. The definition of rationality. How is one person out there (OK, in some cases with 5 or 6 more people next to him) able to do that? They cannot. I refuse to have gone crazy before I kick the bucket this lifetime. This is my right. The right to my sanity. And I am gonna stay sane as long as I even whisper it to my team mates that Admin is the path. And the org board is the key. LRH didn’t spend his life over org boards for nothing. He wanted to teach us something. He said that was the best vehicle he could find. And I don’t just believe him, I have seen it work.”
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1996: Zenon Panoussis was raided by the RTC for posting the NOTS materials to a.r.s. The raid occurred while he was away from his home. In a series of posts, he described the events. “When I returned home this afternoon, I found my apartment broken into. The hard disks were missing from my computer, as well as some diskettes and one copy of the printed OTs. On my bed-pillow was a message from the bailiff that he had executed a decision by the primary court of Stockholm. I am (sometimes) a prudent nature. Foreseeing the raid, I have not used my computer for the storage or production or distribution of any material to which the RTC claims copyright. I count therefore on having my hard disks back within a week. Foreseeing the raid I have also spread the files in question to a large number of untraceable acquaintances, and instructed these to spread them to their acquaintances in case I was raided. This further spreading is taking place right now, with the result that the RTC will NEVER be able to cut me off from the material in question. Foreseeing the raid I have also stored the printed OTs elsewhere than in my apartment (one single copy was taken from my apartment, and one was missed and left back). Their distribution continues as usual, or rather MORE INTENSELY. Today I learned from the bailiff that the scienos’ Swedish lawyer, two American scienos by the names of Warren McShane and William Heart, as well as a scieno computer technician were allowed by the bailiff to search my home. This is not only irregular, but highly illegal in this country. In the total mess that my apartment is (and was already before the raid), I have had no possibility to check what might be missing. No time either. The bailiff had also planned to let the scienos search my hard disks today. But after hearing that I would be present, the scienos didn’t show up at the bailiff’s office for a meeting at 9 am. They later called and made a new appointment for 10 am. Shortly before 10 they phoned and postponed it for 12 noon. Three people from the bailiff’s office and me waited from 12 to 1.10 pm in vain. The scienos didn’t show up and didn’t even bother to phone. At the end the bailiff phoned them and arranged to arrange a new meeting tomorrow (or rather this morning Friday). I use SecureDrive. I made a rough calculation that it will take some 9.5*10e80 years to open it by massive force attack, give or take a few zeros. I said last night that I had something on the doing. It was the printing of the whole bulk of the material, OTs and NOTs. In the morning I made a copy of the 224-page printout and went with both to court. I filed one in as evidence proving that my postings, as shown in the print, are not identical nor even show any similarity to the stripe-covered documents that the CoS claim copyrights to. The instant I filed the thing it became public. By pure coincidence I found that some papers had arrived from the CoS. I asked to see them and was initially refused, but that is a legal impossibility. I got them. 1. that I should be called to testify as to the whereabouts of the files and printed materials I once had, as well as the names of the people that I may have taken the assistance of to intensify my distribution of ‘The Material’; 2. that I should be obliged, again through the bailiff, to hand in every document that was covered by Wednesday’s decision; 3. that the above decisions, seen the extreme danger of serious damage to the RTC that lies in the slightest of delays, be taken without providing me the previous opportunity to answer; 4. that the ‘fine’ set earlier should be set to a much higher amount; 5. that the so called ‘Material’, the OTs and NOTs be covered by secrecy in view of their confidential nature (the term ‘trade secret’ was elaborately avoided). A quote: ‘The RTC receives, directly and indirectly, a great economical benefit from The Material.’ I sat in court frenetically writing statements by hand in the corridor. They were kind enough to find a law book for me. I handed them in at 2 pm and ruling was pronounced at 4.30 pm. Well? Sorry. Motion 1 denied. Motion 2 denied. Motion 3 denied. Motion 4 denied. MOTION 5 DENIED. I have two objectives. One is giving the CoS a very good lesson for their general brutality towards scienos and non-scienos alike; today they got another portion of this lesson. My other objective is to defend the net from the censorship it would suffer if measures for breach of law or good taste were to be taken against ISPs, as the CoS always has wanted, instead of against users, which is the only reasonable way. Even on that front this was a good day.”
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“There’s all kinds of space opera before you get to OT III that can be found in ‘Have You Lived Before This Life?’ and ‘A History of Man’ etc. Ribisi is adhering to the code of Space Omertà.”
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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. Sentenced to 30 years to life on Sep 7, 2023. DA’s response to appeal brief due August 13.
— ‘Lafayette Ronald Hubbard’ (a/k/a Justin Craig), aggravated assault, plus drug charges: Grand jury indictments include charges from an assault while in custody. Next pretrial hearing December 1.
Civil litigation:
— Leah Remini v. Scientology, alleging ‘Fair Game’ harassment and defamation: Some defamation claims were removed by Judge Hammock. Judge Hammock’s ruling is on appeal. Leah’s appeal brief was filed June 3. Respondent briefs are due September 2.
— Valerie Haney v. Scientology: Forced to ‘religious arbitration.’
— Chrissie Bixler et al. v. Scientology and Danny Masterson. Judge Upindra Kalra’s ruling denying Scientology’s motion to strike is on appeal. Jane Does’ response to Scientology’s appeal brief submitted July 30. Scientology’s reply due October 20.
— Jane Doe 1 v. Scientology, David Miscavige, and Gavin Potter: Case unsealed and second amended complaint filed. Scientology moves for religious arbitration, gets ruling to depose Jane Doe 1. Trial has been set for January 10, 2028.
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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] Claims about L. Ron Hubbard are ripping apart the Scientology ‘Freezone’
[TWO years ago] PODCAST: Apollo crew member Sandy Holeman on serving L. Ron Hubbard and fleeing Scientology
[THREE years ago] After more failures, Valeska Paris asks court to summons Scientology leader David Miscavige
[FOUR years ago] Tom Cruise’s Scientology superpowers, No. 2: Achieving godhood
[FIVE years ago] The Top 25 People Enabling Scientology, No. 17: Louis Farrakhan
[SIX years ago] A holiday tale for families ripped apart by Scientology’s heartless ‘disconnection’ policy
[SEVEN years ago] FEDS CHARGE SCIENTOLOGISTS IN NEW YORK FOR $80 MILLION MEDICARE SCAM
[EIGHT years ago] Louis Theroux isn’t the first who tried to find Scientology’s positive side and failed
[NINE years ago] ‘Finally, I am myself’: Scientologists talk about Scientology in a video not made for the public
[TEN years ago] Why Scientology can never submit its drug rehab quackery to scientific review
[ELEVEN years ago] Jonny Jacobsen reviews the new Scientology memoir by Hungarian writer Peter Bonyai
[TWELVE years ago] SCIENTOLOGY’S PRIVATE DANCER: A Story of Seduction, Intervention, and Betrayal
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Bernie Headley (1952-2019) did not see his daughter Stephanie in his final 5,667 days.
Joe Reaiche (1958-2024) did not see his daughter Alanna Masterson in his final 6,999 days.
Mike Rinder (1955-2025) did not see his son Benjamin and daughter Taryn in his final 7,589 days.
Tammy Synovec has not seen her daughter Julia in 3,374 days.
Valerie Haney has not seen her mother Lynne in 3,878 days.
Katrina Reyes has not seen her mother Yelena in 4,384 days
Sylvia Wagner DeWall has not seen her brother Randy in 3,934 days.
Brian Sheen has not seen his grandson Leo in 2,924 days.
Klaus Büchele has not seen his daughter Jasmin in 5,310 days.
Geoff Levin has not seen his son Collin and daughter Savannah in 2,805 days.
Christie Collbran has not seen her mother Liz King in 6,109 days.
Marc Headley has not seen his mother Trudy in 4,760 days.
Clarissa Adams has not seen her parents Walter and Irmin Huber in 3,978 days.
Jamie Sorrentini Lugli has not seen her father Irving in 5,532 days.
Quailynn McDaniel has not seen her brother Sean in 4,873 days.
Dylan Gill has not seen his father Russell in 13,444 days.
Melissa Paris has not seen her father Jean-Francois in 9,360 days.
Valeska Paris has not seen her brother Raphael in 5,527 days.
Mirriam Francis has not seen her brother Ben in 5,109 days.
Claudio and Renata Lugli have not seen their son Flavio in 5,368 days.
Sara Goldberg has not seen her daughter Ashley in 4,405 days.
Lori Hodgson has not seen her son Jeremy and daughter Jessica in 4,121 days.
Marie Poulin has not seen her mother June in 3,685 days.
Julian Wain has not seen his brother Joseph or mother Susan in 2,000 days.
Charley Updegrove has not seen his son Toby in 3,175 days.
Derek Bloch has not seen his father Darren in 4,857 days.
Cindy Plahuta has not seen her daughter Kara in 5,194 days.
Roger Weller has not seen his daughter Alyssa in 10,047 days.
Claire Headley has not seen her mother Gen in 5,163 days.
Ramana Dienes-Browning has not seen her mother Jancis in 3,525 days.
Brian Sheen has not seen his daughter Spring in 3,934 days.
Skip Young has not seen his daughters Megan and Alexis in 4,324 days.
Mary Kahn has not seen her son Sammy in 4,208 days.
Lois Reisdorf has not seen her son Craig in 3,773 days.
Phil and Willie Jones have not seen their son Mike and daughter Emily in 4,284 days.
Mary Jane Barry has not seen her daughter Samantha in 4,544 days.
Kate Bornstein has not seen her daughter Jessica in 15,648 days.
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Posted by Tony Ortega on September 2, 2025 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, 1995-2023 Just starting out here? We’ve picked out the most important stories we’ve covered here at the Underground Bunker (2012-2023), 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
