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 Former Scientologist and music producer Tiziano Lugli has given us the opportunity once again to debut one of his highly polished short films about the Scientology experience.
Previously, Lugli made us laugh with ‘Shit Scientologists Say,’ and hit us in the gut with ‘The Shrinking Cult of Scientology.’ Now he’s got a parody of a film made by Scientology itself, ‘No Slavery,’ which it uses as part of its cynical ‘human rights’ campaign aimed at teenagers. Continue reading TIZIANO LUGLI: A new short film about Scientology and ‘slavery’
 Evgeny Zharkin, who also went by “Gene.” On January 28, a man named Evgeny Zharkin died after falling from a building in Clearwater, Florida. Clearwater is the spiritual worldwide headquarters of the Church of Scientology, and Zharkin was a Scientologist. Also, Zharkin was a Russian national, and increasingly, many of the Scientologists in Florida are from that country. Did Zharkin’s death implicate Scientology in some way? Did he commit suicide? Was he thrown from the building? Those of us who watch the church couldn’t help being curious about Zharkin’s death, and there’s been a lot of speculation about it online. Continue reading Falling death of a Russian Scientologist in Clearwater: The police investigation
 Jeff Harris We’ve been telling you about numerous lawsuits aimed at Narconon, Scientology’s drug rehab network, in various parts of the country. In Oklahoma, former prosecutor Gary Richardson is handling more than ten lawsuits against Narconon Arrowhead, the network’s flagship facility. In Michigan, an attorney named Jeff Ray is suing rehab centers there that are owned or run by a man named Per Wickstrom. In Nevada, California, and Oregon, seven federal lawsuits have been filed in a short amount of time by Las Vegas attorney Ryan Hamilton. But one of the most intriguing legal salvos against Narconon came from an attorney in Georgia named Jeff Harris. After he handled a wrongful death lawsuit regarding the overdose of a patient at an Atlanta-area facility (that suit was settled) Harris then went looking for other people who said they were harmed by Narconon Georgia (which has since been closed in a deal with a county prosecutor). Continue reading DOX: The appeal to restore the class-action lawsuit against Scientology’s rehab network
 Just a few days ago we told you that Scientologists in the UK had started archiving their publications on the ‘net. It was a surprising move for an organization that remains very conflicted about the web. Shortly after we pointed out that the magazines were online, they were yanked down.
Now a tipster has pointed us to another interesting and puzzling Internet adventure by another Scientology entity. The Tampa Ideal Org for some reason thinks it’s a good idea to recruit for staff members with a primitive website that presents a series of self-promotional pages. Continue reading Scientology is determined to conquer this Internet thing
 Our tipsters really came through this week with an amazing collection of the latest mailers and fliers that the Church of Scientology has been sending to its members from various divisions around the world.
We love to show them to you in our weekly feature we call Sunday Funnies, and this week the line between comedy and tragedy is especially tenuous. Continue reading Sunday Funnies: What part of ‘rebel’ doesn’t Scientology understand?
During a mesmerizing performance last night in Clearwater, Florida at the Flag Down anti-Scientology conference, Jamie DeWolf made a stunning revelation. He’s authenticated bizarre writings that had been attributed to his grandfather, L. Ron Hubbard Jr., who was the son of Scientology’s founder. They paint a disturbing portrait of the influence of the occult on the Hubbard men as they used Scientology in its early days to further their personal aims. Continue reading Jamie DeWolf: I’ve found the last memoir of the son of Scientology’s founder
 Add Colorado to the states where Las Vegas attorney Ryan Hamilton has filed federal fraud lawsuits against Scientology’s drug rehab network, Narconon.
Two lawsuits were filed by Hamilton this week against Narconon Colorado, which operates a ‘Narconon Fresh Start’ facility in Fort Collins it calls A Life Worth Saving (pictured). Continue reading Ryan Hamilton adds Colorado in new lawsuits against Scientology’s rehab network
 US Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR) The Underground Bunker has obtained an e-mail written by Ron Wyden, the senior US Senator from Oregon, who has formally asked the Internal Revenue Service to explain why the Church of Scientology enjoys tax exempt status, 21 years after that exemption was granted in a controversial decision. Wyden’s inquiry comes at the same time that we have also confirmed with a former member of the church that IRS Criminal Investigation special agents sought and held a meeting with him recently to gather background on Scientology’s activities — including hundreds of pages of documents from Monique Rathbun’s harassment lawsuit in Texas and the federal fraud lawsuit brought by Luis and Rocio Garcia in Florida. After two decades of inaction, could the IRS finally be ready to revisit its legendary capitulation to Scientology leader David Miscavige? Continue reading OREGON SENATOR RON WYDEN ASKS IRS FOR SCIENTOLOGY REVIEW
 We had a laugh when Scientology shocked many people in Los Angeles by purchasing the historic studios that had long housed the local public television station KCET. The thought of Scientology operating its own television network led us two years ago to speculate about the fabulous shows the wacky group could put together.
But since then, we’ve heard very little about what Scientology actually plans to do with the facility. We had heard that church leader David Miscavige was shifting some of the work that used to take place at the “Gold” studios on the International Base, which is near Hemet, to the KCET studios. It was part of Miscavige shifting a lot of activity from Int, we were told, which is causing the sprawling compound to become something of a ghost town. Continue reading Scientology’s plans for the KCET studios in Los Angeles finally taking shape?
 We’ve been leaked some exclusive footage of David Miscavige speaking at the opening this weekend of a new “Ideal Org” in Sydney.
The source who provided us the footage estimated the crowd size at 1,500 — and that included people who had arrived from Taiwan, New Zealand, and across Australia. That’s a pretty anemic turnout for such an important occasion, and more evidence that Miscavige is having a tougher time in recent months convincing Scientologists to show up for his events. Continue reading Leaked footage of Scientology leader David Miscavige in Sydney
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Former Scientologist and music producer Tiziano Lugli has given us the opportunity once again to debut one of his highly polished short films about the Scientology experience.
