Tony Ortega is a journalist who was formerly the editor of The Village Voice. He's written about Scientology since 1995, and in May 2015 released a book about Scientology's harassment of Paulette Cooper titled 'The Unbreakable Miss Lovely.' He continues to monitor breaking developments in the Scientology world from an undisclosed location in an underground bunker he shares with four cats and one of them wrinkly Shar Pei dogs. Despite his super-secret security protections, you can still reach him pretty easily by sending him a message at tonyo94 AT gmail.com (Drop him a line if you'd like to get an e-mail whenever a new story is posted.) [Header image courtesy John Rickard]
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VALERIE HANEY SEEKS WRIT: Victims’ rights groups show support, Scientology cries bigotry

 In a court document, the Church of Scientology is accusing the National Center on Sexual Exploitation, formerly known as Morality in Media, of “religious bigotry” because it is siding with Valerie Haney, Leah Remini’s assistant, in her lawsuit against the church and its leader, David Miscavige.

NCOSE and another victims’ rights group, the National Crime Victim []

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Now that Scientology mega-donor Trish Duggan is famous, will the ditched-kid story blow up?

[Trish and Trump at the 2017 inauguration]

Politico had a tremendous scoop yesterday, as reporter Matt Dixon revealed that one of the country’s biggest financial supporters of the Trump re-election effort is none other than the wealthiest Scientologist in the world, Florida’s Trish []

VIDEO: See Danny Masterson’s initial court appearance on rape charges

 You’ve seen descriptions of Danny Masterson’s first appearance in court on rape charges, but here’s a chance to see what it was like for yourself as we present the video recording of the hearing that took place Friday in Los []

SCIENTOLOGY BLACK OPS, Episode 6: Dirty tricks are a sacrament in this ‘church’

 ‘Dirty Tricks,’ the sixth episode of ‘Scientology Black Ops,’ a special 7NEWS Australia investigation that was cancelled by the network in July, has been leaked to the []

How should we judge the rejection Scientology received in the heartland this week?

[The KCK building Scientology wanted to turn into a dormitory.]

What a week it’s been here at the Underground Bunker. On Monday, Episode Four of the ‘Scientology Black Ops’ series leaked to the Internet, with Bryan Seymour’s damning look at how in 2004 Tom Cruise fired his legendary publicist Pat Kingsley with the help of Scientology’s []

Read Danny Masterson’s ‘demurrer’ he’s hoping will get his criminal charges dismissed

[Danny Masterson and his attorney, Tom Mesereau]

Our legal experts tell us that our perception yesterday wasn’t incorrect: They say that it is unusual for a “demurrer” to be filed in a criminal prosecution at this stage, which gives Danny Masterson a chance, however slim, to get his charges dismissed before he’s even entered a []

Scientology celeb Danny Masterson to be arraigned today for raping three women

 [UPDATE: Masterson’s attorney Tom Mesereau filed a demurrer and had the arraignment delayed until Oct. 19. See our reports from court down below.]

At 8:30 am Pacific today at the Clara Shortridge Foltz Criminal Justice Center on West Temple Street in downtown Los Angeles, Scientology celebrity and That ’70s Show actor Danny Masterson is scheduled to []

Scientology chiro Dennis Nobbe drops dead after being informed he’s going to jail

[Dennis Nobbe and his former clinic]

Scientology donor and Miami chiropractor Dennis Nobbe, 63, learned on Monday that the US district court had decided to revoke his bond and put him in custody while awaiting trial on Medicare fraud and PPP loan abuse. He immediately called his attorney to tell him the news, and while on []

SCIENTOLOGY BLACK OPS, Episode 5: A ‘church’ that used a dying woman to ‘always attack’

 ‘Always Attack,’ the fifth episode of ‘Scientology Black Ops,’ a special 7NEWS Australia investigation that was cancelled by the network in July, has been leaked to the []

The Top 25 People Enabling Scientology, No. 14: The Los Angeles Times

 What happened to the Los Angeles Times?

That’s a question we’ve asked ourselves often in recent years as we’ve watched what was once one of the best investigators of Scientology’s controversies become almost completely incurious about stories unfolding right in the newspaper’s own []