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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Tom Cruise at 58: Scientology’s biggest asset continues to avoid the tough questions

 We have yet to see a reporter with access to Tom Cruise ask him about this: Sixteen years ago, in September 2004, Cruise dazzled the Scientologists assembled at an “Ideal Org” grand opening in Madrid by delivering a short speech in Spanish. When he was finished, he came off stage and shook hands with his []

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A family’s Scientology drug rehab nightmare: The Narconon ‘Fresh Start’ scam strikes again

 Twice recently we heard from families going through the now-familiar Narconon nightmare: Desperate to find help for a son or daughter, they are fooled by Scientology’s slick online operation that convinces parents they are talking to a legitimate drug rehab. And only after sending their loved one across the country at great expense do they []

Who knew? Scientology Volunteer Ministers bring ‘spiritual’ aid to disasters & not just PR

 For years we’ve been keeping an eye on Scientology’s attempts to take advantage of natural (and man-made) disasters as public relations opportunities with the use of their “Volunteer Minister” corps. []

How Walter Sobchak would react to the judge’s order holding up Mary Trump’s book

 Attorney Scott Pilutik wrestles with the news of the day, from a lawyerly perspective…

I mentioned the other day how the Queens County Surrogate Court is the wrong place to ask that a book not be published. Today Robert Trump evidently found the right place — the Dutchess County Supreme Court — to get his injunction []

That time Laura Prepon helped silence a Danny Masterson victim for Scientology

 Laura Prepon, through her publicity team, tried to “handle” the New York Post this weekend with a suggestion that the Orange is the New Black actress is “not currently active in the []

Scientology’s global virus playacting was supplied by giant California slave labor plant

 For months now we’ve been getting reports from readers on several different continents that Scientologists have been out in their neighborhoods, clad in PPE and looking like government or medical officials, and are handing out booklets about the coronavirus while wearing masks and gloves and other []

Scientology will see you now! Orgs are reopening in safe and not so safe places

 Scientology orgs around the world are reopening as the world continues to struggle with the coronavirus pandemic. Some of them are opening in places where it’s relatively safe, but others may be exposing members to []

The private eye who started out working for Danny Masterson & now may testify against him

[Scott Ross and his former lawyer pal Tom Mesereau]

In the fall of 2016, Leah Remini’s A&E series Scientology & the Aftermath premiered and was a huge hit. And after three episodes of damning allegations about how Scientology was a vindictive organization that is known for running elaborate surveillance and harassment schemes against people it considers []

Derek Bloch: Why is Scientology keeping a dying mother away from her son?

[Theresa and her son Derek]

We first wrote about Derek Bloch’s story of being victimized by Scientology homophobia back in 2012. He’s continued to be a favorite of ours here in the Underground Bunker, and he’s written on Scientology’s toxic ‘disconnection’ policy for us numerous times. Recently he received some devastating news, and we asked him []

Danny Masterson finds himself in a changed era, but his victims came forward before #MeToo

[Chrissie Carnell Bixler at the 2019 Denim Day rally in Los Angeles]

We wanted to make a simple point today before it gets lost in what appears to be an avalanche of news stories about Danny Masterson that are yet to []