[Today’s guest article is by Jeffrey Augustine and Vanessa LaRose]

In 2004, former Sea Org member and second-generation Scientologist Liz Ferris called the Golden Era Productions phone line in the Hollywood Guaranty Building. She was asking for her father, Sea Org executive Bob Ferris.

The HGB, on Hollywood Boulevard, is a nerve [...]]]>

[Today’s guest article is by Jeffrey Augustine and Vanessa LaRose]

In 2004, former Sea Org member and second-generation Scientologist Liz Ferris called the Golden Era Productions phone line in the Hollywood Guaranty Building. She was asking for her father, Sea Org executive Bob Ferris.

The HGB, on Hollywood Boulevard, is a nerve center for the worldwide Scientology organization, with highly sensitive activity taking part inside.

Liz left the Sea Org after her stint from 1996-2000, but she had remained a Scientologist. She says that in some ways it was only very recently that she woke up that Scientology technology was not “The Key to Life.” But one thing she always knew in her heart was that Scientologists were incorrect about their views on sexuality.

She was still allowed to call her father from time to time and they kept in touch a few times a year with pleasant phone calls. He had been accepting (and even supportive) when she had come out to him as a lesbian earlier that year.

This time, however, when she asked for him, the person on the other end of the line simply said, “He’s dead,” and hung up.

Liz was understandably stunned by the news of her father’s death. He was only 54 years old at the time.

New Scientology watchers may be surprised to learn that it is not unusual for Scientology to tell family members that a Sea Org member has died, when they have not. It is also common to keep deaths quiet when Sea Org members or public Scientologists passes away. You may remember when Tony reported on the death of Ann Tidman in 2012, that it had been months after her death in a Scientology apartment building before her family was told about it.

Fast forward to 2023: Liz received a phone call asking her what her plans were for assisting with her father Bob’s “freeloader’s debt.”

She couldn’t believe what she was hearing. since when did Scientology try to collect on the freeloader debts of the dead?

In Scientology, Sea Org members are required to sign billion-year contracts, promising to come back lifetime after lifetime. And one way that the organization keeps members from changing their minds is to threaten to saddle them with a freeloader debt if they leave, billing them for all of the benefits they’d supposedly received while working around the clock. Such debts can run up to hundreds of thousands of dollars, they are legally unenforceable, but often former Sea Org members end up paying at least part of them for fear of being declared an enemy of the church with the label “suppressive person.”

Liz knew what a freeloader’s debt was, but why, she asked, would the church be asking her about a debt supposedly owed by someone who had died 19 years earlier? Liz heard a click on the other end of the call.

Angry, panicked, and heartbroken, Liz began asking around until she heard from another former Sea Org member who told her that her father had not, in fact, died in 2004. They told her that in 2005, he had still been working at Scientology’s Gold Base located in San Jacinto, California.

But was he still alive in 2023? At that point, she reached out to the Riverside County Sheriff’s Office. An officer from RCSO called Gold Base and inquired about Bob, and he told Liz that an unnamed person at the Base said that Bob Ferris was alive. However, the Sheriff’s Office did not make an actual visit to see if this was true.

Liz decided she would need to go to the base to find out for herself.

She reached out to former second-generation Scientologists Vanessa LaRose and Elysia Hoy after watching their recently launched YouTube channel “Degraded Daughters of Dianetics.” Liz felt that they could understand the challenges she was about to face, and she asked if Vanessa would accompany her to the base.

Vanessa has a BA in psychology from Cal State Long Beach, she’s a certified peer support specialist, and she’s also a mandated reporter in the state of California. Liz also turned to me, Jeffrey Augustine, for additional help.

I’m a private investigator, and I saw this as a missing persons case: Was Bob Ferris dead or alive? If he was alive and 72 years old, what is his physical and mental condition?

On June 10 Liz, her partner, Vanessa, and I made a visit to Gold Base. Liz told me that she did not want to be the daughter who gave up on her father, if there was any possible chance that her father was alive. She wanted him to know that his family outside cares, and will be here for him if he wants to escape.

We met up at the San Jacinto substation of the Riverside County Sheriff’s Office, and I advised a deputy that we were headed out to Scientology’s Gold Base on a missing persons case. We used an Uber to get there because there is no other safe way to get to the guard booth at the front gate.

Scientology has heavily planted the public walkway next to Highway 79 with thorny desert cactus and plants right down to the highway itself. Highway 79 is a high-speed roadway where the average speeds of vehicles are 55-70 mph. This is Google maps image of the guard booth:

 
It was obvious to me that the overplanting was done in order to create an unsafe environment to discourage anyone from walking up to the front of the base or the security booth.

Pedestrians risk getting hit and seriously injured or killed by traffic were they to walk to the front of Gold Base from a long distance away where they must park their car. There are other dangers too. In 2008, Scientology protester Anon Orange was tackled and placed under citizen’s arrest by Scientology security officer Danny Dunigan for trespassing.

There are no marked boundaries anywhere and Scientology does not want any foot traffic along Highway 79. Former Gold Base Security Director Gary “Jackson” Morehead agrees, because he was the person who designed the deliberate obstructions when he was in charge of Base security.

Once we arrived, Liz approached the guard booth, identified herself, and asked to see her father Bob. She communicated this information through the speaker on the guard booth. The booth itself is covered in heavily-tinted glass and no one inside can be seen. After about an hour, we had received no communication back from the guard booth. No Scientology official appeared to speak with us. At that point, I called the Sheriff’s Office and asked them to come and conduct an adult welfare check on Bob.

Forty-five minutes later the Sheriff’s Office called back. The deputy said that they had contacted Bob by telephone and spoke with an attorney for the Church who said that Bob did not wish to see his daughter. The deputy said that Bob claimed he might be dealing with a daughter he never knew about, which the deputy seemed to credit.

On the other hand, Bob had told the Sheriff’s Office that he did not want to get a Temporary Restraining Order against his daughter and was not quite sure who this person was. These statements were either contradictory, not truthful, or suggested a diminished mental capacity. There is ample evidence that Bob Ferris knows his daughter Liz. The photo at the top of this article, for example.

The deputy warned me about getting into a trespass situation. I replied that we were on public land and that we would be departing as soon as our Uber arrived. The deputy additionally stated that Gold Base had to get permission from a Scientology attorney to allow Bob Ferris to speak to the Sheriff’s Office.

About a week after our visit, the Sheriff’s Office made an actual face-to-face visit with Bob. The report is not available from the department website. Liz will have to make another long trip to pick up the report in person. Fundraising was just completed to fund this trip. Liz said in a recent podcast that she may never get her father back but has at least paved the way for others to ask to see their missing family members who are in the Sea Org.

— Jeffrey Augustine and Vanessa LaRose

 
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Technology Cocktail

“Explore the immediate past lifetime or lifetimes of the pc. Get the pc’s identity and form (sometimes they were animals), and if lifetime alters position of tone arm, run ‘What about (name)
would you be willing to be?’ ‘What about (name) would you rather not be?’ Do this until incident is flat. If heavy engrams in such a lifetime stick, run ‘What about that incident could you be responsible for?'” — L. Ron Hubbard, 1960

 
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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

 
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Source Code

“If it isn’t written it isn’t true. The only orders that affect transfers, functions, programs in an org must be issued as Executive Directives, OODs or FSOs or FBDLs or AIDES ORDERS, CBOs or FOs to be legal…Therefore if anyone tells you to change post or duties or that a function is changed on the Org Bd and cannot show it to you in a policy letter or FO or CBO, it is not true. Furthermore to follow such an unwritten or illegal order is to risk a Comm Ev for accepting illegal orders. It would be just as bad to follow an order to violate an HCOB and run some upsetting process. The reason is very plain. Policy, followed, results in a productive, comfortable post and policy not followed with verbal orders only in effect makes a cat’s dinner.” — L. Ron Hubbard, August 16, 1971

 
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Avast, Ye Mateys

“As I’ve had some upsets and checked to find others have from noise in sessions I think it’s best if we have DOC figure out a ‘Ship Noise’ period when we can have all hands chipping and any banging and E/R compressor charging. A couple hours of this scheduled when Qual is NOT auditing would be a great help. New recruits or new members aboard are apparently unaware of areas where they shouldn’t bang and chatter. This should be part of their ship info. DOC should work this out.” — The Commodore, August 16, 1970

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Overheard in the FreeZone

“Just re-reading KSW1. I think this is what we’re up against in the Indie Field: ‘The group left to its own devices would not have evolved Scientology, but with wild dramatization of the bank called new ideas would have wiped it out.’ And it looks to me like one of the ways people use to make sure Scientology gets wiped out is to invalidate KSW1.”

 
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Past is Prologue

1997: Tilman Hausherr posted news that a German court has upheld the conviction of a Scientologist police officer. “The Berlin state court has confirmed the conviction (for violation of the data protection law) of the Scientologist cop who had forced job applicants to take a ‘personality test’ and had forwarded the data to the cult. The fine was lowered to DM 9000 (instead of DM 12,000 of the first court, instead of DM 16,000 as out-of-court fine). The cop says he wants to appeal.”

 
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Random Howdy

“That’s it, I’m joining Scientology tomorrow.”

 
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Full Court Press: What we’re watching at the Underground Bunker

Criminal prosecutions:

Civil litigation:
— Leah Remini v. Scientology, alleging ‘Fair Game’ harassment and defamation: Complaint filed August 2, hearing on proof of service on Oct 3.
— Baxter, Baxter, and Paris v. Scientology, alleging labor trafficking: Forced to arbitration. Plaintiffs allowed interlocutory appeal to Eleventh Circuit.
— 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 sentencing of Masterson on Sep 7.
— Jane Doe 1 v. Scientology, David Miscavige, and Gavin Potter: Case unsealed and second amended complaint filed. Next hearing Nov 6.
— Chiropractors Steve Peyroux and Brent Detelich, stem cell fraud: Ordered to mediation.

 
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SCIENTOLOGY: FAIR GAME

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] EXCLUSIVE: Danny Masterson’s attempt to delay trial over baseball gambit is DENIED
[TWO years ago] Danny Masterson’s nutty lawsuit involving his house loan is finally kicked out of court
[THREE years ago] VIDEO: Portland unrest inspires $250,000 donation from Scientology lifer
[FOUR years ago] Here’s the lawsuit against Scientology and Danny Masterson. Let’s dive into it.
[FIVE years ago] Stanley Clarke turns out to be as deep into Scientology as we feared, all these years later
[SIX years ago] Mirriam & Saina from ‘Leah Remini: Scientology and the Aftermath’ — The LAPD has let us down
[SEVEN years ago] In 1951, L. Ron Hubbard’s fellow SF writers debated him about ‘badly-written’ Dianetics
[EIGHT years ago] Passion of the Heist: The Scientology hucksters who have made this summer unforgettable
[NINE years ago] After a year’s delay, Mary Sue Hubbard’s house is on the market for $2.5 million
[TEN years ago] Scientologists Say the Darndest Things In Their Disconnection Letters
[ELEVEN years ago] Scientology’s Oklahoma Nemesis, Bob Lobsinger: ‘They Lied Every Step of the Way’
[TWELVE years ago] Ed Bryan, OT VIII, Demonstrates the Power of Scientology’s Highest Levels

 
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Posted by Tony Ortega on August 16, 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

 

Tony Ortega at Rolling Stone

 We have a grab-bag of fun stuff for you this morning. First up, Jeffrey Augustine let us know that he’s adding a YouTube channel to his Scientology Money Project blog.

And he’s starting things off with a very fun deconstruction of one of Scientology’s most iconic legends, Xenu’s genocide that brought “body thetans” to Teegeeack, also [...]]]>

 
We have a grab-bag of fun stuff for you this morning. First up, Jeffrey Augustine let us know that he’s adding a YouTube channel to his Scientology Money Project blog.

And he’s starting things off with a very fun deconstruction of one of Scientology’s most iconic legends, Xenu’s genocide that brought “body thetans” to Teegeeack, also known as Planet Earth.

What do you think? Has Jeffrey finally found the scientific explanation that makes L. Ron Hubbard’s notion of invisible space cooties impossible?

Let us know!

 
Second up, Chris Shelton had us on his YouTube channel to talk about our Lisa Marie Presley story this week, which we put together based on conversations we had with her in 2015.

We really enjoyed talking to Chris about this, and we hope you dig it too.

 
We also received a couple of bonus items from our tipsters this week.

Does Venezuelan actress Ruddy Rodriguez coming to Chicago suggest that the grand opening of the Ideal Org there is imminent?

We urge our Chicago friends to keep a close eye on the building at 650 S Clark St for any telltale giant ribbons and bows on it.

Get your wallets out, people!

 
——————–

Technology Cocktail

“I know of several savage races which find so little meaning in sex that they do not even bother to trace ancestry seriously, and when they do wish to connect themselves with a family connect
themselves on the mother’s side, as one can be fairly certain what woman bore him when one is uncertain as to who influenced the birth from the masculine side. Yet these races, free as the wind on the second dynamic, are yet intensely aberrated in other quarters. Some are aberrated on the eighth dynamic of God, some on the first of self. The American Indian, for instance, is enormously aberrated in the field of animals, but not much inhibited in the field of sex.” — L. Ron Hubbard, 1956

 
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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.

THE PODCAST: How many have you heard?

— The Underground Bunker Podcast

[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

— SPECIAL: Your Proprietor’s updates on the Danny Masterson trial

[1] Sep 21 [2] Sep 28 [3] Oct 4 [4] Oct 10 [5] Oct 11: Day One [6] Oct 12: Day Two [7] Oct 13: Day Three [8] Oct 17: Day Four [9] Oct 18: Day Five [10] Oct 19: Day Six [11] Special interview with Chris Shelton, Oct 19 [12] Oct 20: Day Seven [13] Oct 21: Day Eight [14] First week in review, with Jeffrey Augustine [15] Oct 24: Day Nine [16] Oct 25: Day Ten [17] Oct 27: Day Eleven [18] Oct 28: Day Twelve [19] Second week in review, with Jeffrey Augustine [20] Halloween special [21] Nov 2: Day Thirteen [22] Nov 3: Day Fourteen [23] Nov 4: Day Fifteen [24] Third week in review [25] Nov 5, Saturday special [26] Nov 6, Sunday special [27] Nov 7, Day Sixteen [28] Lisa Marie Presley breaking news [29] Nov 8, Day Seventeen [30] Nov 9, Day Eighteen [31] Nov 10, Day Nineteen

 
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Source Code

“If I walked into an org at any given instant, I would look the place over, I would probably move all the executives out of the service space. And that’s usually my first action in an org. I’m not kidding you. I move all the executives out of the service space, and that’s my first day. And work with their creditor set up so that there won’t be foreclosed on the second day. And by that time I have looked over enough of the situation, and I get a big idea as to what we can offer right now, and we offer it very promptly on any open communication line that is. And you have a special project number one, which you will be given, which is, that’s a special project. That doesn’t include with the FEBC pack; it’s with your pack, but it’s the big idea that you can do right now. And it’s already under a bit of flight, this particular one, and we haven’t got the full results on this yet. But apparently it’s producing people, and they walk in and they actually do start moving through the org lines. So you’ve got a special dissem project number one, which is a good idea.” — L. Ron Hubbard, February 3, 1971

Avast, Ye Mateys

“Planning is to organize the Greek University of Philosophy for Corfu. They had one and in the war it was bombed out, then taken over to and by Athens. Greek VIPs of Corfu would be the Trustees. It would teach all philosophies, use Greek professors. It would have a Scn Dept. We would put an OA here and leave the UK one running. No Class VIII in this AO. Operation and Transport Services would run the AO and also procure students from Universities over the world, like professors and instructors from other universities to take courses in Corfu. The University would publish a Journal where other university professors couuld publish papers. The Greek Trustees would organize it, incorporate it. OTS would pay a % of the Scn Dept. The university would pay a percent to OTS for procuring students. Students will come to Corfu and live ashore, register and get courses on ATHENA. This is until our own Greek incorporation comes through and we could then use offices ashore, 2 of which are already rented and waiting but can’t be used until we are registered in Greece.” — The Commodore, February 3, 1969

 
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Overheard in the FreeZone

“For the last 11 years I have been conducting a structured, methodical examination of my past. I do some positive gain work as well, but it is primarily discovering what has happened. I have about 11,000 hours of work done so far. I’m now down to 5 minutes to 2 hours a day, 3 to 4 times a week. For about 2 years, approx 1/4 of my work was toward overts and motivators. There are a few things I have found that work for me. This is deep whole track research. Once I find a believed basic on a chain of overts, I look for the prior confusion. That is well known.”

 
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Past is Prologue

1999: The Associated Press reported this week that Heber Jentzsch, president of the Church of Scientology International, predicts growth and acceptance in Europe. “The Los Angeles-based church created by late science fiction writer L. Ron Hubbard has been persistent in attempts to become recognized as a legitimate religion, said the Rev. Heber Jentzsch, president of Church of Scientology International. ‘There is a shift,’ he said. ‘Scientology has become visible. It will happen in the next five years, maybe 10 years.’ ‘It’s not been easy. But we never thought of withdrawing,’ Jentzsch said from the church’s European headquarters in Copenhagen. ‘Any new religion, any new ideas will be fought. There is an old guard that is threatened by anything that is new.’ Jentzsch said much of the problem stems from misinformation that remains from U.S. investigations into the church in the 1960s and 1970s. He also rejected reports that people who want to leave the church are harassed.”

 
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Random Howdy

“Scientology/Dianetics was originally intended to END with going Clear. And then LRH realized the short con of that was going to run dry, so he came up with the LONG CON of the OT levels. It’s that simple.”

 
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Full Court Press: What we’re watching at the Underground Bunker

Criminal prosecutions:
— Danny Masterson charged for raping three women: Mistrial declared November 30. Retrial scheduled, jury selection begins March 29.
— ‘Lafayette Ronald Hubbard’ (a/k/a Justin Craig), aggravated assault, plus drug charges: Grand jury indictments include charges from an assault while in custody. Plea deadline scheduled for December 16.
— Jay and Jeff Spina, Medicare fraud: Jay sentenced to 9 years in prison. Jeff scheduled to time served with three years supervised release, restitution of $9.7 million.
— Rizza Islam, Medi-Cal fraud: Trial scheduled for March 1 in Los Angeles
— David Gentile, GPB Capital, fraud: Next pretrial hearing December 9.
— Yanti Mike Greene, Scientology private eye accused of contempt of court: Found guilty of criminal and civil contempt.

Civil litigation:
— Baxter, Baxter, and Paris v. Scientology, alleging labor trafficking: Complaint filed April 28 in Tampa federal court, Scientology moving to compel arbitration. Plaintiffs filed amended complaint on August 2. Hearing November 17 to argue the arbitration motions, awaiting ruling.
— Valerie Haney v. Scientology: Forced to ‘religious arbitration.’ Selection of arbitrators underway. Next court hearing: February 2, 2023.
— 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 February 7.
— Brian Statler Sr v. City of Inglewood: Case settled ahead of scheduled Dec 6 trial.
— 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.

 
——————–

SCIENTOLOGY: FAIR GAME

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 may be struggling, but the push for your cash is still on, thetans!
[TWO years ago] Is ‘Balance of Nature’ actually Scientology? Well, they have a Hubbard College in their HQ.
[THREE years ago] Scientology builds tiny new drug rehab, marking Narconon’s dwindling US fortunes
[FOUR years ago] Xenu’s ghost! This year’s Scientology Super Bowl ad looks a lot like the others
[FIVE years ago] What L. Ron Hubbard said about religion — before Scientology became a ‘church’
[SIX years ago] Leah Remini books the Bill Maher show, gets swung at by Giovanni Ribisi
[SEVEN years ago] Ray Jeffrey fends off Scientology’s attempt to get him in hot water with the California Bar
[EIGHT years ago] When Richard Nixon ordered the Secret Service to investigate Scientology
[NINE years ago] Monique Rathbun tries to slap down Scientology’s ‘anti-SLAPP’ motion in court today
[TEN years ago] Super Sunday Funnies: Live-Blogging Scientology’s Super Bowl Ad!
[ELEVEN years ago] Scientology on the High Seas: Squirrel Cookery!

 
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Posted by Tony Ortega on February 3, 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, 1995-2021 Just starting out here? We’ve picked out the most important stories we’ve covered here at the Underground Bunker (2012-2021), 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

 David Miscavige wants to sell all Scientologists his official RTC-approved and CST-patented Scientology Mark Ultra VIII E-meter.

And for only $5,000.

While E-meters are primarily purchased by Scientology’s field auditors in training and by members on the penultimate auditing level, “OT 7,” Miscavige wants to sell all Scientologists E-meters by convincing them that they will eventually need [...]]]>

 
David Miscavige wants to sell all Scientologists his official RTC-approved and CST-patented Scientology Mark Ultra VIII E-meter.

And for only $5,000.

While E-meters are primarily purchased by Scientology’s field auditors in training and by members on the penultimate auditing level, “OT 7,” Miscavige wants to sell all Scientologists E-meters by convincing them that they will eventually need it. Owning an E-meter is also a prestigious thing in the Church. Owning an E-meter means you’re in the club. You’ve made it into the ranks of the most elite and most ethical group on the planet.

But as with all things Scientology, there are contracts to sign before you get your E-meter.

And there’s also a policy requiring Scientologists to buy two of the expensive machines in case one of them breaks down. This requirement to purchase two E-meters is quite serious — particularly for Scientologists on OT 7 who are solo auditing their body thetans.

OT 7s do four to five short solo sessions each day where they telepathically audit their BTs and BT clusters. OT 7s are required to solo audit in secret. They have to lock themselves into a spare bedroom or another locked and safe space. This is a very serious rule in Scientology.

So what happens if an OT 7 is deep into his or her Whole Track, a few trillion years back, handling a virulent BT cluster with evil purposes to destroy planets and civilizations when the E-meter suddenly fails?

Exactly.

This is why the Commodore wanted Scientologists to buy two of the devices. An OT 7 is going to want a backup when they are traversing the Wall of Fire laden with implants, weepers, boo hoos, and so forth. You definitely don’t want to key in a deadly clam-jaw implant and suddenly need an emergency root canal because you failed to have the lifeboat that is a second E-meter.

 
OK, so you fork over 10 grand for two of the things. What is it you’re getting?

When David Miscavige released the latest meter, the Mark Ultra VIII, he had a score to settle with the Internet. For years former Scientologists had been selling their old Mark VII E-meters and earlier models on eBay and other online marketplaces. In the year 2000, Church lawyers had tried to shut down Internet sales of E-meters by making DMCA claims.

Specifically, Church attorneys argued that the terms “Scientology” and “Hubbard E-meter” were copyrighted and therefore could not be used online. This claim went down in flames. The US “First Sale Doctrine” holds that a manufacturer makes their money on the first sale and the buyer is allowed to resell the item. So for example if you want to sell your used Ford pickup truck or Gucci bag online, Ford and Gucci cannot stop you from using their trade names to sell used goods you purchased from them. They were both made whole financially on the first sale. The First Sale doctrine stopped Scientology’s rampage.

Miscavige needed another way to foil resales and keep the precious new meters out of the hands of infidels. This is why he ordered his wog lawyers and electronic designers to create a system to prevent E-meter resales when the Mark Ultra VIII was designed and launched.

In 2014, Mike Rinder posted copies of the two contracts that Scientologists sign when they purchase an Mark Ultra VIII E-Meter a/k/a “Pastoral Counseling Device.”

Miscavige’s electronic designers created a simple lock-and-key system. When a Scientologist purchases a new Mark Ultra VIII, a clock chip inside the meter limits the meter to work for only one year of date of purchase. After one year, a circuit shuts the meter off and it becomes useless.

When their Mark Ultra VIII times out at one year, the Scientologist is required to plug it into their computer and log on to a special Church website. The Scientologist enters their IAS membership number. An RTC computer checks the Ethics files and other reports to see if the Scientologist is in good standing with the Church of Scientology International. If the Scientologist has been a good thetan, the Church computer resets the clock chip and reauthorizes the E-meter for one more year of operation.

If the Scientologist is found to be unworthy in any way, the purchase contract requires the Scientologist to stop using the E-meter and return it to the Church:

The Church does check Knowledge Reports to see if a Scientologist has been reading entheta websites such as, say, the Underground Bunker, Mike Rinder’s blog, or that damned Scientology Money Project. If this is found to be the case, all of the Scientologist’s certs are cancelled and they, per contract, must return the E-meters they own to the Church.

There is a clause in the contract wherein the Church agrees to refund the purchase amount less the cost of any damage beyond normal wear and tear. We have no idea as to what constitutes “normal wear and tear” on an E-meter.

So there you have it: Sign the contracts, pay the money, and you are essentially leasing an E-meter on a year-to-year basis. As always, the contracts give the Church all of the power and removes any power from the Scientologist. Scientology: Bad faith, contracts of adhesion, and a culture of snitching.

— Jeffrey Augustine

Scientology Mark Ultra VIII… by Tony Ortega

 
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Sign up for a daily email when we post a new story on Scientology.

Did you know you can get an email every morning when we post our daily Scientology story? We know some of the folks who come to the Underground Bunker aren’t here to talk about the politics of the day, and that’s why we created a daily politics feature over at our other blog, The Lowdown, and we ask readers to take their political discussions over there. And if you drop us a line at tonyo94 AT gmail, we’ll put you on the list so you get a morning reminder that a new Scientology story has been posted — and only for our Scientology stories.

Source Code

“Now, we are not in conflict with the customs and philosophy of the planet or the universe. Quite the contrary. It’s not a case of everybody is out of step but Jim. It’s a case of others want people badly out of step. And they’re getting them pretty badly out of step. But if you can talk to and communicate with anybody on the subject of Scientology, he agrees with what you’d say. He agrees very rapidly with what you say, unless he misses a word. If he misses a word then he won’t agree with what you’ve said, but you are actually talking to him about things which have been with him as customs, far, far, far longer than any Johnny-come-lately psychology or mental science that has been foisted off on him in recent times.” — L. Ron Hubbard, September 15, 1964

 
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Avast, Ye Mateys

“With a lot of fireworks of all kinds the Great Word Clearing Festival got off to a start. There was a small amount of excitement when two lions escaped and rushed to the galley. But instead of eating the cook, he put them to work washing dishes. That’s why you had paw prints on your plates this morning.” — The Commodore, September 15, 1971

 
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Overheard in the FreeZone

“People of Jewish race are the almost sole promoters of 1.1 stuff like Feminism, Gay Agenda, Communism, Freemasonry, and others, though the real creators of that are a small number of Illuminati. Illuminati create them, Jews promote them.”

 
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Past is Prologue

1996: Worldwide protests were held last weekend outside Scientology locations, and many of the protesters posted picket reports. Lance Buckley, London: “Immediately the clam band ‘Jive Aces’ (Who oddly enough are all Sea Org members, not CC) started playing. They wouldn’t stop for the rest of our visit there. Constantly pounding out ragtime to drown out the voices of picketers and hardly a 5 second break between numbers. It was exactly the same stuff as they played last time, but at least it was in a different order today. This was in conjunction with the usual ‘Say No To Drugs’ campaign they trot out to make us look pro-drug whenever we turn up. What they fail to realise is that their reputation is so bad that few people were falling for it. I’m happy to report that Scientology’s reputation is now so bad, and so well known, that the drug campaign has little effect on the public perception of our protest. Our banner consisted of photocopied headlines of the recent suicide of Richard Collins, UK scientologist, Nora Lottick, who also died recently under similar circumstances. A colour printout of the infamous ‘Cult of Greed’ Time cover, and things of that nature.”

 
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Random Howdy

“Jeez, does everybody around here have a sock except me?”

 
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Full Court Press: What we’re watching at the Underground Bunker

Criminal prosecutions:
— Danny Masterson charged for raping three women: Next hearing set for November 10. Trial tentatively scheduled for February.
— Jay and Jeff Spina, Medicare fraud: Jay sentenced to 9 years in prison. Jeff’s sentencing to be scheduled.
— Hanan and Rizza Islam and other family members, Medi-Cal fraud: Pretrial conference October 7 in Los Angeles
— David Gentile, GPB Capital, fraud: Next pretrial conference set for November 19.
— Joseph ‘Ben’ Barton, Medicare fraud: Pleaded guilty, awaiting sentencing.

Civil litigation:
— Luis and Rocio Garcia v. Scientology: Oral arguments were heard on July 30, 2020 at the Eleventh Circuit
— Valerie Haney v. Scientology: Forced to ‘religious arbitration.’ Petition to US Supreme Court submitted on May 26. Scientology responded on June 25.
— Chrissie Bixler et al. v. Scientology and Danny Masterson: California Supreme Court granted review on May 26 and asked the Second Appellate Division to direct Judge Steven Kleifield to show cause why he granted Scientology’s motion for arbitration. Oral arguments scheduled for Oct 5.
— Matt and Kathy Feschbach tax debt: Eleventh Circuit ruled on Sept 9 that Feshbachs can’t discharge IRS debt in bankruptcy. Dec 17: Feshbachs sign court judgment obliging them to pay entire $3.674 million tax debt, plus interest from Nov 19.
— Brian Statler Sr v. City of Inglewood: Third amended complaint filed, trial set for Nov 9, 2021.
— Author Steve Cannane defamation trial: Trial concluded, Cannane victorious, awarded court costs. Case appealed on Dec 23. Appeal hearing held Aug 23-27.

Concluded litigation:
— Dennis Nobbe, Medicare fraud, PPP loan fraud: Charged July 29. Bond revoked Sep 14. Nobbe dead, Sep 14.
— Jane Doe v. Scientology (in Miami): Jane Doe dismissed the lawsuit on May 15 after the Clearwater Police dropped their criminal investigation of her allegations.

 
——————–

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, including our four days in Los Angeles covering the preliminary hearing and its ruling, which has Danny facing trial and the potential sentence of 45 years to life in prison.

SCIENTOLOGY: FAIR GAME

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?

 
——————–
THE WHOLE TRACK

[ONE year ago] Scientologist chiro Nobbe: There’s an innocent explanation, judge. Prosecutors: No there isn’t.
[TWO years ago] Scientology reels in politicians and gets photo ops out of Hurricane Dorian
[THREE years ago] Sharp new memoir digs into Scientology’s toxic cruelty experienced by those who grow up in it
[FOUR years ago] Scientology’s newest infiltration — Rebecca Minkoff and Meghan Fialkoff at Nasdaq!
[FIVE years ago] SCIENTOLOGY DENIED: California Supreme Court rejects appeal in forced-abortion lawsuit
[SIX years ago] Back where it all started: Hoping to see you in Phoenix to talk Scientology then and now
[SEVEN years ago] Scientology’s secret plans for world domination — even better than the last time!
[EIGHT years ago] Scientology Sunday Funnies: Texas Memories, Valley Whales, and Top Secret Plans!
[TEN years ago] Hugh Urban: An Interview With the Professor Who Took on Scientology

 
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——————–

Posted by Tony Ortega on September 15, 2021 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, 1995-2020 Just starting out here? We’ve picked out the most important stories we’ve covered here at the Underground Bunker (2012-2020), 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

 One of our sources in Los Angeles told us recently that there was something odd going on with Scientology’s buildings there. Although street unrest has dissipated for weeks now, Scientology’s storefronts remain boarded up and some of them appear completely abandoned. At a time when orgs in London and Florida and Paris are boasting about [...]]]>

 
One of our sources in Los Angeles told us recently that there was something odd going on with Scientology’s buildings there. Although street unrest has dissipated for weeks now, Scientology’s storefronts remain boarded up and some of them appear completely abandoned. At a time when orgs in London and Florida and Paris are boasting about reopening, is there something going on in Los Angeles that we should know about? We asked Jeffrey Augustine if he’d take a look for us, and he sent us this report…

On June 7, twenty thousand protesters were on Scientology’s doorstep at its Test Center in Hollywood (see image above). What better time for Scientology to show that it could confront and shatter suppression, and to disseminate the wisdom of L. Ron Hubbard to the masses?

But instead of having Scientologists pass out bottles of water and copies of The Way to Happiness, Miscavige ordered that his real estate be boarded up. And weeks later, it’s like Scientology is still waiting for trouble, long after the street protests have ended.

 
Many of us here in Los Angeles have noticed that Scientology was staying boarded up. What’s up, Dave? Is LA finally losing out to Clearwater, Florida as the real stronghold of Scientology in America? We drove around to take a look at the state of the Hollywood-area Scientology Orgs.

The Test Center is still boarded up as tight as a tomb. There is not even a skeleton crew present. We saw not even one Scientologist security guard.

 
The bare plywood has been up for several weeks now and is beginning to decay under the summer sun. The plywood has been tagged with graffiti, and Scientology works to clean it up immediately. Nevertheless, it is unsightly:

 
The plywood on the N. McCadden Place side of the Test Center is beginning to warp and bow under the heat. The building is showing the early signs of dilapidation:

 
While about 30-40 percent of buildings on Hollywood Blvd. remain either boarded up or closed, most are small businesses that lack the financial reserves to reopen. They do not have Scientology’s deep-pocket reserves. Scientology doesn’t have that excuse.

 
At Author Services Inc. (L. Ron Hubbard’s literary agency, which oversees the publication of his fiction) the sign in front says temporarily closed:

 
The plywood on ASI is also showing wear and tear:

 
The Hollywood Guaranty Building at Hollywood and Ivar remains 70 percent boarded up. The L. Ron Hubbard Life Exhibition is not open to the public. Frankly, the HGB looks terrible:

 
Scientology normally takes great pride in its facilities. However, we’re sorry to say that the painted plywood on HGB main entrance looks like garbage:

 
The RTC entrance to the HGB has had the plywood barriers taken down. This suggests OSA and RTC are working up on the 10th and 11th floor:

 
Moving on in our excursion, we can state that Pac Base, a/k/a Big Blue, is a ghost town. The plywood has come down, but the place was deserted at midday under the beautiful blue summer sky…

 
L. Ron Hubbard Way was empty.

 
Despite rogue Scientologist attorney Leigh Dundas fighting mandatory masks and other scientifically-based COVID-19 mandates, David Miscavige’s diktat is in line with protocols and orders disinfection, handwashing, and social distancing. Pac Base follows social distancing guidelines to the point of placing orange safety cones in every other parking space of its empty parking lot. In this way, automobiles and their drivers are socially distanced. This is a good policy. However, there were no Scientologists present to observe the rule:

 
A Volunteer Minister tent has been erected in the parking lot of Pac Base but it was not staffed by anyone. This suggested to us a Scientology koan: How can something be done about it if there is nobody to do something about it?

 
The CCHR bus is parked. The ferry service to the Psychiatry: An Industry of Death museum is not needed at this time.

 
The Pac Base Lion wondered when, and if, there would be any raw meat wogs for him to devour in the near future. Judging from the looks of things around Scientology Hollywood the answer is no. Even the body routers who feed the lion are off the streets.

 
— Jeffrey Augustine

 
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Your proprietor on the airwaves

Another podcast, and more on the way. We’re in demand these days.

 
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Source Code

“You don’t have to know anything about electronics. You don’t have to be able to do one of these things, or make one, you just have to be able to run one….A retractor beam is used somewhat on the order that you bulldog a calf or rope a steer, or something of the sort. It’s to grab hold of something and hold it and pull it in….Why do men stay on Earth? Have you ever had a pc that gave you the idea that he was held down and was going to take root and grow? Have you ever had the idea that you’re sort of anchored in one spot? Did you ever feel heavy? Did you ever get up in the morning and feel tired? You get out of bed, you’re feeling all right, but the second you stand up you feel kind of tired. All you’re doing is kicking in one of these darn retractor somatics.” — L. Ron Hubbard, July 24, 1952

 
——————–

Overheard in the FreeZone

“Chris Shelton mainly has a voice because some higher profile ‘experts’ are supporting him. These guys have ‘important insider’ information on what happens only when the tech is squirreled and abused. Do they ever report all the successes? The one true expert on Scientology is LRH. He is the one to study and listen to.”

 
——————–

Random Howdy

“Just like with Esmeralda the Gypsy fortune teller proclaiming that her powers won’t work if non-believers are present, the same cautions exist within Scientology, as well as the rule that demonstrating OT powers to those on a lower gradient is an out-tech high crime. Ron knew the tricks on the spiritual bunco trade.”

 
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Full Court Press: What we’re watching at the Underground Bunker

Criminal prosecutions:
— Danny Masterson charged for raping three women: Arraignment scheduled for September 18.
— Jay Spina, Medicare fraud: Sentencing is set for August 27 in White Plains, NY
— Hanan and Rizza Islam and other family members, Medi-Cal fraud: Next pretrial conference set for Jan 12 in Los Angeles

Civil litigation:
— Luis and Rocio Garcia v. Scientology: Oral arguments set for August 30 at the Eleventh Circuit
— Valerie Haney v. Scientology: Forced to ‘religious arbitration.’ Hearing on motion for reconsideration set for August 11
— Chrissie Bixler et al. v. Scientology and Danny Masterson: Sept 4 (CSI/RTC demurrer against Riales, Masterson demurrer), Oct 7-19 (motions to compel arbitration)
— Jane Doe v. Scientology (in Miami): Jane Doe dismissed the lawsuit on May 15 after the Clearwater Police dropped their criminal investigation of her allegations.
— Matt and Kathy Feschbach bankruptcy appeal: Oral arguments were heard on March 11 in Jacksonville
— Brian Statler Sr v. City of Inglewood: Amended complaint filed, trial set for Nov 9, 2021

 
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Scientology’s celebrities, ‘Ideal Orgs,’ and more!

We’ve been building landing pages about David Miscavige’s favorite playthings, including celebrities and ‘Ideal Orgs,’ and we’re hoping you’ll join in and help us gather as much information as we can about them. Head on over and help us with links and photos and comments.

Scientology’s celebrities, from A to Z! Find your favorite Hubbardite celeb at this index page — or suggest someone to add to the list!

Scientology’s ‘Ideal Orgs,’ from one end of the planet to the other! Help us build up pages about each these worldwide locations!

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 our weekly series. How many have you read?

 
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THE WHOLE TRACK

[ONE year ago] Inside Scientology’s emergency San Fernando Valley confab, planning for US takeover
[TWO years ago] Scientology used an ice cream ‘date’ to run up $20,000 on senior’s credit cards
[THREE years ago] RAY JEFFREY TO JUDGE: ORDER RATHBUNS TO TURN OVER FINANCIAL RECORDS AND TESTIFY
[FOUR years ago] A billboard sprouts in Florida, and other Scientology chaos in our social media review
[FIVE years ago] Long before Xenu: Scientology’s actual origin story, as told by a former member
[SIX years ago] A lawsuit over counseling credentials now aims at the essence of Scientology
[SEVEN years ago] Scientology Continues to “Handle” the “Black PR” of Leah Remini’s Defection
[EIGHT years ago] Scientology Wins Appeal In Lawsuit Alleging Forced Labor and Forced Abortions

 
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——————–

Posted by Tony Ortega on July 24, 2020 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, 1995-2019 Just starting out here? We’ve picked out the most important stories we’ve covered here at the Underground Bunker (2012-2019), 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, 14 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

 As Tony pointed out on Tuesday, the stem cell therapy business is having a Wild West moment, and so it’s attracting shady Scientologists who want to get in on the action.

In fact, the first Scientologist to enter the stem cell treatment business was Matt Feshbach, a familiar name here at the Bunker, and a notable [...]]]>

 
As Tony pointed out on Tuesday, the stem cell therapy business is having a Wild West moment, and so it’s attracting shady Scientologists who want to get in on the action.

In fact, the first Scientologist to enter the stem cell treatment business was Matt Feshbach, a familiar name here at the Bunker, and a notable figure because he was among the first to go through the “Super Power” processes as a reward for making a $1 million donation to the church.

In 2013 Feshbach opened the Okyanos Heart Institute in The Bahamas. A 2014 press release claimed that the clinic would “bring a new standard of care and a better quality of life to patients with coronary artery disease using adult stem cell therapy.”

(Some stem cell therapy involves fetal cells contained in umbilical cord blood. Adult stem cells are extracted from belly fat by the use of liposuction.)

Feshbach’s partner in Okyanos was fellow Scientologist Manuel F. Vianna, formerly CFO at Condusiv Technologies (Diskeeper), a company founded and owned by major Scientologist donor Craig Jensen.

As we reported on our blog, Feshbach’s Okyanos was funded by a $14.2 million dollar investment from Iraqi Scientologist Ali Shawkat’s Passion Trust. Ali Shawkat’s father is Mudhar Shawjat, a former Member of Parliament in Iraq. The Shawkat investment in Okyanos came from $140 million the Shawkats had taken out of Iraq. The money was problematic for Appleby’s in London; the law firm initially refused to take the money but eventually signed off on it.

Despite the Shawkat money, Feshbach did not have an easy time setting up Okyanos in 2013. For some reason, Feshbach apparently did not inform the Bahamian minister of state for investments that he and his wife were going through a contentious bankruptcy, which has been the subject of several stories here at the Bunker. This is called a “withhold” in Scientology. The Nassau Guardian reported that Feshbach’s IRS problems came “in light of revelations.” Even as Feshbach was collecting $14.2 million in first round funding, Feshbach and his wife told the IRS in 2011 that their net worth was only $138,000. As Grand Bahama was passing a special set of laws to permit Feshbach’s venture to operate, the authorities there naturally had reasons to be concerned once they learned of Feshbach’s bankruptcy and massive IRS debt. In 2017 Feshbach sold Okyanos to a biotech investment firm for an undisclosed sum.

Feshbach opened a second stem cell business in Texas in 2018. He did so based on a new state law. Indeed, there was a stampede to get into the stem cell therapy business in Texas following the 2017 passage of “Charlie’s Law” (HB 810) which allows chronically and terminally ill people the right to opt for non-FDA approved treatments with adult stem cells. In her article published at medium.com Dr. Kirsten Matthews, a Fellow in Science and Technology Policy at Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy, reported on Charlie’s Law:

The new law, which takes effect September 2017, allows patients who are chronically ill access to experimental stem cell-based interventions (SCBI) and permits clinics to charge patients for their ‘costs.’ While the law seems like a huge win for patients, it might also hurt the same people it is trying to help by reducing their protections. In contrast, the new law does place the state of Texas in a position to more readily regulate clinics providing experimental SCBIs, closing down those which are fraudulent. In an article published in the Texas Heart Institute Journal, Dr. Iltis and I describe the risks associated with unregulated clinics offering unproven or experimental SCBI. The new Texas law would essentially circumvent the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and their Expanded Access Program (EAP), which regulates clinical trials and access to experimental therapies. It also bypasses many of the required ethical and informed consent rules required by the FDA…

Given “right to try” laws and the recent FDA setback in US Federal Court, the gold rush is on in the stem cell business in the US. It is therefore not surprising to see Grant Cardone working to translate his automotive sales training techniques into the stem cell business. Imagine the sales close: “What will it take to get you into this knee replacement treatment today and drive it off the lot?” The mind boggles.

We are compelled to say something additional about Scientologist Manuel Vianna. Even while he was working at Okyanos in The Bahamas, he also took a position as Managing Director of Scientologist-owned GPB Capital Holdings in New York. The alleged $1.8 billion dollar Ponzi scheme has been racked by a barrage of lawsuits and was raided by the FBI in February 2019. Shortly after the FBI raid, Vianna departed the firm for parts unknown. More recently, a lawsuit has revealed ties between GPB Capital and the daughters of the reputed Russian-Israeli mobster Michael Cherney via RDRD Holdings II. Manuel Vianna was there when Iraqi money went into Okyanos and Russian money from Michael Cherney’s daughters went into GPB Capital Holdings via RDRD Holdings. We’re looking into this.

Although Scientologists claim that they are “the most ethical beings on the planet,” time and again we find them involved in questionable business practices or outright fraud. And the unregulated world of stem cell clinics is right in line with the goals of Scientology, which are…

1. Make large sums of money by selling Church of Scientology-licensed L. Ron Hubbard “business technology” courses to dentists, chiropractors, veterinarians, and other professionals. Long-time Scientologists and IAS Mega Patrons Luis Colon and Dr. Greg Winteregg of MGE Management Experts have the largest such sales training program at present. Grant Cardone looks to be positioning to enter MGE’s training market via the Wild West that is stem cell treatments in America.

2.Use Hubbard-based business technology as a way to recruit and convert dentists, chiropractors, veterinarian clients into Scientologists, and also to burnish Hubbard’s image for the world.

Until the government steps in to do something about it, we’ll keep calling out Scientologists for their sleazy moneymaking ways.

— Jeffrey Augustine

 
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Ask a Scientologist!

Here’s a question that came in to askascientologist@tonyortega.org, and we thought Dylan Gill would be the best person to answer it. If you have a question for one of our many experts, please send it in!

How does someone get assigned to work for CST in one of the vaults?

The process is really weird. I had worked on several missions to “man up” orgs, and to send people to Int Base, and so I knew what it was like. You didn’t tell people why you were looking at them, you just put them through tailored sec checks and made sure they were squeaky clean. Then, that happened to me: I was sent to Los Angeles and I went through six months of auditing actions, I did the Purif again, I got sec checks. And when you’re going through those quals you feel so guilty, you feel like a criminal — they go through everything you ever said that’s in your folders. But it’s also a complete mystery: You know you’re going to be promoted to Int or somewhere ( because of the people making sure your cycle is moving), but you don’t know where you’re going until they drive you there the first day. Why did I and my (then) wife get picked for CST? Well, I know they were looking for couples. Because CST is completely separated, and they wanted caretakers who were going to be on their own. A lot of the people sent up to CST were couples. And because it was CST, we had to sign a bunch more non-disclosure agreements and we had to understand that we were technically no longer in the Sea Org — I had been a Messenger and now my Messenger status no longer applied. And then, when I got sent to CST, I just disappeared in the middle of the night.

— Dylan Gill

 
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Bonus items from our tipsters

What a Mickey Mouse operation…

 
Things are humming in Scotland…

Need a job, part 2…

 
——————–

Source Code

“There’s a population explosion going on and I wish to Christ somebody would inform me how men are far scarcer in l972 than I ever found them in 325 B.C. How could they expend them back then? I remember around the turn of the millennia and so on, there were just mobs unemployed. Well, right now they keep them all that way with relief and dough and this and that and the other thing, and they’ve got some workable scheme or another. One of the silly ones which you hear, we did a survey, we did a survey on people, what they liked and so on, just a general survey in the Scandinavian area, and we found what they liked best was welfare and what they hated most was taxes. Oh, brother. Outpoint to end all outpoints.” — L. Ron Hubbard, March 5, 1972

 
——————–

Overheard in the FreeZone

“We are still in kindergarten. The US government doesn’t believe in theta traps and we have no OTs so far. It is a work in progress. The ‘Free Being’ OTs of the 50s all collapsed within months without any aid from the US government. LRH observed that instant OTs collapsed rapidly and thus the decision to educate. It is a far longer path than he envisioned and it was only near the end of his life that he realized that it was much longer and even then he underestimated the work involved.”

 
——————–

Random Howdy

“Seeing as how Scientology is the only ‘religion’ that doesn’t have theologians, there’s no worry about theological inconsistency. As far as plot-holes in the story go, the one thing that keeps them in is this steadfast assertion that they have observed auditing and the rest of the tech to actually work. If they can’t get past this and realize they have been tricking themselves, then at best they’ll be indies/FZ for the rest of their lives.”

 
——————–

Full Court Press: What we’re watching at the Underground Bunker

Criminal prosecutions:
— Jay Spina: Sentencing set for April 3 in White Plains
— Hanan and Rizza Islam and other family members: Trial set for April 14 in Los Angeles

Civil litigation:
— Luis and Rocio Garcia v. Scientology: Waiting for an appellate decision from the Eleventh Circuit
— Valerie Haney v. Scientology: Forced to ‘religious arbitration.’ (Valerie’s options.)
— Chrissie Bixler et al. v. Scientology: March 11 (plaintiff attorneys pro hac vice, defense motions to quash), March 20 (demurrers by Masterson and Scientology), March 27 (motions to compel arbitration)
— Jane Doe v. Scientology (in Miami): Jane Doe’s attorneys have asked for discovery, April 20 hearing set (motion to compel arbitration)
— Matt and Kathy Feschbach bankruptcy appeal: Oral arguments on March 11 in Jacksonville
— Brian Statler Sr v. City of Inglewood: Complaint filed.

 
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Start making your plans…

 
Head over to the convention website and meet us in St. Louis!

 
——————–

Scientology’s celebrities, ‘Ideal Orgs,’ and more!

We’ve been building landing pages about David Miscavige’s favorite playthings, including celebrities and ‘Ideal Orgs,’ and we’re hoping you’ll join in and help us gather as much information as we can about them. Head on over and help us with links and photos and comments.

Scientology’s celebrities, from A to Z! Find your favorite Hubbardite celeb at this index page — or suggest someone to add to the list!

Scientology’s ‘Ideal Orgs,’ from one end of the planet to the other! Help us build up pages about each these worldwide locations!

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 our weekly series. How many have you read?

 
——————–

THE WHOLE TRACK

[ONE year ago] What’s creepier than a Scientology street fair? Apparently, not much.
[TWO years ago] Scientology turning to focus groups in anticipation of its TV ‘network’ premiering
[THREE years ago] Scientology’s Narconon rehabs haven’t changed in the least, even after dozens of lawsuits
[FOUR years ago] Outfront Media rescinds contract for Scientology ‘disconnection’ billboard in Hollywood
[FIVE years ago] ‘Will Smith is not a Scientologist’ — we elaborate on our quote the press went wild for yesterday
[SIX years ago] Larry Anderson: Scientology’s pitchman becomes a Bunker regular
[SEVEN years ago] Today, You Begin Your Training as a Scientologist
[EIGHT years ago] Paulette Cooper, With Help From the Voice, Discovers Her Heartrending Past
[NINE years ago] Daniel Montalvo Hits Scientology With Stunning Child Labor Lawsuits

 
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——————–

Posted by Tony Ortega on March 5, 2020 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, 1995-2019 Just starting out here? We’ve picked out the most important stories we’ve covered here at the Underground Bunker (2012-2019), 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, 14 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

 Monday night, the Washington Post uncorked a stunning investigation based on a whistleblower’s confidential report to the IRS. The report, written by a former employee of a subsidiary of the Mormon church, claimed that the church has, in violation of its tax exempt status, amassed a fortune of $100 billion. And instead of making expenditures [...]]]>

 
Monday night, the Washington Post uncorked a stunning investigation based on a whistleblower’s confidential report to the IRS. The report, written by a former employee of a subsidiary of the Mormon church, claimed that the church has, in violation of its tax exempt status, amassed a fortune of $100 billion. And instead of making expenditures of that money for charitable purposes, it’s been using the money to bolster the church’s for-profit enterprises.

We wrote up a quick rundown of the story, and pointed out that the $100 billion represented about $6,667 for each of the 15 million members of the Mormon church. With about $3 billion in reserve, Scientology has a far higher per capita bloat, at about $150,000 per member, assuming a membership of only about 20,000. Will the IRS do anything about either of these organizations amassing such huge fortunes, violating their tax exempt status? For more thoughts on the Washington Post’s bombshell, Jeffrey Augustine penned this piece for us.

 
Situated on the outskirts of Salt Lake City, Ensign Peak is considered a sacred site by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. A few days after arriving in Salt Lake, Brigham Young and other early LDS leaders “raised an ensign to the nations” to signify that this land, its people, and their church would become a beacon unto the nations. A stone monument was erected atop Ensign Peak to signify this event in Mormon history.

 
LDS historian Leonard Arrington (1917-1999) titled his important 1958 study of 19th century Mormon economics Great Basin Kingdom. Arrington’s fascinating study details the many mistakes LDS leaders in Salt Lake City made in their efforts to become self-sustaining financially, agriculturally, and in every other way. Flush with cash from settlers passing through Salt Lake on their way to California’s gold rush country, the Mormons made some very costly and bad investments in hard rock mining, furniture manufacturing, and trying to grow cotton in the arid climate. The Mormon efforts at financial matters were so ineffectual that by the turn of the century the great majority of millionaires in Utah were non-Mormons. In 1900 most Mormons in Salt Lake City were farmers and small business owners. Very few Mormons had any real money. The Church itself was a few million dollars in debt. 1900 was also the year when Mormon President Lorenzo Snow made 10 percent tithing mandatory.

What a difference 119 years of mandatory tithing and systematic investing has made for the Mormons. If we accept the $100 billion number furnished by former Ensign Peak Advisor employee and whistleblower David A. Nielsen — and I certainly accept this number as credible — then the Mormons have averaged $840 million a year in income since 1900. Granted, the number is weighted from the 1980’s forward, but we use an average to make a point: In the Church of Scientology’s 69 years of existence, it has compiled what is believed to be about $3 billion dollars. This averages to $43 million a year; a mere fraction of the money amassed each year by the LDS. In purely economic terms, this makes an argument for a 10 percent tithe being much more lucrative for a Church over time (and much more manageable for its members) than the destructive and wanton wholesale plunder of its membership undertaken by the Church of Scientology. A 10 percent tithe allows for Church leaders and members to manage their finances on a predictable basis, this as opposed to the Scientology insanity which demands more money this week than last week when Thursday at 2:00 pm rolls around.

The recent Washington Post story that the LDS-owned Ensign Peak Advisers was holding a breathtaking $100 billion in cash certainly proved to be a beacon of unwanted attention for the Mormon leadership. In yesterday’s Deseret News, LDS leaders disputed the astronomical figure and argued that the Mormon Leaks of 2017 placed the number closer to $32 billion. A 2012 study by Reuters placed the number at $40 billion.

As reported by KUTV, the Mormon Leaks of 2017 provided documentation about 13 for-profit businesses with ties to the Mormon Church:

Ashmore Wealth Management LLT, valued at $1.9 billion
Argyll Research LLC, valued at $446 million
Clifton Park Capital Management, LLC, valued at $881 million
Cortland Advisers LLC, valued at $2.2 billion
Elkfork Partners LLC, valued at $3.7 billion
Flinton Capital Management LLC, valued at $2.9 billion
Glen Harbor Capital Management LLC, valued at $4.4 billion

The new leak by David A. Nielsen has revealed Ensign Peak Advisors as the staggering non-profit treasure house of the Mormon faith. No one really knows how much money is in the Great Basin Kingdom. I think the figure far exceeds $100 billion from all sources.

Over at my blog, I wrote a story that referred to an image of a check that Tony had posted here. It was a refund check the Church of Scientology sent to Efrem Logreira. I researched the check and found that it was drawn on a Scientology bank account in a Mormon-controlled bank that is part of the larger Mormon-controlled Zions Bancorporation.

 
Zions Bancorporation is not without its scandals. In 2011, the bank was fined $8 million for violating US laws related to anti-money laundering and bank secrecy laws. FinCen cited 132 suspicious offshore wire transfers into Zions’ offshore entities totaling $12.3 billion. That the Church of Scientology banks with the Mormons is one of those things that makes Scientology-watching so interesting at times.

People have called me to ask if I think the IRS will do anything about this massive Mormon cash hoard. My answer: No. Given the political dynamics of impeachment and the upcoming 2020 election, the US Congress cannot afford to take on the LDS Church and thereby offend the large religious voting blocs — and this is particularly true in swing states.

All of the religious groups in America have a vested interest in protecting religious tax exemption. While the Evangelicals may damn the Mormons for not believing in the doctrine of the Trinity, both the Evangelicals and the Mormons agree that the IRS should not be allowed to even so much as look askance at their respective mountains of cash or how they spend their money.

This speaks to the larger issue of religion in America and its incredible power and privileges. From my perspective, the next victim of Religion Inc. in America will be the Johnson Amendment of 1947. If the Supreme Court topples this act — and Trump has certainly vowed to destroy it many times — then Religion Inc. will be allowed to spend its money on elections and candidates.

God help us if this happens.

— Jeffrey Augustine

 
——————–

Leaked document of the day

From the Valley Ideal Org documents release comes this item.

Another liability program, with another Scientologist trying to convince the church to let her back in the good graces through all of the sacrifices she’s been making.

Ethics Section LA Org
[name redacted]
20 January 2016

Advertisement

Condition of Liability

1. My friends are Scientologists that are on the Bridge. People that are not reasonable about ethics and apply the principles from The Way to Happiness. My friends apply tech and Scientology and get and receive help when they falter. They are not reasonable.

2. I reported and got one of my friends in to ethics to handle out ethics regarding drinking and promiscuity on the second dynamic. This is someone that I am really close to and have been reasonable in the past, and I risked her being very upset with me. She ended up doing an Ethics program and got this handled.

I’ve been trying to recover someone that I have had on my lines for a very long time into the Org for services. He hadn’t stepped into an org for 6 years and refused to. This could have cost me the comm line. I scheduled a Chaplin cycle with him and got him routed onto a course. I ended up getting him onto the HAS course that I am twinning with him on, even though I couldn’t afford it and didn’t have the time. I arranged this to happen and get my kids watched by someone to be able to do this.

There is this girl I that I have had on my lines that is very promiscuous and drinks and parties a lot. She isn’t a Scientologist and ended up watching the Going Clear documentary. She has created a lot of enturbulation for my family. She’s done some Life Improvement courses, but I spoke with her and got her to schedule a time to meet with a Chaplain at an org. I have spoken with the Chaplin and even confronted her parents, which was very difficult so this gets handled immediately and she can get her ethics in. She has agreed to do this.

3. I helped a man who wants to join Inglewood staff but has a lot of debt with high interest and high minimum payments. I went through his options on how to handle this so it was no longer a PTP for him and he ended up joining staff at Inglewood.

I handled some backlog in Div 6, I did four hours of work in that area and addressed hundreds of envelops which normally is something that the S.O. members do, this freed up some of that time and the back log so they were able to focus on starts for the week.

I donated to three raw public so that they could start Div 6 courses, they were reaching and had no money to actually start a course.

I heped get two young NOI boys started on Life Improvement Courses, they were totally raw public, and excited to get the data.

I spent six hours setting up for the Finish the Ride event. I went to the park and got together all the tables, snacks, risers, bags, and everything else that was needed to set up this event.

I did three hours of call in to confirm public for an event that was being held by 6C as well as confirming the volunteers from the Finish the Ride Event.

I worked with the D/ED and focused and helped get starts for two weeks, I ended up doing anything needed to get 5 public routed and started onto services at LA Org.

I pushed through and got a public totally routed and paid for Power and Power Plus at ASHO, they had no intention or money to start, and I helped with the logistics and did everything necessary to make this happen.

 
——————–

Source Code

“Let’s take the ant kingdom. The ants have been granted beingness. The ants themselves are not a beingness — that is, an independent beingness, such as a thetan. And here we get an oddity; we get an oddity in behavior in terms of ants. You go around and trifle with an ant. As a thetan, you go around and you start pushing around an ant: put a beam through his head, short-circuit out some of the working parts, make him walk in small circles, and you immediately start getting this, the idea that there’s something someplace that is getting awfully mad at you. Funny, isn’t it?” — L. Ron Hubbard, December 18, 1953

 
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Overheard in the FreeZone

“Everyone’s postulates work. They are all working. Old postulates, present time postulates, and future postulates. Problem is, people don’t always know what their postulates are, they are busy convincing themselves that their latest show is the ‘true me’ to the point they don’t even realize they are lying about their own postulates. It isn’t about changing reality according to your will, that is just a side show for an OT showing off when done overtly. When done covertly, it is just painting a false picture around a person by feeding them false information. Future is determined by individual and individual+majority placing their agreed upon ideas of the future there. Individuals mostly not know what their postulates are, many exceptions to this of course, and also they not know that their first postulate is not know. You have to be able to not-know that you are not knowing in order to keep the game (with all its random factors) of life in motion.”

 
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Random Howdy

“I think it’s safe to say at this point in the proceedings that the reason things are so bad in the unchurch of Scientology aren’t due merely to Miscavige being dumb or incompetent. It’s obvious that he is a purposeful sadist who actively enjoys plotting new ways to torment his captive flock. He’s King Joffery, he’s Ivan the Terrible. He’s freaking nuts.”

 
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Scientology’s celebrities, ‘Ideal Orgs,’ and more!

We’ve been building landing pages about David Miscavige’s favorite playthings, including celebrities and ‘Ideal Orgs,’ and we’re hoping you’ll join in and help us gather as much information as we can about them. Head on over and help us with links and photos and comments.

Scientology’s celebrities, from A to Z! Find your favorite Hubbardite celeb at this index page — or suggest someone to add to the list!

Scientology’s ‘Ideal Orgs,’ from one end of the planet to the other! Help us build up pages about each these worldwide locations!

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 our weekly series. How many have you read?

 
——————–

THE WHOLE TRACK

[ONE year ago] Leah Remini asks ‘Where is Shelly’ as the Church of Scientology turns 65!
[TWO years ago] When love triumphs over Scientology: A fairy tale of New York for the holidays
[THREE years ago] Oh look, Scientology started a blog, and it already won an award
[FOUR years ago] Compton scam rehab clinic definitely a Church of Scientology operation, witnesses say
[FIVE years ago] Rick Ross has a new book that will help you get someone out of Scientology
[SIX years ago] Happy Birthday, Church of Scientology!
[SEVEN years ago] Joel Sappell Finds Former Scientology Enforcer Marty Rathbun To Be a Reluctant Whistleblower
[EIGHT years ago] Scientology Sunday Funnies: In the Sea Org at 18 and on Top of the World!

 
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——————–

Posted by Tony Ortega on December 18, 2019 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, 1995-2018 Just starting out here? We’ve picked out the most important stories we’ve covered here at the Underground Bunker (2012-2018), 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, 14 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

Jeffrey Augustine reminds us what the Scientology Volunteer Ministers are really all about now that they have more publicity opportunities in California…

With the incredibly destructive, lethal, and unprecedented wildfires in California, Scientology’s ambulance chasing Volunteer Ministers have been out in front of the cameras getting their photo ops. [...]]]>

Jeffrey Augustine reminds us what the Scientology Volunteer Ministers are really all about now that they have more publicity opportunities in California…

With the incredibly destructive, lethal, and unprecedented wildfires in California, Scientology’s ambulance chasing Volunteer Ministers have been out in front of the cameras getting their photo ops. For years, we’ve been documenting here at the Bunker how the VMs descend on disaster scenes pretending to be helpful when all they really want to do is get in the way and take their pictures and videos.

We were reminded of that when we saw a post that showed up in the comments here about Chico, California, where people are dealing with the apocalyptic Camp Fire.

 
Scientology leader David Miscavige for many years claimed that the Volunteer Ministers were the “world’s largest independent all volunteer relief force.”

After so much exposure of Scientology’s Volunteer Ministers by critics, however, Scientology has had to backpedal on that claim and downgrade it to stating that the “Volunteer Ministers have emerged as one of the largest independent relief forces on Earth.” However, even this downgraded statement is not true as the Volunteer Ministers are not independent in any way whatsoever. Rather, the VMs are a part of the Church of Scientology International and the VM program is wholly managed by CSI officials. The domain for the Volunteer Ministers is registered to the Church of Scientology.

Given the inherent evasiveness of the Church of Scientology we must ask what the Volunteer Ministers are from a legal perspective. For example, in my previous articles I have covered how the Sea Org does not actually exist in any legal sense. Do the Volunteer Ministers actually exist?

For answers we first turn the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). Searching for “Volunteer Ministers” we learn that the actual copyrighted term is “Scientology Volunteer Minister.” We further learn that the trademark is owned by the Religious Technology Center. RTC has two separate trademarks on the term. It is in the trademark language where we learn the Scientology Volunteer Ministers exist specifically to promulgate the Scientology religious services.

1. The first USPTO trademark shows that Scientology Volunteer Ministers exist to deliver Scientology religious services, classes, and pastoral counseling; we note that these services are equally trademarked and copyrighted by RTC:

 
2. The second USPTO claims shows the religious nature of the Volunteer Ministers. From a legal perspective, then, it is impossible for Scientology to claim that its VMs are either independent or nonsectarian in nature given RTC’s legal filing information with the United States Patent and Trademark Office:

 
The reason we cite trademark information is to put the lie to the claims Scientology’s Volunteer Ministers that they are at disaster scenes merely to offer humanitarian assistance. On the contrary, the express intent of the VMs is to appear at the scenes of disasters in order to introduce Scientology principles and practices – and to introduce them to psychologically vulnerable disaster victims.

The Volunteer Ministers exist for the purposes of public relations and the dissemination of Scientology. Any volunteer work the VMs do is not based upon altruism. Likewise, the Church of Scientology is not altruistic inasmuch as it makes its VMs pay their own expenses. As a result, VMs engage in fundraising and asking for supplies to be donated. The VMs are on their own when it comes to money; the Mother Church does not pay any expenses. However, the Church wants all of the VMs PR photos and will send out teams from Scientology Media Productions to do location filming and photography.

At the Volunteer Minister website we see the photo below in which the charts on the wall of the VM tent show a diagram of the Reactive Mind and engrams and promote the Scientology Volunteer Minister program. The photos also show a Volunteer Minister sharing information with police officers from the L. Ron Hubbard book entitled The Cause of Suppression:

 
The yellow tents used by Scientology’s Volunteer Ministers are all based upon a specification in which every VM tent must feature a front sign which reads “Something Can Be Done About It.” This is the official slogan of the Volunteer Ministers. The specification also calls for promotional posters of L. Ron Hubbard and Scientology to be affixed to the walls of the tent as we see in this photo. Hubbard is ubiquitous in Scientology and his visage must even be in the tents at disasters:

 
If one is interested in Scientology and wants to learn more, the VM website sells the Scientology handbook for $100 USD:

 
$100 is an outrageous price for this Scientology doorstop. A used copy of the book can be had for $7.21 on eBay:

 
At the next major event, Miscavige will tell his followers that the Volunteer Ministers provided crucial aid for Californians affected by the fires. But the VMs are only effective when they are spreading the good word about Scientology itself.

 
—Jeffrey Augustine

 
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Scientology’s celebrities and ‘Ideal Orgs’ — now with comments!

We’re building landing pages about David Miscavige’s favorite playthings, including celebrities and ‘Ideal Orgs.’ We’re hoping you’ll join in and help us gather as much information as we can about them, in order to build a record and maintain a watch as Scientology continues its inexorable decline — and yes, we finally have comments working on these new pages! Head on over and help us with links and photos and comments.

Scientology’s celebrities, from A to Z! Find your favorite Hubbardite celeb at this index page — or suggest someone to add to the list!

Scientology’s ‘Ideal Orgs,’ from one end of the planet to the other! Help us build up pages about each these worldwide locations!

Today’s ‘Ideal Advanced Org’: ASHO/AOLA/Pacifica Bridge, California!

 
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Now on sale: Twice the Miss Lovely!

 
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. What a pleasure it is for us to work with her on this after we wrote about her ordeal as a victim of Scientology’s “Fair Game” campaigns in our 2015 book, The Unbreakable Miss Lovely: How the Church of Scientology tried to destroy Paulette Cooper, which is also on sale in paperback, Kindle, and audiobook versions.

 
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THE WHOLE TRACK

[ONE year ago] Most remote large city in the world won’t be overlooked by Scientology’s zeal to be ‘ideal’
[TWO years ago] EXCLUSIVE: See the letter Scientology sent to scare A&E out of airing Leah Remini’s series
[THREE years ago] ‘Babywatch,’ day one: Lisa McPherson raves out by Scientology’s holiest swimming pool
[FOUR years ago] L. Ron Hubbard, deadbeat dad ALSO: Former members of Scientology show off their stuff
[FIVE years ago] The Oiliness Table, For Real! A Look Inside Scientology’s Super Power Building
[SIX years ago] LA’s Sheriff Lee Baca and Simpsons Actress Nancy Cartwright Shill for Scientology

 
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Posted by Tony Ortega on November 19, 2018 at 07:00

E-mail tips and story ideas to tonyo94 AT gmail DOT com or follow us on Twitter. We post behind-the-scenes 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 book, 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, 1995-2017 Just starting out here? We’ve picked out the most important stories we’ve covered here at the Undergound Bunker (2012-2017), The Village Voice (2008-2012), New Times Los Angeles (1999-2002) and the Phoenix New Times (1995-1999)

Learn about Scientology with our numerous series with experts…

BLOGGING DIANETICS: We read Scientology’s founding text cover to cover with the help of L.A. attorney and former church member Vance Woodward
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

Other links: Shelly Miscavige, ten 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

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