Last August we started this countdown because we wanted to shine a light on the non-Scientologists who help keep Scientology in business, and who end up enabling Scientology’s worst abuses.

Along the way we’ve touched on various attorneys and private eyes and businesses that help church leader David Miscavige [...]]]>

Last August we started this countdown because we wanted to shine a light on the non-Scientologists who help keep Scientology in business, and who end up enabling Scientology’s worst abuses.

Along the way we’ve touched on various attorneys and private eyes and businesses that help church leader David Miscavige maintain his control over this multi-billion dollar enterprise, and who protect him from investigations, lawsuits, and prosecutions.

Many of you anticipated who was going to end up in the top spot. There’s simply no question that the number one reason Scientology is still ripping apart families, extorting the elderly, forcing young women to have abortions, and generally treating its employees (even children) as indentured servants is that the US federal government doesn’t do a damn thing about it.

As Lawrence Wright explained so well in the movie Going Clear, Scientology is protected because a bunch of accountants at the Internal Revenue Service determined in 1993 that Scientology was a legitimate nonprofit religious organization that deserved tax exempt status.

That gives Scientology, and Miscavige personally, a powerful shield against investigations and lawsuits, as we’ve seen time and again over the years.

When is the government going to act? In 2017 there was an intriguing lead: Huffington Post writer Yashar Ali reported that a close Trump aide, Lynne Patton, had told Leah Remini privately that she had watched Leah’s show with the Trumps and that the new president was interested in revoking the church’s tax exempt status.

With Jeffrey Augustine’s help, we then pointed out that if this were true, Trump could have his Treasury Secretary, Steven Mnuchin, ask the IRS to initiate an investigation of Scientology’s exempt status.

That never happened, and Patton’s claim was never confirmed. Also, we’ve pointed out that for years the IRS, led by Commissioner Charles Rettig since 2018, has been decimated by Congress with budget cuts and was hardly in a position to initiate the kind of years-long, bruising battle that an investigation of Scientology would result in.

Will there be a difference with another new president? There are early indications that Biden wants to beef up the IRS and increase its auditing strength. That’s perhaps a move in the right direction. Also, we can’t help remembering that the three previous major federal investigations of Scientology — in 1963 by the FDA, and in 1977 and 2009 by the FBI — were all under Democratic administrations. Is that a reason to believe that the Biden administration would be interested in an IRS audit of David Miscavige? We don’t know.

We completely understand why ordinary citizens take it upon themselves to write countless petitions asking the IRS to investigate Scientology, or submit personal reports to the agency, hoping that the government simply needs to hear about Scientology’s abuses before it can act.

But that’s just not the case. The US government is fully cognizant of Scientology’s true nature, and has been for more than 50 years. The government knows that Scientology is in violation of its secret IRS agreement, and that it uses criminal methods to enforce its rules and extort its members. Evidence is not what the government lacks. It’s political will.

The IRS is only one part of the problem, however. The other federal agency with the power to do something about Scientology’s abuses is the Department of Justice, under the attorney general. Your proprietor has personal knowledge that federal investigators have been interested in Scientology’s crimes, and some of the people we have profiled here, such as elderly victims of financial extortion, have been interviewed by federal agents in the last few years.

Based on those investigations that we have personal knowledge of (and assuming that there are perhaps many others that we don’t know about) we believed there was a significant chance that under the Trump administration the Department of Justice might make a move. But again, it didn’t happen. There’s now a new attorney general, Merrick Garland, under a new president. He inherits a law enforcement apparatus that has sat on its hands regarding Scientology for decades now.

Does a new sheriff in town mean that the investigations we know have been taking place will actually result in some charges?

We try to remain optimistic, at least because we know so many victims of Scientology, each of whom deserves justice. But until this government acts, Merrick Garland and his counterpart at the IRS, Charles Rettig, will remain at the top of our list of Scientology enablers.

 
The Top 25 People Enabling Scientology

1: The feds
2: Monique Yingling

 
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Jon Atack and Ed Stratton

“Ron Hubbard probably got the idea of the anti-social personality from Hervey Cleckley. Ed and Jon talk about the original list, Robert Hare’s update, Hubbard’s points and Jon’s model of the human predator.”

 
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Source Code

“The first time you ask your preclear, ‘Now let’s go out across the country until we find a sawmill running. All right, now step into the buzz saw.’ He’s going to say gulp. It’s going to astonish him. But you’d be surprised what happens to him when he finds out he can do just that. He’s going to realize all of a sudden that there he is. He can be anything. Well, if he can be anything then he can have an unlimited number of viewpoints. If he can have an unlimited number of viewpoints, then he can know anything, can’t he? Well, if it’s written down, he can certainly be in the middle of a book at the library and read it. Well, that’s very easy. Or if somebody knows it at that time, he can go pick that somebody’s brains. That’s right. Read somebody’s mind.” — L. Ron Hubbard, April 24, 1953

 
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Avast, Ye Mateys

“It is NOT hygienic to leave damp towels flung DOWN on bunks when they should be hung UP to air; it is NOT hygienic to have dirty sheets left on unoccupied bunks. It is NOT good to have those areas emmesty and NOT squared up and looking decent and clean. Therefore, all occupants of men’s and women’s dorms may expect a thorough inspection tomorrow forenoon, Saturday.” — W/O Bob Prior, April 24, 1970

 
——————–

Overheard in the FreeZone

“To knowingly reg for money when you are not qualified to properly deliver materials is fraud, plain and simple. I am asking for $5,000 for the L11 I thought I was purchasing from someone I thought was qualified but is not. Just the fact that he is so controversial says something. The controversy was all before me. I trusted someone who is untrustworthy and now he laughs at me. What does that say? We are talking ethics here. Don’t sell things you can’t deliver. I don’t care how cheap, that’s not the point this is spiritually altering material. It doesn’t belong in the hands of people untrained to deliver. It’s not an argument of cost or ‘oh he gives good deals.’ The fact that he did wheel and deal so easily made me suspicious because an auditor should know their worth. I should have made a better decision based on that red flag. I accept that I continued with him on the L but I assumed he was qualified. If I am representing Spiritual material I wouldn’t rob you. Know what you are buying, look at certifications, research everything you can before laying down money because in the end just like with me. They laugh at you and create lies and justifications of their thievery. That’s what thieves do. Who in their right mind delights in playing detrimental games with people?”

 
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Past is Prologue

1999: Grady Ward posted a letter to Scientology lawyer Tom Hogan this week, in which he rescinded his settlement agreement. “This letter is to give notice to your client that I elect under California Civil Code 1689(b) to rescind the settlement contract that you believe we entered into on May 12, 1998. Pursuant to California Civil Code 1691, I hereby offer to return to you all consideration given me such as forbearance of any claim(s) in the district court for alleged copyright infringement, upon condition that you likewise return or void all consideration that I have tendered to you such as the $200 monthly payments, order and consent to judgment and permanent injunction. Your client, R.T.C. and its attorneys have shown a clear intention to dishonor the settlement negotiations entered into between us by repeatedly breaching the contract’s implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing by wrongfully trying to deprive me of the very income I need to pay the $200 a month sum owed to you for life specified in the May 12, 1998 settlement negotiations. At least twice Marty Rathbun, a member of the board of RTC and a principal in the May 12, 1998 settlement negotiations has tried tortiously and in bad faith to interfere with my employment with Robert S. Minton and F.A.C.T.Net even though there was no justifiable reason to do so.”

 
——————–

Random Howdy

“You can’t even receive auditing if you’re engaged in other ‘spiritual’ practices like meditation. The whole ‘other religions are OK with us’ is demonstrably false.”

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

Criminal prosecutions:
— Danny Masterson charged for raping three women: Preliminary hearing set for May 18.
— 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: Trial scheduled for May 20 in Los Angeles
— David Gentile, GPB Capital, fraud: Pretrial conference set for Apr 29.

Civil litigation:
— Luis and Rocio Garcia v. Scientology: Oral arguments were heard on July 30 at the Eleventh Circuit
— Valerie Haney v. Scientology: Forced to ‘religious arbitration.’ Petition for writ of mandate denied Oct 22 by Cal 2nd Appellate District. Petition for review by state supreme court denied Dec 11.
— Chrissie Bixler et al. v. Scientology and Danny Masterson: Dec 30, Judge Kleifield granted Scientology’s motions to compel arbitration. June 7: Status conference.
— 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: Second 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 24.

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.

 
——————–

SCIENTOLOGY BLACK OPS: Tom Cruise and dirty tricks

The Australian Seven News network cancelled a 10-part investigation of Scientology and its history of dirty tricks. Read the transcripts of the episodes and judge for yourself why Tom Cruise and Tommy Davis might not have wanted viewers to see this hard-hitting series by journalist Bryan Seymour.

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’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] Raising money in the time of the virus: Scientology will always find a way!
[TWO years ago] It’s an anniversary of shame for Scientology: Will they go for a repeat?
[THREE years ago] Scientologist pair running for office double down on their denials about church involvement
[FOUR years ago] Nan McLean in 1973: Rare Scientology documentary goes online, and it rocks
[FIVE years ago] Texas Supreme Court asks for Monique Rathbun’s response to Scientology’s petition
[SIX years ago] Scientology opens a new ‘Ideal Org’ in Basel this weekend — nearly a year after its last one
[SEVEN years ago] Scientology’s drug rehab hit with another lawsuit; Laura D asked to turn over computer
[EIGHT years ago] Claire Headley Tells Us How to Keep Scientology Working
[NINE years ago] Charges Dropped Against Scientology Executive Jan Eastgate

 
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Posted by Tony Ortega on April 24, 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

 [NOTE: Don’t miss yesterday afternoon’s breaking news about the Danny Masterson case.]

We’re now at the point in our countdown when we reach the non-Scientologists who Scientology leader David Miscavige relies on the most to keep him out of trouble.

One of Dave’s problems is that the media keeps wanting to ask him difficult questions. For a [...]]]>

 
[NOTE: Don’t miss yesterday afternoon’s breaking news about the Danny Masterson case.]

We’re now at the point in our countdown when we reach the non-Scientologists who Scientology leader David Miscavige relies on the most to keep him out of trouble.

One of Dave’s problems is that the media keeps wanting to ask him difficult questions. For a short time, Dave experimented with trying to manhandle the press. From about 2006 to 2011 he trotted out young upstart Tommy Davis to be an aggressive spokesperson, thinking for some reason that trying to get tough with reporters was a smart way to deal with controversy.

As our readers know well, that strategy backfired badly. Tommy’s antics, whether it was walking out of an interview with ABC’s Martin Bashir, getting into a shouting match with the BBC’s John Sweeney, lying like a rug to CNN’s John Roberts, or underestimating local reporter Nathan Baca, made the church look even more unhinged and clownish. The final straw was Lawrence Wright burying Tommy in his 2011 New Yorker feature, “The Apostate,” which cost Tommy his job.

So what did Miscavige do when the press kept coming with tough questions? Rather than send out another Sea Org cadet on a suicide mission, he trotted out his most trusted personal attorney: DC tax lawyer Monique Yingling.

It makes no sense, of course, that a multi-billion dollar international organization like Scientology can’t produce a single actual member of the church to sit in front of a camera and answer media questions. But after Tommy’s multiple debacles, Miscavige apparently believes he has no other option

Monique’s performances in the hot seat have been legendary. Her excessive blinking, offering baked goods to reporters, and describing Scientology’s secretive Int Base as a “worker’s paradise” all played out on national television, and our readers had a field day with it at the time.

After her 20/20 performance in 2016, we noted what a lucrative gig it has been for Monique to represent David Miscavige.

Monique’s history with Miscavige goes way back, and her husband, attorney Gerald Feffer, was a major figure for Scientology before he died in 2013. Mike Rinder has described what an influence peddler Feffer was in Washington DC, and helped guide Miscavige and Scientology through the tax exemption process with the IRS in the 1990s. That’s why, to this day, Dave’s most trusted personal legal advisor is a DC tax lawyer.

And while Monique’s forays on national television have made for good theater, don’t forget that she’s been quite willing to do Dave’s dirty work behind the scenes. Perhaps none dirtier than when she was sent out to handle Mike Rinder after he had defected from Scientology. Mike has told this story in detail, but what’s heartbreaking about it is that Yingling was sent out to Denver to see him, where he was living for a while, and kept from him the news that his son, Benjamin, had been diagnosed with cancer. Rinder charges that Yingling later lied about it to the Tampa Bay Times, saying that she informed him about it and Rinder didn’t want to see his son anyway.

It’s a vile, vile accusation, and shows the lengths Yingling will go.

Also, keep in mind, when Monique is sent in on a case, you know it generally means that Miscavige is freaking out or hopping mad.

That was certainly the case the one time we’ve been in her presence, when she showed up to join the scrum of attorneys Scientology brought to a small county courthouse in Texas for the Monique Rathbun lawsuit. The Rathbuns were trying to get Miscavige into a witness chair, and nothing causes more panic in the church.

Dave knows that when things get really hot for him personally, he can always turn to Yingling for help.

Honorable mention: When Monique is called in on an issue, it’s often in concert with Eric Lieberman, another expensive attorney that David Miscavige throws at his biggest problems.

 
The Top 25 People Enabling Scientology

2: Monique Yingling

 
——————–

Source Code

“The road into this universe is successive unawarenesses. And the road out is successive awarenesses. But not just bare-breasting your chest to the whole universe. No, you have to find out why the individual didn’t want to be aware at those points, and he didn’t want to be aware because he solved it. Well, what’s this solution? Well, that was yesterday’s problem. Yesterday’s solution, problem, solution, problem, solution — they’re all the same line of cat. He got himself into trouble by solving himself into trouble. And when he has solved himself all the way into trouble totally, he’s here, and he’s the fireman down in the stokehold. And therefore there are no lower levels of subconscious for you to explore; there are only upper levels of awareness.” — L. Ron Hubbard, April 21, 1964

Avast, Ye Mateys

“We’re having a VIP function aboard at 1900 tonight. The Mayor, Harbour Master, news photographers and approx 20 others are invited. Just like crew became so expert at handling in February. Everyone’s agreement and assistance will be much appreciated.” — Lt. Barry Watson, Pub Exec Officer, April 21, 1970

 
——————–

Overheard in the FreeZone

“John McMaster failed to see that in this planet (a floating insane asylim) most of the population is PTS to a very few SPs, and upstat people are fairgamed continually. Protectors of the Earth are continually shot to death (R2-45) and innocent children are put into pedophile rings where they are raped and murdered. On the contrary, the ethics system at the Flagship Apollo rewarded hard working and effective people and punished down statistics and SPs with fairgame, R2-45 and chain locker punishments. LRH had the viewpoint and task to create an empire. John McMaster didn’t. Are you starting to get a clue yet?”

 
——————–

Past is Prologue

1996: David Mayo, author of Scientology’s NOTs levels, won his appeal in District Court this week. Judge A. Wallace Tashima also criticized Scientology heavily for its litigation tactics, intended to harass and destroy rather than win the case. The ruling quotes Judge Ideman, who has since recused himself. “This noncompliance has consisted of evasions, misrepresentations, broken promises and lies, but ultimately with refusal. As part of this scheme to not comply, the plaintiffs have undertaken a massive campaign of filing every conceivable motion (and some inconceivable) to disguise the true issue in these pretrial proceedings. Apparently viewing litigation as war, plaintiffs by this tactic have had the effect of massively increasing the costs to the other parties, and, for a while, to the Court. The appointment of the Special Master 4 years ago has considerably relieved the burden to this Court. The scope of plaintiff’s efforts have to be seen. to be believed. (See Exhibit ‘A’, photo of clerk with filings, and Exhibit ‘B’, copy of clerk’s docket with 81 pages and 1,737 filings.) Yet it is all puffery — motions without merit or substance.”

 
——————–

Random Howdy

“Most people have never heard of the guy who invented the mouse. But a lot of them have heard of L Ron Hubbard. This is why I drink.”

 
——————–

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

Criminal prosecutions:
— Danny Masterson charged for raping three women: Prelim set for May 18.
— 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: Trial scheduled for May 20 in Los Angeles
— David Gentile, GPB Capital, fraud: Pretrial conference set for Apr 29.

Civil litigation:
— Luis and Rocio Garcia v. Scientology: Oral arguments were heard on July 30 at the Eleventh Circuit
— Valerie Haney v. Scientology: Forced to ‘religious arbitration.’ Petition for writ of mandate denied Oct 22 by Cal 2nd Appellate District. Petition for review by state supreme court denied Dec 11.
— Chrissie Bixler et al. v. Scientology and Danny Masterson: Dec 30, Judge Kleifield granted Scientology’s motions to compel arbitration. June 7: Status conference.
— 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: Second 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 24.

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.

 
——————–

SCIENTOLOGY BLACK OPS: Tom Cruise and dirty tricks

The Australian Seven News network cancelled a 10-part investigation of Scientology and its history of dirty tricks. Read the transcripts of the episodes and judge for yourself why Tom Cruise and Tommy Davis might not have wanted viewers to see this hard-hitting series by journalist Bryan Seymour.

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’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] City of Inglewood: Brian Statler shouldn’t have resisted arrest and forced us to shoot him dead
[TWO years ago] Scientology’s mad real estate splurge has real consequences for its indentured workers
[THREE years ago] Hana Whitfield’s book excerpt: L. Ron Hubbard’s amidships meltdown over ‘Xemu’ and OT 3
[FOUR years ago] Bunker reader Dee Findlay stole the show as Clearwater stood up to Scientology last night
[FIVE years ago] How Lisa Marie Presley became Scientology leader David Miscavige’s worst nightmare
[SIX years ago] Marc Headley reveals the embarrassing technological secrets of Scientology
[SEVEN years ago] Convicted of fraud by France’s highest court, Scientology still pursues creative appeals
[EIGHT years ago] Sunday Funnies: The United States of Scientology

 
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Posted by Tony Ortega on April 21, 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

We’d like you to imagine a scenario. Imagine that you go to an amusement park, and before you can ride a roller coaster, the park asks you to sign a waiver. In the fine print of that waiver, it says that if some dispute arises between you and the amusement park company, you [...]]]>

We’d like you to imagine a scenario. Imagine that you go to an amusement park, and before you can ride a roller coaster, the park asks you to sign a waiver. In the fine print of that waiver, it says that if some dispute arises between you and the amusement park company, you will forego civil court and instead take your grievance to arbitration.

You sign the waiver, enjoy the ride, and then go home.

Some ten years go by, and then for some reason you decide to express some unrelated criticism of the amusement park on a web forum somewhere.

Soon after that, thugs hired by the amusement park company show up at your house, set it on fire, strangle your cat, and smear your entire family on websites designed to cost your loved ones their jobs.

To your amazement, when you go to court to sue the amusement park company for terrorizing you, a judge informs you that you have no right to sue the company because you signed that waiver when you rode the rollercoaster a decade before, and you will have to take your dispute to arbitration instead. And not just any arbitration, but a “court” set up inside the amusement park with a panel of “judges” made up the carnies who work the rides.

Ridiculous? Unthinkable? Well, that’s actually a pretty good approximation of the situation that several ex-Scientologists find themselves in today because of three American judges: Tampa Federal District Court Judge James D. Whittemore, and Los Angeles Superior Court Judges Richard Burdge Jr. and Steven Kleifield.

In 2015, Whittemore ruled that Luis and Rocio Garcia couldn’t sue Scientology despite evidence that they’d been defrauded of hundreds of thousands of dollars by being lied to in order to convince them to make large donations. There was testimony in that case from top former Scientology officials who swore that the contracts the Garcias signed were designed to trap them in a scheme that would force them into Scientology’s brand of “religious arbitration” which bears no resemblance to the kind of independent arbitration most people are familiar with. The Garcias went through the proceeding and told us it was a kangaroo court. They’ve been appealing Judge Whittemore’s ruling for three years now. The Eleventh Circuit heard oral arguments in the case last July, but still hasn’t ruled.

Valerie Haney’s case was next, and was substantially different than the Garcia lawsuit. She was alleging not financial fraud, but that even after leaving her position with the church she was stalked and smeared by Scientology, which accused her of sexual improprieties on smear websites. But Judge Richard Burdge Jr found that the agreements she’d signed with Scientology still obliged her to take any grievances to its internal star chamber, even though the things the church had allegedly done to her happened well after she was no longer a Scientologist.

But then came the truly stunning decision by Judge Steven Kleifield, who ruled in a lawsuit which alleges that Scientology and its celebrity Danny Masterson had conspired to literally kill two of Chrissie Carnell-Bixler’s dogs, and that she and the other plaintiffs were enduring surveillance, hacking, stalking, and libel, even years after they had left the organization. In this case, the plaintiffs are also accusing Masterson of raping them in a separate criminal case that has the That ’70s Show actor facing 45 years to life in prison. And in that case, at least, the women have been given the protection of a court order that instructs Masterson to stay away from them.

But Kleifield, incredibly, ruled that in the Scientology arbitration he’s forcing these women into, Masterson has the right to take part, and the actor has said he intends to do so.

Thanks to Judges Whittemore, Burdge, and Kleifield, and a series of rulings since 2015, the Church of Scientology is now thoroughly lawsuit-proof when it comes to former church members.

It’s an astounding situation. And we wonder when major media is going to begin paying real attention to it.

 
The Top 25 People Enabling Scientology

3: The judges
4: The LAPD
5: The dirty tricks private eyes
6: The Riverside County Sheriff’s Department
7: The litigators

 
——————–

Jon Atack talks to Jamie DeWolf

Says Jon: “Jamie DeWolf, great-grandson of Ron Hubbard, talks with Jon about his infamous ancestor, and about his mission to speak out against the Scientology ‘dragon’ his infamous ancestor brought into the world.”

 
——————–

Lethal attack at the Capitol

With the news of a follower of Louis Farrakhan committing an act of violence yesterday in Washington DC, ramming his car into and killing a policeman, we received a lot of questions about it. Noah Green, 25, was shot fatally by police in the incident, and it soon emerged that he had been a sadly deranged and paranoid member of the Nation of Islam.

For more than a decade Farrakhan’s anti-Semitic organization has engaged in a rather strange relationship with the Church of Scientology, which we have covered rather extensively here. But so far, we haven’t seen anything connecting Green himself with Scientology. Our expert sources are continuing to look into it.

 
——————–

Scientology spies and Facebook police

Make sure you look at Mike Rinder’s blog today for an absolutely Orwellian series of emails from a Scientologist volunteering for the Italian branch of the Office of Special Affairs, Scientology’s secret police branch.

Because this dim-witted ersatz Scientology spy targeted the wrong person, it gives us a nice look inside the kind of bullying that church members are put through for daring to connect with the “wrong” people online.

 
——————–

Source Code

“The whole US civil defense system is based on the idea that there is a thing called the government which is composed of people (which already is silly) and they’re going to take over the country at the moment of an attack, see? They aren’t there now. They’re not part of the people, and they’re not human, you see? And they’re parked up someplace in Canada along the DEW line or down in Mexico or out on some island, and they don’t exist there now. And at the moment of an attack, nobody is supposed to do anything but be taken over by the government. That’s what you’re supposed to do in an attack. Consider it absolutely fascinating! It’s just as bad as Eisenhower’s design for the Normandy landing. I mean, there was nothing worse than that. I didn’t know this until the other day. I’m going to write a book on it. I’m going to call it The Great Myth. You see, I was a Pacific amphibious warfare officer before these Normandy landings occurred. And there’s certain ways you’re supposed to make landings. Well, they didn’t make them that way at Normandy. They killed men instead.” — L. Ron Hubbard, April 3, 1962

 
——————–

Avast, Ye Mateys

“Our trouble has been isolated to the British Government. It uses British Consuls, Lloyds and reporters as part of its intelligence service. It has been revealed that reporters in the UK, particularly those operating outside it, are members of their intelligence service while still being reporters. The US health societies, groups, foundations and agencies are all members of SMERSH which is an English takeover of the work of Clifford Beers to bring protection to mental patients. By blackmail, corruption and pretense of being ‘the very best people’ this group had the British government in its palm. It appointed the health ministers of both parties in England and throughout the Commonwealth and even Switzerland. SMERSH is a world takeover type group, full of preposterous plans. It is now actively destroying western nations whose governments look to them to dispose of malcontents without realizing SMERSH’s degraded technology is violently opposed by Western peoples. If we are careful, keep good security and continue to attack, SMERSH will collapse as they are trying to be a police state without either the police or army on their side. We must be alert to the Intelligence factors of SMERSH and safeguard against their penetration of our security. On our shoulders alone rests the possibility of freeing Mankind from the horror of one of these police states which could destroy Mankind. The rest, like sheep, have been taken in wholly.” — The Commodore, April 3, 1969

Overheard in the FreeZone

“Parsons was dodgy, and he was murdered because he was dodgy. But more specifically he was a commie. Israel is a commie state, so it makes sense he would pass data onto them. Hubbard was anti-commie. I reckon he was sent in on a mission to disturb Parsons. Years later another agent was sent in to kill Parsons probably because he was getting too out of hands. They didn’t want to just kill Parsons straight up back in ’46, it’s better to know who is your enemy and mess with them for years wasting their time, hence Hubbard’s mission. Parson was making jet-assist take-off for the Navy, so him being dodgy annoyed the Navy, and they would get their naval intelligence to handle him, thus we see Hubbard come into his life. Now this doesn’t mean Hubbard wasn’t into black magick. You can be sent on a mission and enjoy what that mission involves. In fact he could have liked Parsons but knew he was a sicko deep down being a lefty and that he needed to be dealt with.”

 
——————–

Past is Prologue

2000: The St. Petersburg Times reported that permits have been issued to begin the above ground portions of Scientology’s new Super Power building in Clearwater, Florida. “The pair of towering white cranes that loom over the project, mostly idle since the fall, will come to life once more. For 16 months, the building has taken shape below ground as workers shaped a foundation and a giant basement that will serve as a dining facility for Scientology’s uniformed staff. The crowning feature of the $45-million building will be a 15-story tower, visible from blocks away, topped by an eight-point Scientology cross made of bronze. At 384,000 square feet, the building will be the largest Scientology has ever constructed. It also will be the largest building in downtown Clearwater and one of the largest in Pinellas County.”

 
——————–

Random Howdy

“We Farsecians are not evil. We are the Knights Templar of the Universe. We are the Keepers of the ARC of the Covenant.”

 
——————–

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

Criminal prosecutions:
— Danny Masterson charged for raping three women: Masterson arraigned Jan 20. Discovery hearing on April 20, prelim set for May 18.
— Jay and Jeff Spina, Medicare fraud: Jay’s sentencing delayed to April 13.
— Hanan and Rizza Islam and other family members, Medi-Cal fraud: Trial scheduled for May 20 in Los Angeles
— David Gentile, GPB Capital, fraud: Charged in Brooklyn federal court on Feb 4. Arraigned on Feb 9. Pretrial conference set for Apr 29.>

Civil litigation:
— Luis and Rocio Garcia v. Scientology: Oral arguments were heard on July 30 at the Eleventh Circuit
— Valerie Haney v. Scientology: Forced to ‘religious arbitration.’ Petition for writ of mandate denied Oct 22 by Cal 2nd Appellate District. Petition for review by state supreme court denied Dec 11.
— Chrissie Bixler et al. v. Scientology and Danny Masterson: Dec 30, Judge Kleifield granted Scientology’s motions to compel arbitration. June 7: Status conference.
— 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: Second 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 24.

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.

 
——————–

SCIENTOLOGY BLACK OPS: Tom Cruise and dirty tricks

The Australian Seven News network cancelled a 10-part investigation of Scientology and its history of dirty tricks. Read the transcripts of the episodes and judge for yourself why Tom Cruise and Tommy Davis might not have wanted viewers to see this hard-hitting series by journalist Bryan Seymour.

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’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] Scientology’s new attempt to force ‘religious arbitration’ on Danny Masterson’s accusers
[TWO years ago] A stunning Scientology call to arms for our politically divided times on this dirt ball
[THREE years ago] Newly released documents: Scientology leader L. Ron Hubbard tried to ‘buy’ an African nation
[FOUR years ago] Scientology leader David Miscavige launches new personal attacks at Leah Remini
[FIVE years ago] David Miscavige and a bussed-in crowd cut the ribbon on Atlanta’s new Scientology ‘Ideal Org’
[SIX years ago] How Scientologists are dealing with the popularity of Alex Gibney’s film ‘Going Clear’
[SEVEN years ago] We asked David Miscavige’s tailor for his exact height — and here’s what he told us!
[EIGHT years ago] LEAK: Scientology’s Rehab Went from $5,000 to $2.5 Million in Insurance Revenue in One Year

 
——————–

——————–

Posted by Tony Ortega on April 3, 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

You’ve seen a lot of media coverage of Danny Masterson’s legal troubles lately, but here’s what the other news organizations never bring up: Danny would not be looking at the potential of 45 years to life in prison for raping three women if those women had not stood [...]]]>

You’ve seen a lot of media coverage of Danny Masterson’s legal troubles lately, but here’s what the other news organizations never bring up: Danny would not be looking at the potential of 45 years to life in prison for raping three women if those women had not stood up to the Los Angeles Police Department for almost botching their investigation.

On March 3, 2017 when we first broke the news of the LAPD’s investigation, we also revealed that the probe, which had been going on since October, was already in crisis. We revealed that on February 22 of that year the woman we referred to then as “Victim A” and who later identified herself as Chrissie Carnell-Bixler had written a lengthy letter to then-Chief Charlie Beck complaining bitterly about the way she and the other two women had been treated by the department.

One of the things Chrissie explained to the chief was that when she reported her allegations, she was told by LAPD officials that her case could not be handled at the Hollywood Division because it was hopelessly compromised in its relationship to the Church of Scientology. She said that she was told her case not only needed to be handled by a downtown unit, but that they would be keeping her case out of the department’s computer system to make sure Hollywood detectives wouldn’t even know about the investigation.

Again, let us make this clear: Chrissie was told by the LAPD that parts of it were in thrall to Scientology and could not be trusted even to know that a crime against a major Scientology celebrity was being investigated.

But even with those precautions in place, Chrissie was shocked by how the downtown unit handled the case, with a detective who treated them inappropriately and didn’t interview key witnesses. Chrissie’s letter to Chief Beck listed numerous problems with the investigation. As a result of the letter, Chief Beck reassigned the detective and put another in charge of the investigation. That detective saw the investigation through and delivered the case to the DA’s office.

Because Chrissie had stood up for herself, these women got the investigation they deserved. But it turns out that their timing was good. Since then, the LAPD has dismantled the downtown special task force that handled their case, and if Chrissie Carnell-Bixler were coming forward to the LAPD today, she would have no choice but to trust the Hollywood Division, where her allegations occurred.

Yes, the Hollywood Division that even the LAPD itself told them is hopelessly corrupt because of its fawning attachment to Scientology.

The LAPD has also been very helpful to David Miscavige in keeping his wife Shelly Miscavige under wraps. In 2013, Leah Remini filed a missing-person report on Shelly, who vanished in 2005 and has only been seen in public one time since then, in 2007. The LAPD told us that two of their detectives had met with Shelly, who said she was fine and didn’t want to make a public statement. When we asked Lt. Andre Dawson if any other church officials were present at the time, he told us “That’s classified.” And when Leah later tried to get copies of documents involved in that operation, which were a direct result of her own missing-person report, she was turned down.

After that, we noticed that Lt. Dawson after his retirement became a featured speaker at Scientology events.

It was also the Hollywood Division that actually put a Scientology kiosk on its station house, until an atheist organization complained and it was removed.

Last year we published some shocking emails from LAPD Capt. Cory Palka, showing just how chummy his relationship was with the church.

In one example, the LAPD captain was writing to Detroit police on behalf of Scientology, who wanted the Detroit department’s help with the opening of a new building. What a pal!

Palka has left the LAPD, but we’ve seen no evidence that the department has shown any interest in shaking off its decades-long history as David Miscavige’s lap dog.

 
The Top 25 People Enabling Scientology

3: The judges
4: The LAPD
5: The dirty tricks private eyes
6: The Riverside County Sheriff’s Department

 
——————–

Source Code

“We pick up somebody. Let’s say he’s a Marine captain or something, and we’re auditing him. He’s been a Marine years ago. Obviously, this person is no mystic. This person is no spiritualist. He knows nothing about these things. Let’s audit him, and get through, and so forth. And we audit him for about five hours, and he’s making very slow progress. And he’s liable to ask you at the end of the five hours if you really think his guardian angel approves of the techniques you’re using. Don’t be too alarmed if you hear such a reaction, because there’s practically 100 percent of the populace, one time or another, have been mixed up with spirits, spiritualism, mysticism or any one of the allied lines by which man has sought truth and has gotten booby-trapped. This Marine, you find out, served a long hitch in Santo Domingo. And all the time he was in Santo Domingo he was talked to continually by a mamaloi. Otherwise, this boy’s been sane ever since. He receives all of his directions from a witch doctor, or a witch. Yeah, he’s been ordering troops around on the advice of a witch doctor for years. This is not uncommon. Because a thing is not spoken about is no reason it doesn’t exist or isn’t known. And that’s a good rule for you to go on.” — L. Ron Hubbard, March 31, 1954

 
——————–

Avast, Ye Mateys

“My thanks to S. Moreau, R. Savage, Gerry Armstrong, and H. Harrison for helping on a voluntary basis cleaning up Fwd Tween Decks and Storage and mest moving in Hold 1 last night. L.H. 2 has been cleaned and restowed. Anyone littering or enmesting the area of any hold space will be dealt with severely by Ethics. These spaces (as well as all ship spaces) must be kept neat, clean and secure.” — Capt W.B. Robertson D/Captain FSO, March 31, 1971

Overheard in the FreeZone

“You kind of just put body thetans in their place. See, they come at you full of light, sometimes as powerful beings. THAT LIGHT IS YOURS! Tell them, and take it back. And it kind of spins around and they blow as entities. Anyway, they do blow, it will vary from case to case. I never have any difficulty with them. Maybe a bit of SRT in the past somewhere can kick it all sideways? I don’t know, I just keep my eyes on the horizon. It’s true there are lots of very interesting areas to get sidetracked into. But this is the way to failure in solo auditing. Keep on the path and audit it off, don’t go into something because it seems exciting. That can hurt you and get you pretty mixed up. I keep in mind all I want is charge off. Between sessions that helped me stay focused. It doesn’t mean I don’t write my own side notes, cognitions, and odd phenomena experienced on the way. But I never let it pull me off just getting charge off. You can look at the whole thing afterwards, as there are many, many cogs to be had. But getting charge off gives them.”

 
——————–

Past is Prologue

1997: The Wall Street Journal printed an editorial titled “The Scientology Problem”: “Scientology is currently demanding acceptance throughout the world, mostly on the basis of a 1993 Internal Revenue Service ruling extending it 501(c)3 tax-exempt status. The State Department’s human rights report, an ad by Hollywood figures and others have berated Germany over persecution of Scientologists. Other sects have also started with odd theology and behavior; is Scientology now traveling the road to respectability? Conceivably so, though the Scientologists have more history than most to live down, most of it written in court decisions here and abroad. Scientology performs its ‘auditing’ and ‘clearing’ according to a schedule of set fees. Those who are ‘cleared’ at one level go on to the next with further training and further fees. To many authorities, not to mention alienated former Scientologists, Mr. Hubbard’s creation looks a lot like the business of personal counseling or psychiatry (to which Scientology also raises theological objection). There have been repeated reports that Mr. Hubbard told his science-fiction colleagues that the way to get rich is to found a religion. The Scientologists promote anti-drug and anti-crime efforts, but even in the post-Hubbard era have been a magnet for controversy. For one thing, they are confronting the Internet, using copyright and other laws to inhibit their critics, who gather in a discussion group called alt.religion.scientology. Scientologists have succeeded with U.S. copyright suits against the posting of secret Hubbard texts, but have angered the Internet community. The texts keep appearing, for example on a Norwegian site calling itself Operation Clambake. Further litigation is currently under way in San Jose and Denver, with the patience of presiding jurists being tested by both Scientologists and ‘netizens.’ Internet defendants are now challenging the validity of the copyrights, and seeking to depose the secretive Mr. Miscavige about the circumstances of their transfer.”

 
——————–

Random Howdy

“Hubbard thought ‘1984’ was a How-To manual.”

 
——————–

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

Criminal prosecutions:
— Danny Masterson charged for raping three women: Masterson arraigned Jan 20. Discovery hearing on April 20, prelim set for May 18.
— Jay and Jeff Spina, Medicare fraud: Jay’s sentencing delayed to April 13.
— Hanan and Rizza Islam and other family members, Medi-Cal fraud: Trial scheduled for May 20 in Los Angeles
— David Gentile, GPB Capital, fraud: Charged in Brooklyn federal court on Feb 4. Arraigned on Feb 9. Pretrial conference set for Apr 29.>

Civil litigation:
— Luis and Rocio Garcia v. Scientology: Oral arguments were heard on July 30 at the Eleventh Circuit
— Valerie Haney v. Scientology: Forced to ‘religious arbitration.’ Petition for writ of mandate denied Oct 22 by Cal 2nd Appellate District. Petition for review by state supreme court denied Dec 11.
— Chrissie Bixler et al. v. Scientology and Danny Masterson: Dec 30, Judge Kleifield granted Scientology’s motions to compel arbitration. June 7: Status conference.
— 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: Second 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 24.

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.

 
——————–

SCIENTOLOGY BLACK OPS: Tom Cruise and dirty tricks

The Australian Seven News network cancelled a 10-part investigation of Scientology and its history of dirty tricks. Read the transcripts of the episodes and judge for yourself why Tom Cruise and Tommy Davis might not have wanted viewers to see this hard-hitting series by journalist Bryan Seymour.

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’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] Mark Bunker, now as city councilman, confronts issues with Scientology on day one
[TWO years ago] Scientology is putting Ideal Orgs in every country where it operates — except one
[THREE years ago] A Scientologist is running for lieutenant governor in Nevada — and it’s who you probably suspect
[FOUR years ago] Jonny Jacobsen: The tweets about Scientology that got a comedian in hot water
[FIVE years ago] Reason Rally 2016 in Washington DC: The Underground Bunker wants to see you there!
[SIX years ago] Can you help French prosecutors find these witnesses to the death of a Scientologist?
[SEVEN years ago] Paris elects its first female mayor — and you have to see her record on Scientology!
[EIGHT years ago] Easter Sunday Funnies — Also: Our SMERSH Madness Championship!

 
——————–

——————–

Posted by Tony Ortega on March 31, 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

For some time we’ve been planning to name Scientology’s dirty tricks operators as #5 on our list of those employees and underlings and hired thugs who enable Scientology. But then, while we were recently a guest on Leah Remini’s podcast, Mike Rinder said something that threw a wrench into our plans.

He pointed [...]]]>

For some time we’ve been planning to name Scientology’s dirty tricks operators as #5 on our list of those employees and underlings and hired thugs who enable Scientology. But then, while we were recently a guest on Leah Remini’s podcast, Mike Rinder said something that threw a wrench into our plans.

He pointed out that since a certain 2015 court case, Scientology’s dirty tricks ringleader, Dave Lubow, has been neutralized.

Mike was referring to the criminal prosecution of private investigator Eric Saldarriaga, which publicly connected Scientology to an attempting hacking case.

Specifically, Saldarriaga was accused of trying to hack Mike Rinder and your proprietor, along with a lot of other people. We were given an opportunity to say something at Saldarriaga’s sentencing, and we did so, asking the judge to get to the bottom of who Saldarriaga was working for. Eventually, we learned that in his chambers the judge revealed that Saldarriaga had been working for Scientology, which the New York Times reported. In particular, it was Scientology dirty tricks PI Dave Lubow who had hired Saldarriaga to hack us.

All of that we knew years ago. But what took us aback while we were recording Leah’s podcast was Mike’s observation that since that episode in 2015, Dave Lubow has been put out to pasture.

Showing up in the New York Times was enough to sour Lubow with Scientology leader David Miscavige, Rinder figures, and Lubow’s career as Scientology primary dirty tricks operator is over with.

Who’s replaced him? We’re not sure. We recently revealed the identity of another “black bag department” operator that Mike had previously named, a private eye named Russ Andrews.

Mike made a pretty good case for Andrews being the guy who does Scientology’s dirty work, digging up material on David Miscavige’s enemies. Has Andrews taken over the mantle from Dave Lubow and Gene Ingram before him? Or did we blow Russ’s cover so badly that now he too will be less likely to get nasty assignments from Miscavige?

Ingram was a former dirty Los Angeles cop who would do things like impersonate police officers for Scientology to bully and harass people the church wanted scared. He was a thug who was known for flouting the law as long as the Scientology money was flowing.

Here’s what Mike Rinder had to say about him.

Gene Ingram is the godfather of Scientology PI’s in the Miscavige era. He was put out to pasture many years ago after a number of incidents where he was accused of impersonating a police officer and other shady actions. I think there was even an arrest warrant issued for him in Tampa. Ingram set up the Gerry Armstrong operation and investigated the LRH forged check scam that Marty Rathbun has written about. He was the author of many investigation tactics to “get in people’s faces” (a “noisy” investigation).

In 2016 we wrote about Ingram’s showy retirement in Cabo San Lucas, where he runs a bar, and included more stories about his years as Scientology’s hired muscle.

Ingram was replaced by Lubow, who had studied under him. It was Lubow who crashed into a business meeting being held by Robert Almblad, the “clean ice” guy we’ve told you about, in order to scare potential clients away. In that caper, he was pretending to be an investigative journalist exposing Almblad.

Lubow ran the Squirrel Busters caper in Texas, and he spent years harassing Rinder and Marty Rathbun with in-your-face camera episodes. But perhaps his most outrageous exploit is when he spent years infiltrating a circle of friends in Las Vegas so he could get close to Janis Gillham Grady, her sister Terri Gamboa, and others after they left the Sea Org and had started up a mortgage business. Tampa Bay Times legend Tom Tobin told that story in excellent detail, and Janis sent us over this photo to remind us of Lubow’s illustrious past.

 
That’s Lubow directly behind Janis there on the right.

If Lubow’s now on ice, who is Scientology’s chief dirty trickster? If you know, please drop us a line.

 
The Top 25 People Enabling Scientology

3: The judges
4: The LAPD
5: The dirty tricks private eyes
6: The Riverside County Sheriff’s Department
7: The litigators
8: The ghost private eyes
9: The San Bernardino Sheriff’s Office
10: Political shills
11: Gary Soter
12: The city of Clearwater, Florida
13: Google and other tech titans
14: The Los Angeles Times

 
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Source Code

“You can pick up a rock and handle it quite safely. It won’t disappear on you for the excellent reason that it has so many fundamentals, so many basics, so many premises from which it sprang. There are so many alter-isnesses which have proceeded along the line, that it’s not really likely to as-is in your hands. But if you start plowing around about the original rock or the source of all rocks, or you start questioning the source of all rocks, if you did it expertly enough I’m afraid you would feel the rock tremble, because if you did it completely successfully, it’s liable to be gone.” — L. Ron Hubbard, March 7, 1957

 
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Avast, Ye Mateys

“The ship looks good and Captain Robertson is to be congratulated on it and the officers and crew are thanked for their care and attention. I am glad to be back aboard. The only trouble is that ashore the dogs bark all night and now, without this I probably won’t be able to sleep. However, Janet Guilford says we can organize an All Hands Barking Stations.” — The Commodore, March 7, 1970

 
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Overheard in the FreeZone

“Our DNA does not end here. It is in instant communication with all our cells at the same time, and with any other point in space and time. We have been messed with a long time ago, so that this program, this DNA, was dysfunctional. But it is becoming activated now. I have personally experienced this and tell you guys — clearly well-educated Scientologists — that this is hot stuff. Get ready for some exciting material, delivered in an unusual way compared to LRH’s but believe me it is awesome. What is coolest about it all is that he tells you that this can affect you as God (and as we know through engrams) also can, and that this is a two-way thing. So far, the energy levels of this planet inhibited this, but they are now high enough (higher tone level, higher theta) so that we can now successfully command our DNA. We can be masters, and this is what beings like Jesus were — Masters of their own DNA. We have only 30 percent of our DNA operational and someone with the state of Christ would be 100 percent. Many people on Earth are already above the 30 percent and this process has now momentum and is awakening in every body whether or not they are spiritually minded. This new revival will not make the world spiritual yet. It will bring a conscience of compassion which will in turn bring PEACE on Earth. This is not the end. This will be the beginning, the basis from which real change can begin to occur towards spirituality as until that happens all wisdom and technology can be weaponised.”

 
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Past is Prologue

2001: Peter Alexander posted to a.r.s concerning the construction of the Super Power building in Clearwater. “When I was still a public member of Scientology, I contributed $100,000 to the SuperPower Building, and was privy to inside information about the project. According to Bruce and Chairman Roger, the registrars, and the SuperPower project leader, the purpose of SuperPower and the new SuperPower building was to ‘undercut’ the gradient for all of Scientology. They explained that no matter what level people attained in Scientology, they still had ‘out ethics’ which were preventing them from realizing their gains. This, they said, applied to OT8’s and OT7’s, and well as people lower on the bridge. This was a tactic admission that Scientology’s OT levels were not working, and additional hypnosis/brainwashing was required before anyone could become OT. They invited me to several luncheons with Matt Feshbach. Matt was, at the time, the only public person who had been allowed to complete SuperPower. He described one particular rundown, in which he ran and ran around a ‘maypole’ in a circle. He told me that all the members of the upper management of RTC had also done this, and the other SuperPower rundowns. These SuperPower rundowns amount to about the same level of brainwashing as the Chinese Communists used during the Great Cultural Revolution, where they could ‘re-educate’ even the toughest souls into complete submission.”

Random Howdy

“Hubbard deciding the right tone level for being mauled by a bear is fabulous.”

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

Criminal prosecutions:
— Danny Masterson charged for raping three women: Masterson arraigned Jan 20. Next conf to set prelim, March 24.
— Jay and Jeff Spina, Medicare fraud: Jay’s sentencing delayed to April 13.
— Hanan and Rizza Islam and other family members, Medi-Cal fraud: Trial scheduled for May 20 in Los Angeles
— David Gentile, GPB Capital, fraud: Charged in Brooklyn federal court on Feb 4. Arraigned on Feb 9. Pretrial conference set for Apr 29.

Civil litigation:
— Luis and Rocio Garcia v. Scientology: Oral arguments were heard on July 30 at the Eleventh Circuit
— Valerie Haney v. Scientology: Forced to ‘religious arbitration.’ Petition for writ of mandate denied Oct 22 by Cal 2nd Appellate District. Petition for review by state supreme court denied Dec 11.
— Chrissie Bixler et al. v. Scientology and Danny Masterson: Dec 30, Judge Kleifield granted Scientology’s motions to compel arbitration. March 8: Status conference.
— 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: Second 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 24.

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.

 
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SCIENTOLOGY BLACK OPS: Tom Cruise and dirty tricks

The Australian Seven News network cancelled a 10-part investigation of Scientology and its history of dirty tricks. Read the transcripts of the episodes and judge for yourself why Tom Cruise and Tommy Davis might not have wanted viewers to see this hard-hitting series by journalist Bryan Seymour.

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’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] Valerie Haney asks judge to reconsider ruling, and has some excellent arguments
[TWO years ago] Scientology denied: Eleventh Circuit brushes aside church attempt to stop Garcia appeal
[THREE years ago] Is American culture now so hopeless that Scientology’s insanity is no longer notable?
[FOUR years ago] Paul Haggis spoils movie night for Scientology, shows what a real humanitarian does
[FIVE years ago] There’s a backstory to the recent news of a Scientology TV ad being banned in the UK
[SIX years ago] Jon Atack visits an org — ALSO: The richest Scientologist gets even richer!
[SEVEN years ago] BRAD HALSEY, 1957-2014
[EIGHT years ago] NARCONON CEO GARY SMITH LOSES COUNSELOR CERTIFICATION
[NINE years ago] Scientology: Dear Judge, Protect Us from Rathbun and Rinder!

 
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Posted by Tony Ortega on March 7, 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

 There have been many startling disclosures about what actually happens inside Scientology over the years. But one of the results of several former top Sea Org officials coming forward around the year 2009 — people like Mike Rinder, Marc and Claire Headley, and Tom Devocht, for example — was the greater appreciation we all gained [...]]]>

 
There have been many startling disclosures about what actually happens inside Scientology over the years. But one of the results of several former top Sea Org officials coming forward around the year 2009 — people like Mike Rinder, Marc and Claire Headley, and Tom Devocht, for example — was the greater appreciation we all gained of the horrors going on at Gold Base.

Also known as Int Base, Scientology’s secretive 500-acre international management compound in San Jacinto, California was not only home to Scientology leader David Miscavige, it was also where he put a concentration camp for his top lieutenants, known as “The Hole,” beginning in 2004.

In FBI documents and in many articles and documentaries, we learned about how Scientologists at Gold Base were treated as indentured servants at best, and were subjected not only to confinement like in the Hole, but were literally thrown into piles of shit, as Marc Headley once related. And how many stories have been told — and documented — of people having to escape the base with creative strategems, including Valerie Haney in the trunk of a car, or the way Ron Miscavige mailed his belongings out in packages disguised as gifts.

Time and again, when they hear these stories, our readers ask us the same question: Why doesn’t law enforcement do something about, for example, David Miscavige operating a prison for his own employees, putting them under lock and key for years at a time?

Well, in 2017 that question was put directly to a Riverside deputy, by a protester, Nathanial Thomas, who was standing outside the base and asked the deputy about it. Here was the deputy’s answer, which Thomas filmed:

“Scientology has actually been very forthcoming with all the information. I don’t represent them, neither does he [referring to another deputy], but they’ve helped us solve a lot of crime. A lot of crime. And I’m actually very grateful that they’re here, for a lot of reasons. Whatever they want to do behind the gates, that’s not my business.”

Wow. “That’s not my business.”

A year later, in 2018, the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department and its indifference to what was going on at Gold Base became a bigger story when Leah Remini and Mike Rinder tried to help Tammy Clark check on the welfare of her uncle, Heber Jentzsch, who at one time was the very visible president of the Church of Scientology International, but then had spent years as a prisoner in the Hole. Now with Heber in his 80s, Tammy had reason to worry about his health and wanted to check on him.

Sadly, A&E never got to air the episode that featured Leah and Mike trying to help Tammy and, that included scenes of them interacting with the sheriff’s department when they tried to see Heber. But we were fortunate enough to see a preview version of the show.

We really wish it had aired, because it featured a remarkable scene filmed in the parking lot of the Sheriff’s Department after the trio had been told by detectives that Jentzsch was fine and they wouldn’t be able to go on to the base to see him. With a camera rolling so you could hear the audio, Leah had a conversation with a county employee who came out to their car and admitted the real story: The sheriff’s department was terrified of Scientology and did its bidding.

Well, that’s obvious given how many outrageous things have happened at the base over the last 40 years.

Int Base has lost some stature in more recent years. Miscavige stopped going there some five or six years ago, our sources tell us. Clearwater shows signs of being the more favored hub. But there are still a few hundred people at Gold Base who go year after year without seeing the outside world, and who may still be subjected to the same indignities and horrors of past years.

As far as the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department is concerned, that’s their business.

 
The Top 25 People Enabling Scientology

3: The judges
4: The LAPD
5: The dirty tricks private eyes

 
——————–

Continuing our year in review: The stories of October 2020

October started out with another leaked ‘Scientology Black Ops’ episode, this one with Paul Haggis saying that he regretted sharing secrets with Marty Rathbun.

We posted a stunning document, a listing purportedly of Scientology’s entire portfolio of outside investments at the time it gained tax exempt status, 1993. The total was $251 million in assets, which matched almost exactly what Marty Rathbun said in the 2015 movie ‘Going Clear.’

An advertisement in the latest issue of International Scientology News inadvertently confirmed that our estimates for Scientology’s actual size are right on the money. Thanks, Dave!

October 6 was a big day in the lawsuit filed by Danny Masterson’s accusers, as his “demurrer” was overruled by Judge Steven Kleifield. (And so was Scientology’s.) Also, Danny’s request to have the Jane Does identify themselves was denied. It was a major hurdle for the lawsuit to overcome, but the mainstream press didn’t seem to understand that and characterized it as a win for Masterson.

The next day we got our first look at the new upcoming documentary “Brothers Broken” from Geoff and Robbie Levin and their band People! that joined the Sea Org back in the day.

The tenth and final episode in the ‘Scientology Black Ops’ series was leaked, and now we had all ten embedded and with their transcripts.

Prosecutors took apart the “demurrer” Danny Masterson filed in his criminal case, while on the civil side the actor filed to have discovery halted, which was expected.

What an interesting insight we got into the relationship between Danny Masterson and his wife Bijou Phillips, thanks to Bijou’s sister Chynna Phillips Baldwin, who overshares on YouTube.

As the November election neared, we explained to potential voters in McMinnville, Oregon that there was even more to think about in relation to city council candidate and former Sea Org executive Brittany Ruiz.

We had yet another Narconon horror story from a family that was, like the others, completely deceived by this dishonest enterprise. How many of these do we have to print before local governments start doing something about these bogus rehabs?

After Danny Masterson had spent months arguing that the two Jane Does suing him should be named, his attorney “inadvertently” revealed the name of Jane Doe #1 on a court filing. And just as troubling, her own attorneys filed nothing as the mistake took nearly a full week to be fixed.

Tommy Davis hired Australian attorneys to ask us to take down the ‘Scientology Black Ops’ episodes about him in a letter it said was not for publication. So we published the letter and kept up the episodes.

On October 19 there was another hearing in Danny Masterson’s criminal case, although the actor was still in Wyoming on a family vacation. Judge Eleanor Hunter overruled Masterson’s “demurrer,” and his arraignment was now set for November 2.

The next day we bored into what prosecutor Reinhold Mueller had revealed, which included hints that at some point he was going to be adding enhancements to the charges against Masterson.

On October 21 we posted a letter sent in by attorneys for Seven News, which for the first time asked us to take down the leaked episodes of the Scientology Black Ops series. We did so, but you can still read the transcripts of all ten episodes.

A suggestion by commenter Ruby became an actual issue in the Danny Masterson lawsuit: How could his accusers be compelled into “religious arbitration” and be forced to face their victimizer, when they are under protection of the court in the criminal case?

Leah Remini was feeling pretty fed up with the court arguments and made a public appeal to judges: Scientology has no “religious arbitration” and they’re being duped.

Valerie Haney’s petition for a writ of mandate to the California 2nd Appellate District was denied, and with only a curt statement that her petition had been late.

In the federal insurance fraud case of Scientologist chiropractor Jay Spina, there was an interesting new development. Although Spina had pleaded guilty, there were fact disagreements over his culpability. And so both sides asked the judge for a sort of mini-trial to hammer out the facts in dispute. And hey, that means we may get to see it happen, so we’re all for it.

We marveled at the news that lifelong Scientologist Riley Keough has been signed to play a cult investigator on an upcoming series.

And the month ended with a look at the political shills who always seem to fall for Scientology’s pretty talk.

 
A LOOK BACK AT OCTOBER 2019: Valerie Haney dropped ‘Jane Doe’ and filed a brutal amended complaint. Hanan Islam in handcuffs in a Los Angeles courtroom as her Narconon insurance fraud case got crazy. FreeZone wizard offers the secret to living to 150. Nancy Cartwright’s new trophy for reaching $17 million in giving. Tom Cruise brought Isabella and Connor to the IAS gala for the first time. The Kominsky Method skewers Scientology, and we figured out that creator Chuck Lorre had an extensive Scientology past.

A LOOK BACK AT OCTOBER 2018: Heather Ruggeri told us her story of forced abortion and escape from the Sea Org. The Underground Bunker gave statuses to its own whales. DC District Attorney Stanley Harris schooled Scientology in 1983. Detroit got its Ideal Org. Sylvia DeWall spoke truth to family that had abandoned her. Alec Nevala-Lee’s fine book ‘Astounding’ came out, and he gave us an amazing document he found in his research, when L. Ron Hubbard invented a friendly psychiatrist to rebut Dianetics. On Halloween we released our book with Paulette Cooper, Battlefield Scientology.

A LOOK BACK AT OCTOBER 2017: We received reports that the RPF was a thing of the past. We marveled at the 1989 OT 8 graduation of Margie Zacks. David Miscavige’s new portrait in the belly of the Freewinds wowed us. Aftermath looked at Mace-Kingsley Ranch and talked to Mimi Faust. The vile secret in Dianetics got dissected.

A LOOK BACK AT OCTOBER 2016: Karla Taylor’s lawsuit reminded us of the chances people take when the sue Scientology. We broke the news that Tom Cruise was building a double penthouse in Clearwater. And we ID’d one of the private eyes stalking Leah Remini in Denver.

A LOOK BACK AT OCTOBER 2015: The month began with a lot of Cat White and Jim Carrey and Mark Burton coverage, including the young Hollywood Scientologists she hung out with, and the family in Ireland that had first pointed her toward the church. We went to the London premiere of Louis Theroux’s My Scientology Movie. And thanks to Bryan Seymour and Steve Cannane, our trip to Australia’s cities of Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, and Perth was a great success. And our big bombshell: The “Knowledge Reports” about Leah Remini that informed her book.

A LOOK BACK AT OCTOBER 2014: Scientology’s private threat letter to the S.F. Chronicle. A perplexing tale about Bob Duggan, the richest Scientologist in the world. Tom Cruise and his medal in London. Marty Rathbun ambushed at LAX by raving Jenny Linson. L. Ron Hubbard’s amazing 1949 letter to Forrest Ackerman. Mark Ebner finds Gay Ribisi’s plaques.

A LOOK BACK AT OCTOBER 2013: Live-blogging the Garcia mini-trial in Tampa, Scientology denied by the US Supreme Court, interpreting Leah Remini’s epic dance, and live-blogging a dramatic hearing in Laura DeCrescenzo’s lawsuit in Los Angeles.

 
Five of our favorites from the most-upvoted comments of October 2020

October 2: Mat Pesch
When I was the Security Chief at the International base in Hemet all staff were drilled on how to deal with a process server. I even had a dog that with a hand signal, would grab the papers out of the hand of the process server and run off. One time a senior executive wrote a Knowledge Report on me and was yelling and waving it in my face. I gave the hand signal, the dog leaped up, grabbed the KR and ran off. Priceless.

October 11: Observer
Really, is it any wonder that Masterson grew up with such contempt for women after being steeped in Hubbard’s vile misogyny since childhood? That’s not an excuse by any means. But I do wonder how many men with cracks in their character had those cracks widened to chasms by constant fracking with Hubs’s pathological hate and fear of women.

October 16: Andrea “i-Betty” Garner
We can all make mistakes, granted. But Masterson’s lawyers didn’t make a mistake with a date, a location, point of law or any other myriad examples, their mistake outed a rape victim’s name after being denied the right to do so by a judge. There’s no such thing as coincidence in matters of such import. This was done with malicious intent. Jane, I’m so sorry you are being revictimised in this way. Stay strong.

October 17: Grisian Farce
This comment is not for publication.

October 24: Holy Cow
Freezoner: ‘…how the Jews managed to trick the world to declare war against Germany.’ WOOOOW!! I thought the Freezone section had plumbed the depths of conspiracy nut jobbery but that one really took my breath away. There really are some very sick and dangerous minds out there. It’s chilling.

 
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Source Code

“Now, I realize you’re very happy with the game you are playing. Cheerful game, whatever the game is. Keeps you occupied so you won’t think of other things. Games such as ‘all garbage cans must be emptied.’ You know, high-level game. Something with nobility and future. And you get so you think there’s no other game, you know. ‘Got to keep those garbage cans emptied, man. If we empty them good enough and long enough, why then we’ll get to empty more garbage cans. And maybe someday we’ll work up to only emptying garbage cans and we won’t have to do anything else. Won’t have to think of anything else. And there we are, emptying garbage cans.’ If it weren’t for Scientology, 200 trillion years in the future, there you would be emptying those garbage cans. Well, maybe you like to empty garbage cans, so Scientology isn’t for you. It’s true there have got to be hewers of wood and drawers of water and emptiers of garbage cans. That’s a stable datum for this universe.” — L. Ron Hubbard, December 30, 1961

 
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Avast, Ye Mateys

“PERSONNEL: Jeff Gray (Judy Ziff’s son, 9) is assigned as messenger HCO Div 1 Dept 2. His buddy and watches will be assigned by HCO. He is to attend school in HCI at the regular hours. Policy re children and their hats applies.” — The Commodore, December 30, 1970

 
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Overheard in the FreeZone

“We have a large Field to recover. This will take years, if not decades. But in the meantime, we who are trained are not enough, and we’re not getting younger. Sooner rather than later, we will be moving on to new bodies and new lifetimes. In the meantime, someone has to carry on our work. It’s nice to hope that the Church will get handled and all will get better. But that’s just a hope, not a predictable event on the horizon. So we need much much more training going on in the Field. Aside from emotional/spiritual cleanup, it could be said to be our most important product. (This is actually a sub-product for Clearing the planet or any other product involving auditing.) Moreover, trained people disseminate more, if I recall correctly. Another answer is (I hate to say it): sell books. This was a classic LRH solution. BUT, it is critical that the books you sell direct the reader to Field practices, not the Church of Scientology. If I had a Field practice in an area, I would have cards made up to direct readers to my practice. And then I would find every Dianetics/Scientology book I could, in a fifty mile radius, and insert the cards into each and every one of those books. This includes libraries, new and used bookstores, etc. And then purchase every LRH book I could afford to buy (E-Bay, Craig’s List, etc.) and sell those with cards in them and old lists of orgs in them crossed out.”

 
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Past is Prologue

1996: The Daily Telegraph on a decision in the UK to recognize Scientology leaders as ministers, not cultists: “LEADERS of the sect of Scientology are to be allowed to enter the United Kingdom as recognised religious ministers following a revision in Home Office immigration guidelines. Scientology has previously been defined as a cult by the Home Office. In 1968 it was deemed ‘socially harmful’. Members were prohibited from entering the country to study or to minister. The rules were softened in 1980 and cases were judged individually but no scientologists qualified for the provision for missionaries and religious ministers until this month. The sect was informed of the change by the Immigration and Nationality Directorate of the Home Office via a letter to their solicitors on Dec 10. The news was welcomed as a ‘breakthrough’ by the sect which has its headquarters in East Grinstead, Sussex, and has been struggling to be accepted as a mainstream church since its inception in 1954. A spokesman for the Home Office said: ‘Previously we did not see Scientology as a religion but as a cult. ‘That position has changed which shows that we do what we say which is to keep things under continual review’. The 1971 Immigration Act provides provision for religious ministers to enter the country providing they can prove experience of ministry, religious training and that they are invited by a congregation in Britain.”

 
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Random Howdy

“When I hear Blubbard speak I can totally hear him trying to copy those old time comedians and storytellers like Will Rogers.”

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

Criminal prosecutions:
— Danny Masterson charged for raping three women: Masterson’s demurrer denied Oct 19, arraignment delayed to Jan 6.
— Jay and Jeff Spina, Medicare fraud: Jay’s sentencing delayed for ‘Fatico’ hearing on Jan 19.
— 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 were heard on July 30 at the Eleventh Circuit
— Valerie Haney v. Scientology: Forced to ‘religious arbitration.’ Petition for writ of mandate denied Oct 22 by Cal 2nd Appellate District. Petition for review by state supreme court denied Dec 11.
— Chrissie Bixler et al. v. Scientology and Danny Masterson: Dec 18, re-hearing on motions to compel arbitration, awaiting ruling; Jan 29, Masterson’s request to stay discovery pending the criminal case
— Matt and Kathy Feschbach tax debt: Eleventh Circuit ruled on Sept 9 that Feshbachs can’t discharge IRS debt in bankruptcy. Nov 18: Feshbachs indicated they will enter into consent judgment to pay the debt.
— Brian Statler Sr v. City of Inglewood: Second amended complaint filed, trial set for Nov 9, 2021.

Concluded litigation:
— Author Steve Cannane defamation trial: Trial concluded, Cannane victorious, awarded court costs.
— 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.

 
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SCIENTOLOGY BLACK OPS: Tom Cruise and dirty tricks

The Australian Seven News network cancelled a 10-part investigation of Scientology and its history of dirty tricks. Read the transcripts of the episodes and judge for yourself why Tom Cruise and Tommy Davis might not have wanted viewers to see this hard-hitting series by journalist Bryan Seymour.

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’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] BEST OF THE DECADE: Scientology watching’s biggest 2010s hits at the Underground Bunker
[TWO years ago] Scientology’s building projects & front groups under the microscope in 2018
[THREE years ago] While Scientology struggled, David Miscavige upped his game in 2017
[FOUR years ago] Garcias file new motion asking judge to reject Scientology’s sham arbitration
[FIVE years ago] What Scientology’s ‘social betterment’ front groups are really all about
[SIX years ago] Scientology’s 2014 in review: Our October surprise was all about the Duggans
[SEVEN years ago] Scientology’s 2013 in review: Courtroom antics reported live and on the spot!
[EIGHT years ago] Final Sunday Funnies of 2012: Scientology Targets the Rose Parade!
[NINE years ago] Scientology in the Village Voice: 2011 in Review
[ELEVEN years ago] Ex-Scientology Official Scrambles As His Blog Gets Hacked

 
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Posted by Tony Ortega on December 30, 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, 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

We still consider it one of the most revolting things an attorney has done in the service of the Church of Scientology.

Laura DeCrescenzo was suing the Church of Scientology over what she claimed was years of abuse not only as a “Sea Org” worker, but [...]]]>

We still consider it one of the most revolting things an attorney has done in the service of the Church of Scientology.

Laura DeCrescenzo was suing the Church of Scientology over what she claimed was years of abuse not only as a “Sea Org” worker, but as a child indentured to Scientology. She had started out in the Sea Org at only 12 and was put on the child’s schedule: 90 hours a week, for pennies an hour, when she was paid at all. At 13, she was moved up to the adult’s schedule, 112 hours a week.

Like other Sea Org employees, she worked 365 days a year, and had almost no chance to see her family. At 17, she alleged, she was forced to have an abortion so she could keep up her round-the-clock work schedule.

It was a lawsuit with a lot of shocking allegations, and Laura knew that her best chance to corroborate her claims would be to get her hands on the files that Scientology had kept on her during her employment. Scientology is obsessive about keeping records, and Laura knew that all of the horrible things she had been put through would be coldly recorded in her voluminous folders.

Scientology didn’t want her to have her own files, and fought tooth and nail to keep them from her. When the trial court judge sided with Laura, however, and ordered Scientology to turn over the documents, the church turned to one of its most trusted litigators, high-priced Los Angeles attorney Bert Deixler.

Deixler tried to convince the California State Supreme Court, and then the US Supreme Court, that what was contained in Laura’s files was so “religious” in nature that turning them over to her for her use in a lawsuit would be a shocking betrayal of Scientology’s religious rights.

This is a specialty of Scientology, turning things on their head so the church appears to be the victim, but neither court was swayed, and eventually Scientology had no choice but to turn over tens of thousands of Laura’s own records to her.

We then did a story about what was in those folders, and it was horrific. There were documents, for example, showing that Laura had been disciplined because, at 12 years old, she had admitted to missing her mother.

There were also records confirming that Laura was having difficulty dealing with her abortion, which Scientology knew full well had been forced on her.

Laura eventually won a huge settlement when, on the eve of trial, Scientology leader David Miscavige finally caved and wrote a huge check to end the matter. He knew that that church could never actually go through a trial and have these matters come out in evidence with the press watching.

But we were still stunned that Bert Deixler paid no price for his role in what Scientology had tried to do. Here were documents the church knew were horrific records of the abuse of a young girl in employment of the church, and it had tried to hide that material by having Deixler claim to the highest courts in the land that it was material that was too “religious” to be released.

Seriously, where are other religious organizations on this? Scientology tried to hide records of coerced abortion by claiming it was too religious to turn them over?

We’re still shaking our heads at that. But that’s typical for attorneys who do the real dirty work for Scientology in court, the mainstay litigators who, day in and day out, snow US courts with aggressively deceptive arguments and briefs, and for hundreds of dollars an hour.

We’re currently marveling at the antics of two more litigators, William Forman for the Church of Scientology International and Matthew Hinks for the Religious Technology Center, as they handle the biggest lawsuit against the church in years, the one filed by Danny Masterson’s rape accusers.

Most recently, Forman and Hinks stunned us in their recent filing in the case, when they told Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Steven Kleifield that the “commerce” of Scientology is, indeed, the kind of stalking that the church is accused of in that lawsuit.

The filing was brash and pugnacious, because it reflects the man paying the bills, Scientology leader David Miscavige. Dave’s money has for many years bought him the kind of litigators who will say and do what he wants them to in court, even outlandish things that make little legal sense.

Dave knows that his money ensures that he’ll always have these expensive enablers to do his bidding in court.

 
Phil Jones adds his own experience with Scientology attorney Bert Deixler: Back when we were trying to contact the kids (about 5 years ago) we made numerous attempts. Scientology blocked us from even having a conversation with them. Once disconnected we weren’t even given the chance to say goodbye or even see them at all.

We tried lots of different things and even hooked up with a production company that was shooting a documentary (which never aired) for A&E. During that time we got a “cease and desist” letter from Bert Deixler.

At probably around $1,000 per hour or more there’s no way our son could afford to hire him. Our son is in the Sea Org and probably lucky to make $50 (gross) per week for his 100+ hour work weeks. Scientology obviously orchestrated this to attempt to shut us down. (It didn’t work).

Interesting tidbit. In the letter from Deixler he mentions us having gone to adult protective services. We actually never did go there. It was mentioned to one officer we spoke to at the LAPD Hollywood office that we were ‘considering’ it. We mentioned it to nobody else. Somehow Scientology got this info from the LAPD and figured that we actually did go to the adult protective services to make a report.

Here’s the letter:

Deixler To Jones: Scientology intimidation by Tony Ortega on Scribd

 
The Top 25 People Enabling Scientology

 
The Top 25 People Enabling Scientology

3: The judges
4: The LAPD

 
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Source Code

“A god of this universe, an anthropomorphic god — and I hope that you understand me very clearly when I use this word ‘god’ loosely and even blasphemously, for the good reason that this thing g-o-d is something which man has set up in his image. And it is merely an ambition on the part of a thetan, it’s an effort, a co-effort on the part of thetans to have a playing field and so on. And there is, actually, beings above the beingness of this universe. There are beings, but they are not this anthropomorphic thing who is the jealous god, who has hate and vengeance and so forth, that happens to be above that level. And the jealous god, the most jealous god there would be, would be a god who would insist at all times that he must not be duplicated, even to the point of not using his name in vain. He mustn’t be duplicated. No graven images. His space, it’s all his space and so forth. And we go on this way. Interesting, isn’t it?” — L. Ron Hubbard, December 14, 1953

 
——————–

Avast, Ye Mateys

“SMERSH: Good news. Adelaide trouble had a reprieve when they did not pass a ban bill at once but delayed it until Feb due to the filibuster tactics of our opposition and the ferocity of the defense. The ‘Parliament’ there was considering a bill to ban Scn, backed of course by the Health Minister who is a SMERSH appointee.” — The Commodore, December 14, 1968

 
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Overheard in the FreeZone

“There’s been several research lines on the case for homosexuality. Why none of them has to do with the beings that control the re-incarnation cycle on Earth. (Marcabians). Because some homosexuals are born that way. These ETs manipulate the entities. Can create cloned bodies and can put spirits into containers, mix them and put them back into bodies. Creating composite beings of any kind or sexual preference is implicit.”

 
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Past is Prologue

1999: Dateline NBC aired a follow-up segment on Bob Minton this week. “The Church of Scientology has described Vaughn and Stacy Young and others Minton is funding as liars who commit crimes against the church. And church lawyers hired a team of investigators to span the globe looking for Bob Minton’s dirty laundry. Minton’s family and friends say private eyes told them they feared he was violent, even telling one friend that Minton might go into a church one day and start shooting at Scientologists. When we first broadcast our story, Bob Minton didn’t seem to have a lot of dirty laundry, and it seemed unlikely that he would become violent. But that was then.”

 
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Random Howdy

“Most animals have more of an affinity for their offspring than the average Scientologist.”

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

Criminal prosecutions:
— Danny Masterson charged for raping three women: Masterson’s demurrer denied Oct 19, arraignment delayed to Jan 6.
— Jay and Jeff Spina, Medicare fraud: Jay’s sentencing delayed for ‘Fatico’ hearing on Jan 19.
— 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 were heard on July 30 at the Eleventh Circuit
— Valerie Haney v. Scientology: Forced to ‘religious arbitration.’ Petition for writ of mandate denied Oct 22 by Cal 2nd Appellate District. Petition for review by state supreme court denied Dec 11.
— Chrissie Bixler et al. v. Scientology and Danny Masterson: Dec 18, re-hearing on motions to compel arbitration; Jan 29, Masterson’s request to stay discovery pending the criminal case
— Matt and Kathy Feschbach tax debt: Eleventh Circuit ruled on Sept 9 that Feshbachs can’t discharge IRS debt in bankruptcy. Nov 18: Feshbachs indicated they will enter into consent judgment to pay the debt.
— Brian Statler Sr v. City of Inglewood: Second amended complaint filed, trial set for Nov 9, 2021.

Concluded litigation:
— Author Steve Cannane defamation trial: Trial concluded, Cannane victorious, awarded court costs.
— 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.

 
——————–

SCIENTOLOGY BLACK OPS: Tom Cruise and dirty tricks

The Australian Seven News network cancelled a 10-part investigation of Scientology and its history of dirty tricks. Read the transcripts of the episodes and judge for yourself why Tom Cruise and Tommy Davis might not have wanted viewers to see this hard-hitting series by journalist Bryan Seymour.

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’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] Glam for Xenu: When Scientology celebrities ruled the world
[TWO years ago] Finally, L. Ron Hubbard’s first ‘Clear’ — Sonya Bianchi — found again after 68 years
[THREE years ago] He was Scientology’s most famous spy, then he turned witness and vanished. Now, here he is.
[FOUR years ago] Nora Crest’s powerful new video: Why you can’t be gay in Scientology
[FIVE years ago] Who are those WISE guys? A tipster helps us get some names of Scientology operatives
[SIX years ago] Another Scientology ambush, this time of Marty Rathbun with Louis Theroux present
[SEVEN years ago] Jon Atack: What we have here — in Scientology — is a failure to communicate
[EIGHT years ago] DOX: Florida Officials Fight Attempt to Hide Drug Rehab’s Scientology Connections
[NINE years ago] Scientology Story of the Year: Cast Your Vote Now!

 
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Posted by Tony Ortega on December 14, 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, 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 the hallmarks of Scientology harassment is the “noisy” nature of it. Usually, when you’re the target of a Scientology “Fair Game” campaign (and your proprietor can confirm this from personal experience) you know very well that it’s happening. Scientology wants you to know that your friends and family are being called and visited [...]]]>

 
One of the hallmarks of Scientology harassment is the “noisy” nature of it. Usually, when you’re the target of a Scientology “Fair Game” campaign (and your proprietor can confirm this from personal experience) you know very well that it’s happening. Scientology wants you to know that your friends and family are being called and visited by Scientology foot soldiers (such as a person we previously profiled in this series).

But in recent years we’ve also learned about a different set of operatives that Scientology uses and is willing to spend exorbitant amounts on. These more ghostly individuals are tasked with surveillance that can go to extreme lengths to keep someone under the watchful eye of Scientology leader David Miscavige, while keeping the target unaware that it’s going on.

We learned a stunning amount of detail about this when two of the ghost PIs made the extraordinary move of coming forward in 2012.

Paul Marrick and Greg Arnold were former police officers who had spent 24 years silently stalking a figure that terrified Miscavige, his former Sea Org partner in crime, Pat Broeker. After the death of L. Ron Hubbard in 1986, much of the Scientology membership believed that Broeker and his wife Annie would be successors to the church founder. But Miscavige muscled them out of the way and Broeker went into exile. A paranoid Miscavige wanted to know every move Broeker made, 24 hours a day, so for nearly the next quarter century he paid Marrick and Arnold to tail Broeker.

The two former spies told us that they had gone as far as to rent a house next door to Broeker’s and took advantage of early wireless telephone vulnerabilities to listen in on his phone calls. They had used intermediaries to befriend Broeker for even more information. And they had followed him to Europe and around the US.

And their number one rule, they told us, was never to let Broeker know that he was being watched.

Marrick and Arnold had been told they had jobs for life as long as they didn’t break this rule. But after Marty Rathbun alluded to their operation (but not by name) in the epic 2009 Tampa Bay Times series “The Truth Rundown,” Miscavige cancelled the program and cut Marrick and Arnold loose. So they sued for breach of contract and went public for one really amazing day that we got to spend with them in Texas. (And please read our story about it if you haven’t.) The Tampa Bay Times guys got them the next afternoon. And when Miscavige got wind that the duo were talking to the press, he quickly settled the lawsuit to make them clam up.

Since then we learned about another, similar operation, when Ron Miscavige, Dave’s dad, revealed that he’d been the target of a stalking operation. In this case it was a father-son pair, Dwayne and Daniel Powell (see photo at top) who were following Ron after his 2012 escape from the Sea Org. This time, the two private eyes talked openly about their operation, but in this case it was because they were facing weapons charges for what police found in their car, and they sang like canaries.

Like Merrick and Arnold, the Powells were charged with following their target and making sure he didn’t know it. They put tracking devices on his car, and also used intermediaries to befriend him. But the most important thing they were doing was feeding information daily for David Miscavige’s consumption, and for the price of $10,000 a week in cash.

At one point, when they were watching Ron across a Wal-Mart parking lot, they saw him clutch for his chest. Ron, then 74, was actually reaching for a cell phone that was falling out of his shirt pocket. But from across the parking lot the Powells thought they were seeing an older man having a heart attack. They told police that they called their Florida handler, who immediately put them in touch with Miscavige. Dwyane Powell said that the Scientology leader told him to do nothing. “If he dies, he dies,” Miscavige supposedly said.

It was more important for the PIs to maintain their cover, and to make sure that Ron never knew he was being followed, than to intervene and possibly save his life.

Are there Scientology ghost PIs working today, silently following people that David Miscavige wants watched around the clock? Almost certainly. We can think of a dozen people Miscavige is terrified of that he would want watched.

And so these former cops and private eyes, whoever they are today, help Dave maintain his Fair Game empire.

 
The Top 25 People Enabling Scientology

3: The judges

 
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Source Code

“Sex — it’s interesting, but aberrative value of sex compared to the aberrative value of eight is zero. Of course, what happens to somebody like Freud that concentrates on sex, is he really doesn’t have guts enough to just kick completely outside all agreements with his civilization. And for somebody in 1894 to have suddenly said, ‘God — well, I tell you about God, he’s a trick!’ They probably would have lynched him. They’ll probably lynch me yet, but anyway … For somebody to have kicked outside the confines of the church at that time would have been too adventurous to contemplate. It almost is now.” — L. Ron Hubbard, December 2, 1953

 
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Avast, Ye Mateys

“A Court of Ethics is convened on MSM Ann Tidman. She did not come on duty till 0930. This violates Policy No. 10. Ann Tidman is to appear before the Court at 1930 in the Aft Lounge. Court Officer is Ens. Wayne Alkire.” — Ens. C. Cariotaki, T/3rd Mate, Convening Officer, December 2, 1970

 
——————–

Overheard in the FreeZone

“At a fundamental level of case address the Factors, Qs, Axioms of Scientology, Logics, Scales and Action Definitions plus associated LRH Source References are ORIGINATED by each person in their own terms and within their own context simply because as LRH states in THE STABILITY OF SCIENTOLOGY providing one actually APPLIES the subject these fundamental truths of life and existence are simply there to be found by anyone who does the spiritual work. THIS IS ALSO THE ACID TEST OF ANY RESEARCH ROUTE. DOES THE PERSON END UP ORIGINATING BASIC LRH PRECEPTS IN THEIR OWN TERMS AND CONTEXT? That’s WHY Scientology as defined by LRH is stable, WHY ‘Standard Tech’ exists and WHY one exercises the self-discipline to study and apply the PRINCIPLES of the subject as defined by LRH who quite simply was able to define these principles at a level of As-Isness beyond individuation because he created the opportunity for himself to test, verify and do so. Scientology was discovered and is there to be found by anyone who studies and applies it.”

 
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Past is Prologue

1996: Jason Scott, victor in his case against the Cult Awareness Network, has changed attorneys. Scientologist Kendrick Moxon, who has attempted to liquidate CAN, was dismissed. In his place, Graham Berry. “In replacing Kendrick Moxon, Jason Scott said that he had not seen a penny of his judgment against the Cult Awareness Network and that he was now retaining Graham Berry to try and negotiate a settlement that would both put a reasonable sum of money in his pocket and perhaps enable the Cult Awareness Network to emerge from the bankruptcy it filed as a result of his judgment against it. In addition, Mr. Scott said that he was tired of being a Scientology poster-boy, and that he felt Kendrick Moxon had discarded him after he had obtained the judgment against the Cult Awareness Network. Now, said Mr. Scott, he merely wants to settle his claims against CAN, obtain some money, reunite with his wife and family and put this whole saga behind him.”

 
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Random Howdy

“I’m an old punk who never had much time for hippies, but in retrospect I gotta admit they accomplished more than we punks did. We just had better fashion and got the music back to where it should be. I don’t know, but it always seems that after a certain point in any movement that the soldiers outlive their usefulness and the diplomats always take over.”

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

Criminal prosecutions:
— Danny Masterson charged for raping three women: Masterson’s demurrer denied Oct 19, arraignment delayed to Jan 6.
— Jay and Jeff Spina, Medicare fraud: Jay’s sentencing delayed for ‘Fatico’ hearing on Jan 19.
— 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 were heard on July 30 at the Eleventh Circuit
— Valerie Haney v. Scientology: Forced to ‘religious arbitration.’ Petition for writ of mandate denied Oct 22 by Cal 2nd Appellate District. Petition for review by state supreme court filed Oct 30.
— Chrissie Bixler et al. v. Scientology and Danny Masterson: Dec 18, re-hearing on motions to compel arbitration; Jan 29, Masterson’s request to stay discovery pending the criminal case
— Matt and Kathy Feschbach tax debt: Eleventh Circuit ruled on Sept 9 that Feshbachs can’t discharge IRS debt in bankruptcy. Nov 18: Feshbachs indicated they will enter into consent judgment to pay the debt.
— Brian Statler Sr v. City of Inglewood: Second amended complaint filed, trial set for Nov 9, 2021.

Concluded litigation:
— Author Steve Cannane defamation trial: Trial concluded, Cannane victorious, awarded court costs.
— 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.

 
——————–

SCIENTOLOGY BLACK OPS: Tom Cruise and dirty tricks

The Australian Seven News network cancelled a 10-part investigation of Scientology and its history of dirty tricks. Read the transcripts of the episodes and judge for yourself why Tom Cruise and Tommy Davis might not have wanted viewers to see this hard-hitting series by journalist Bryan Seymour.

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’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] TWO MORE WOMEN COME FORWARD TO LAPD WITH DANNY MASTERSON RAPE ALLEGATIONS
[TWO years ago] How to finance a Scientology church in a city without any Scientologists
[THREE years ago] DOX: Scientology’s pricey Florida ‘spiritual mecca’ keeps up its value in latest tax records
[FOUR years ago] You saw Bonny Elliott talk about her battle with Scientology; Now hear it from her husband
[FIVE years ago] Hey, Legoland: A former Scientology youth explains what your money will buy
[SIX years ago] Another Riffer-ific salvo from Scientology leader David Miscavige in our legal roundup
[SEVEN years ago] Here Comes Scientology, Here Comes Scientology, Right Down Hollywood Boulevard!
[EIGHT years ago] Scientology Targeting Eagle Scouts In New Initiative

 
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Posted by Tony Ortega on December 2, 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, 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

 Where is Shelly?

That’s one of the most frequent questions we get about the Church of Scientology, referring to Michele “Shelly” Miscavige, the wife of church leader David Miscavige, who has not been seen at a Scientology function in a little more than 15 years.

We’ve written extensively about her disappearance since 2012, and through multiple lines [...]]]>

 
Where is Shelly?

That’s one of the most frequent questions we get about the Church of Scientology, referring to Michele “Shelly” Miscavige, the wife of church leader David Miscavige, who has not been seen at a Scientology function in a little more than 15 years.

We’ve written extensively about her disappearance since 2012, and through multiple lines of evidence we have come to believe that during that entire time, since the late summer 2005, she’s been held at a secretive small compound owned by a Scientology subsidiary known as the Church of Spiritual Technology which is in the mountains northeast of Los Angeles.

The CST compound is in a lovely spot, not far from Lake Arrowhead and a mile or so from the small mountain town of Crestline. A tiny hamlet nearby is known as Twin Peaks, and that’s how people usually refer to the compound itself.

Last year we went with an Australian news team to Twin Peaks, walked around the compound, and even rang the bell on the gate. We got no answer. Mike Rinder also went up there for the Aftermath series to show how private investigators are stationed across the street. He also spoke with a private investigator who claimed to have been stationed there, and said that Shelly is watched by armed guards to make sure she doesn’t escape.

So if Mike Rinder and your proprietor know where Shelly is, and we’ve both been up to the outside gate, why can’t law enforcement go in there and check on her?

Leah Remini attempted to do something about that when she filed a missing person report on Shelly with the Los Angeles Police Department in August 2013. A few days later the LAPD told reporters (after we had broken news of Leah’s move) that her report was “unfounded.” LAPD Lieutenant Andre Dawson told us that two of his detectives had visited Shelly and that she declined to make a statement. He didn’t confirm where the meeting took place, and when we asked him if the meeting had taken place in the presence of other church officials, he quickly responded “that’s classified” and wouldn’t say anything more.

Leah went to the LAPD because the address she had for the Miscaviges, the place where she was told to send cards and letters as a church member, was in Hollywood. But the CST compound in Twin Peaks is not in LAPD territory. It’s actually in nearby San Bernardino County.

In 2016, we heard from a branch of Shelly’s family that is not involved in Scientology. They asked us for some advice about what to do, saying that they at least wanted to make sure that Shelly was all right. We pointed out to them that the CST compound is not in Los Angeles, and so they approached the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department, asking that a welfare check be done on her.

They were told that the Sheriff’s Department would require evidence that Shelly was at that location, and the department did nothing.

Surprised by that response, we sent our own letter to the Sheriff’s Department, explaining the evidence that Shelly was located at the compound, as well as a recent possible sighting of her in the town of Crestline itself. We received this response…

Hello Tony,

Concerning the welfare of someone within the jurisdiction of the Sheriff’s department, any call for service we receive will be appropriately addressed and handled accordingly.

We encourage anyone with information regarding a crime, or potential crime, to contact Sheriff’s Dispatch or their local Sheriffs station to report it so the matter can be investigated and resolved.

Thank you,

Adam Cervantes, Deputy Sheriff

San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Dept.
Public Affairs Division

So, the LAPD claims it checked on Shelly in 2013 but won’t provide any details about it, and the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department says it doesn’t have enough evidence that she’s at the CST compound to go check on her.

Is Shelly even alive? We see this suggestion a lot on social media, that Shelly is already dead or has been killed, and there’s a good reason why we tell people it’s probably not true.

Scientology may be very effective at keeping Shelly out of sight, but covering up a death is another matter entirely. Consider the case of Anne Tidman, for example. Also known as Annie Broeker, Tidman was one of the last people to see L. Ron Hubbard alive, and she was also kept out of sight at a Scientology compound for years. When she developed cancer and then became very ill, she was moved to an apartment in Hollywood, where she died in 2011. Scientology was able to keep news of her death quiet for several months, but eventually her family was told about it, and that’s how we became aware of it. If Shelly died, we think the news would get out even more quickly.

Also, Scientology’s attorneys, in reaction to Leah Remini’s episode, made claims to the media that they had either personally seen Shelly or communicated with her. Scientology attorneys may be unpleasant human beings, but they aren’t going to risk their law licenses and claim that a dead woman is alive and well.

Shelly is alive.

She is at the CST compound near Crestline, California, the same place she’s been for 15 years. (We have amazing drone footage of the place, and a former employee there even pinpointed where he thinks Shelly is living and working there.)

She is now 59 years old, and if claims of a recent sighting in the town of Crestline is correct, she may be in ill health.

And yes, she may be resigned to her fate.

But why can’t her family spend time with Shelly Miscavige? Why can’t she speak for herself? Why can’t we ask her to explain, in her own words, why she can never leave?

One major reason is that the San Bernardino Sheriff’s Office refuses to do anything about David Miscavige banishing his wife to a tiny mountain compound for the last 15 years. And for that alone, the law enforcement agency finds itself on this list.

 
The Top 25 People Enabling Scientology

3: The judges
4: The LAPD

 
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Source Code

“Just this morning I am in correspondence with the Atomic Energy Commission on some material and have been for the last year and a half. We have some answers in mathematics in which they’re very interested, and so forth…If a man is burned today, he’s going to suffer because of it. There isn’t much going to interrupt the course of that fission burn except Scientology…Atomic radiation isn’t actually too hard to handle on an alleviation basis — on an assist basis — if your boy is not in too bad condition, if preclear is not too bad condition.” — L. Ron Hubbard, November 5, 1956

 
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Overheard in the FreeZone

“What is so remarkable about Ron is he treated us as ‘adults,’ as the thetans we really are. He didn’t treat us as victims. He gave us the straight poop. It was like ‘hey, here is some incredible stuff and if you want to really go free this is how you do it.’ And one big way is to take responsibility for your own actions. Then you have some who started on that path, but because they didn’t step up to higher responsibility levels, or more accurately didn’t use tech to really come clean, are like little kids blaming Ron. And then you dig further and find out they have major crimes! Real criminals. And boy, these guys are the biggest ‘victims’ on the planet!”

 
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Past is Prologue

2003: The New York Daily News reported that comedian Denis Leary raised money recently to allow New York firefighters to undergo Scientology’s purification rundown. “Denis Leary is denying allegations that he’s being used by Tom Cruise to spread the word of the controversial Church of Scientology. Leary raised $720,000 for firefighters this past week at his third annual Bash for New York’s Bravest, attended by Robin Williams, Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) and John McEnroe, among others. Leary said recently that Cruise wants to build the smoke-eaters ‘a steam and sauna place on Long Island [to help] their condition’ – which, he said, Cruise is funding privately.”

 
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Random Howdy

“Goodnight everyone and get your rest because tomorrow we travel further up the McSavage River into the Heart Of Darkness.”

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

Criminal prosecutions:
— Danny Masterson charged for raping three women: Masterson’s demurrer denied Oct 19, arraignment delayed to January 6.
— Jay and Jeff Spina, Medicare fraud: Jay’s sentencing set for October 29 in White Plains, NY delayed to January.
— 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 were heard on July 30 at the Eleventh Circuit
— Valerie Haney v. Scientology: Forced to ‘religious arbitration.’ Petition for a writ of mandate denied Oct 22 by Cal 2nd Appellate District.
— Chrissie Bixler et al. v. Scientology and Danny Masterson: Nov 6 (motions to compel arbitration)
— Matt and Kathy Feschbach tax debt: Eleventh Circuit ruled on Sept 9 that Feshbachs can’t discharge IRS debt in bankruptcy. Oct 19: Feshbachs still considering further appellate relief.
— Brian Statler Sr v. City of Inglewood: Second amended complaint filed, trial set for Nov 9, 2021.
— Author Steve Cannane defamation trial: Trial concluded, awaiting verdict.

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.

 
——————–

SCIENTOLOGY BLACK OPS: Tom Cruise and dirty tricks

The Australian Seven News network cancelled a 10-part investigation of Scientology and its history of dirty tricks. Read the transcripts of the episodes and judge for yourself why Tom Cruise and Tommy Davis might not have wanted viewers to see this hard-hitting series by journalist Bryan Seymour.

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 coming November 1 to 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’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] AUDIO LEAK: You’re invited to a Scientology TV watch party at the Portland org!
[TWO years ago] Jada Pinkett Smith reconciles with Leah Remini and puts herself in Scientology’s crosshairs
[THREE years ago] Shakeup at Narconon Arrowhead: Former worker dishes fresh intel on Scientology’s rehab flagship
[FOUR years ago] An enduring myth in Scientology — that L. Ron Hubbard actually read your letters
[FIVE years ago] Can the tabloids ignore this photo of Tom Cruise getting his Scientology on?
[SIX years ago] Ken Dandar files another court appeal to get out of Scientology’s million-dollar noose
[SEVEN years ago] Luis Garcia Responds: We Don’t Trust Scientology’s Trustee Ploy
[EIGHT years ago] Dianetics Read Aloud: Let Ron’s Wisdom Wash Over You
[NINE years ago] Scientology Dyspepsia: Commenters of the Week!

 
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——————–

Posted by Tony Ortega on November 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

No US politician has ever paid a price for speaking at a Scientology event like Karen Bass did this summer.

You know the story. Joe Biden was supposedly serious about Los Angeles US Representative Karen Bass as a possible VP candidate when Breitbart pointed out that she had [...]]]>

No US politician has ever paid a price for speaking at a Scientology event like Karen Bass did this summer.

You know the story. Joe Biden was supposedly serious about Los Angeles US Representative Karen Bass as a possible VP candidate when Breitbart pointed out that she had shilled for David Miscavige at a 2010 “Ideal Org” grand opening.

When asked about it, Bass, who was a state senator in 2010, said she spoke at the event for the simple reason that it took place in her district. But we then looked up the old district maps and pointed out that this wasn’t true. She’d crossed over a couple of district boundaries to give her speech extolling L. Ron Hubbard at the LA Ideal Org grand opening. Bass had to correct her statement, and it turned out she hadn’t even written the first one. It was a series of stumbles at exactly the wrong time for her.

Was Biden really thinking about choosing Bass, and was the kerfuffle over her Scientology appearance a factor in his choosing Kamala Harris instead? We’ll probably never know.

(And for the record, Kamala Harris has detractors who say she rudely turned away former Scientologists who came to her with an opportunity to prosecute the church when she was California’s attorney general. But we talked to the person who brought that matter to Harris and read the letter that the AG’s office issued, and it calmly explained that the state AG couldn’t handle what was a federal matter. It wasn’t rude, but we understood why the former Scientologist was unhappy about it. At this point, we haven’t seen any shilling for Scientology from Harris of the sort that Bass engaged in.)

While it might have just been a case of political spin, one of the ways Bass made things even worse for herself was trying to claim that in 2010 when she gave her speech the word about Scientology’s abuses hadn’t become public yet, and that since Leah Remini made those abuses more generally known with her A&E series (2016-2019), it was a different matter today.

That was bullshit. Scientology has been exposed time and time again since the 1950s, and there’s simply no excuse for politicians not knowing what a controversial group Scientology is, and that it’s been accused of ripping apart families, forcing young women to have abortions, and extorting people through extreme methods of control for decades.

And yet, Scientology has traditionally found a way to convince politicians to sing its praises. This is no accident. As Rod Keller has explained here many times, Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard developed a policy of “safepointing” public officials by feeding them a lot of happy propaganda. The point? Not so much to convince lawmakers to overtly advocate for Scientology, but more importantly to make it less likely that the government launches new investigations of the church’s controversies.

Sadly, politicians on both sides of the aisle have taken the bait time and time again.

On the Republican side, for example, Scientology has counted on former Indiana Congressman Dan Burton to help it lobby for its anti-psychiatry group CCHR.

And as for Democrats, we’re wondering whether Brad Sherman’s shilling for a Washington DC Scientology facility is going to become an issue in his campaign to become the chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee after the current chair, Eliot Engel, leaves office in January after being defeated in a primary.

Like Karen Bass, Sherman is running for a highly coveted office, and also like her he stood up to speak at an “Ideal Org” Scientology event. On October 31, 2009 he gave a speech extolling the organization’s work in “human rights” at the grand opening for the new Ideal Org in Washington DC (see photo above).

What a feather in Scientology’s cap to have a friend like Brad Sherman holding the gavel of a powerful committee like Foreign Affairs in Congress, especially when Scientology counts on the US government to chide countries like Germany for cracking down on Miscavige and his abuses.

 
The Top 25 People Enabling Scientology

3: The judges
4: The LAPD
5: The dirty tricks private eyes
6: The Riverside County Sheriff’s Department

 
——————–

Jon Atack has the tables turned

 
——————–

Source Code

“You got a pc who isn’t ARC breaky and you now feel happy about the thing and you can go on auditing and find out what is wrong. This is to get him back into the realm of the living. So you see, that’s a valuable thing to know. If that fails you, well, you’ve always got suicide. You could propose that to the pc. That would solve his problems. ‘R2-45’ by its various . . various other techniques. So don’t think that you just have this one technique to fall back on. Now, that’s a valuable thing to know, that you can probably desensitize the situation . . that is to say, you can resensitize the meter by running the goal.” — L. Ron Hubbard, October 31, 1961

 
——————–

Overheard in the FreeZone

“If we don’t do something in an organized way, Scientology may become… another Religion. World going down, zombies is the end product of this civilization. Will you take it or allow it to happen? Live in a world full of Zombies? Imagine the ideal scene: Thousands working together, thousands of aware thetans like you and me. And they all have one thing in common: A strong conviction they are immortal beings. Those are the ones I want. Aware Thetans. The world is going down fast now. We have been losing all the way. There comes a guy, says: Admin is completely out. Too few get it. Other-intentiondess, a disease worst than COVID-19. As long as I am keyed out I am going to post so You, yes You, see this and Re-cognite! Maybe new people, fresh in mind and mental vigor need to get to know Scientology. At least You can help with that.”

 
——————–

Past is Prologue

1998: The St. Petersburg Times reported this week that Scientology has submitted a plan for the Super Power Building to the city of Clearwater. “The Church of Scientology is signaling that its plan for a major expansion in downtown is closer to reality. Church officials said Thursday that they will have a Nov. 21 groundbreaking. They also have taken the significant step of filing a site plan with the city, which lays out the project’s scope and officially sets it in motion.”

 
——————–

Random Howdy

“As Claire pointed out, the whole ‘What is true for you is what you have observed yourself’ is a circular logic conundrum. It should be ‘If something isn’t true for you it’s because you have a M/U.’ I recall reading a paper by Touretzky or Kent that explained how the ‘misunderstood word’ is what everything else in Scientology revolves around. It is the key.”

 
——————–

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

Criminal prosecutions:
— Danny Masterson charged for raping three women: Masterson’s demurrer denied Oct 19, arraignment delayed to November 2.
— Jay and Jeff Spina, Medicare fraud: Jay’s sentencing set for October 29 in White Plains, NY delayed to January.
— 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 were heard on July 30 at the Eleventh Circuit
— Valerie Haney v. Scientology: Forced to ‘religious arbitration.’ Petition for a writ of mandate denied Oct 22 by Cal 2nd Appellate District.
— Chrissie Bixler et al. v. Scientology and Danny Masterson: Nov 6 (motions to compel arbitration)
— Matt and Kathy Feschbach tax debt: Eleventh Circuit ruled on Sept 9 that Feshbachs can’t discharge IRS debt in bankruptcy. Oct 19: Feshbachs still considering further appellate relief.
— Brian Statler Sr v. City of Inglewood: Second amended complaint filed, trial set for Nov 9, 2021.
— Author Steve Cannane defamation trial: Trial concluded, awaiting verdict.

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.

 
——————–

SCIENTOLOGY BLACK OPS: Tom Cruise and dirty tricks

The Australian Seven News network cancelled a 10-part investigation of Scientology and its history of dirty tricks. Read the transcripts of the episodes and judge for yourself why Tom Cruise and Tommy Davis might not have wanted viewers to see this hard-hitting series by journalist Bryan Seymour.

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 coming November 1 to 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’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] How ‘The Kominsky Method’ nailed it: Writer Chuck Lorre’s secret Scientology past
[TWO years ago] On sale today: Battlefield Scientology — the best of the Bunker, with Paulette Cooper!
[THREE years ago] Garry Scarff, 1956-2017: A complex figure and dogged researcher
[FOUR years ago] Leah Remini reveals that she’s been stalked during production of her new TV series
[FIVE years ago] Jon Atack: The ‘Axioms’ — L. Ron Hubbard’s attempt to make Scientology sound ‘sciencey’
[SIX years ago] A reminder, this Halloween, that Scientology’s tricks tear families apart
[SEVEN years ago] Honesty in Scientology: Jefferson Hawkins Helps Us With Another Ethical Quandary
[EIGHT years ago] It’s Halloween, and Narconon is Very, Very Afraid
[NINE years ago] Scientology Investigation of South Park the Last Straw for Katie Holmes: Aussie Magazine Report

 
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Posted by Tony Ortega on October 31, 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