Tony Ortega is a journalist who was formerly the editor of The Village Voice. He's written about Scientology since 1995, and in May 2015 released a book about Scientology's harassment of Paulette Cooper titled 'The Unbreakable Miss Lovely.' He continues to monitor breaking developments in the Scientology world from an undisclosed location in an underground bunker he shares with four cats and one of them wrinkly Shar Pei dogs. Despite his super-secret security protections, you can still reach him pretty easily by sending him a message at tonyo94 AT gmail.com (Drop him a line if you'd like to get an e-mail whenever a new story is posted.) [Header image courtesy John Rickard]
FOLLOW ME ON
Daily Notifications
Sign up for free emails to receive the feature story every morning in your inbox at tonyortega.substack.com

Categories

Monthly Archives

Scientology’s 2017: Another year is in the books at the Underground Bunker!

 Just a few hours remain in this wild year of 2017, and we have a lot to get through today before we welcome in 2018 tonight with the help of Observer and our HowdyCon poster for []

ADVERTISEMENT

Scientology sues Laura DeCrescenzo in latest plot to kill her 8-year forced-abortion claim

[Eric Lieberman and Bert Deixler]

From the “you have to be kidding us” department, we have this last-minute 2017 news. A week ago, Scientology’s attorneys Eric Lieberman and Bert Deixler filed a federal lawsuit on behalf of the Church of Scientology International in California.

The defendant? Laura []

Joy Villa on the prospect of Trump going after Scientology’s tax-exempt status: ‘Nope’

 Scientology celeb Joy Villa is getting a ton of ink this week for her complaint that former Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski slapped her butt inappropriately at a social gathering in November. []

Looking back at July ’17: How a billionaire set up psych drugs to fuel Scientology into the future

[Bob and Trish Duggan, their trophy, and David Miscavige]

We’re continuing to look back at 2017’s most significant stories here at the Underground Bunker and today it’s a flashback to July in our annual Scientology []

Scientology donor Joy Villa aiming for Ileana Ros-Lehtinen’s Miami congressional district

 It’s been a question a lot of bewildered Scientology watchers have been asking recently: How far can church donor Joy Villa take her “MAGA” fame after wearing a pro-Trump dress at the Grammy awards in February, and which Congressional district is she thinking of parachuting into to make her run for the []

The Underground Bunker’s 2017 Scientology year-in-review starts today!

[Leah, Mike, and the Bunker regulars]

It’s been a crazy and uncertain news year, but one thing we know with utter certainty: 2017 has been a Scientology watching year like no other. And for that, we can thank Leah Remini and Mike []

LIVE FROM SAN ANTONIO: Will a former Scientology enforcer be compelled to testify?

[Marc Wiegand and Marty Rathbun in court when they were on the same side. Photo: Jennifer Whitney]

Although half of Texas is underwater, your proprietor managed to get himself to the Lone Star State in time for this morning’s portentous court hearing in San Antonio, where we hope to be providing live updates direct from the []

What’s at stake in Tuesday’s San Antonio court hearing with Scientology’s former enforcer

[Ray Jeffrey, and the Rathbuns]

On Tuesday morning, three attorneys who used to represent Monique and Mark “Marty” Rathbun are scheduled to go into a San Antonio courtroom and argue that the judge (who will be assigned to the case that morning) should order that the Rathbuns sit for sworn depositions and turn over a large []

REPORT: David Miscavige has not been to Scientology’s secretive ‘Int Base’ in four years

 Much of what we know about the highest echelons of the Church of Scientology in recent years comes from a number of former high-ranking executives who left the organization between 2004 and 2010. Those former execs — Marty Rathbun (who left the church in 2004), Marc and Claire Headley (2005), Amy Scobee (2005), Tom DeVocht []

On the ‘Leah Remini’ Reddit special this week: A powerful Texas duo

 Cult expert Steve Hassan let the cat out of the bag last night, saying at his Facebook page that he’s one of three guests on this week’s “Reddit AMA” special episode of Leah Remini: Scientology and the Aftermath which is airing on A&E Tuesday at 10 pm. We can tell you who the other two []