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 Leah Remini finally stopped with the coded messages and spoke directly and publicly about leaving Scientology today with her appearance on The Ellen Degeneres Show. But it still was a very limited statement, and nothing like the detail that we provided when we broke the story of her defection on July 8 and in a lengthy interview with her sister Nicole on July 18.
It’s a big deal that Leah said anything at all on such a popular daytime show, and Ellen’s reactions are priceless. But essentially, Leah’s story remains untold by her, and we’re looking forward to her going into so many things we’ve learned about her defection from Scientology: the scene at the wedding of Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes in 2006, the three months of interrogations she went through when she dared to ask about the disappearance of the wife of Scientology leader David Miscavige, and how she managed to convince her entire family to leave with her. It’s a great story, and it remains to be told by her. Leah, we’re listening! Continue reading Leah Remini on The Ellen DeGeneres Show: Fairly Tight-Lipped About Scientology
 Alfreddie Johnson behind Louis Farrakhan and singer Stacy Francis at a Scientology Hollywood Celebrity Centre event, circa 2006 Last year, Drew Harwell of the Tampa Bay Times described a nightmare scenario — a collection of Scientology and Nation of Islam hucksters who had teamed up to bleed dry a charter school in Dunedin, Florida. They had been sent out to Florida by Alfreddie Johnson’s Scientology front group, the World Literacy Crusade, and were led by WLC’s executive director, Hanan Islam, who told parents and teachers not to worry, she wouldn’t “push any religion” on the kids. But soon enough, pupils at the Life Force Arts and Technology Academy were being herded into Scientology events at the Tampa org. Their course materials, meanwhile, were heavy on “Study Tech” from Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard. Continue reading Scientology and Nation Of Islam Education Hucksters Marching on Sacramento!
 Never forget In 1979, the full extent of Scientology’s dirty tricks campaigns, illegal break-ins, and smear attempts had been revealed in documents seized by the FBI two years earlier. One of the targets of Scientology’s destructive schemes was the Clearwater Sun, a daily newspaper that served the town Scientology had stealthily taken over in 1975. Documents seized by the FBI showed that the Sun‘s publisher, editors, and reporters had been targeted with surveillance and smear schemes. Church spies were planted in the newsroom and advertising departments, plans were made to lie to advertisers to get them to drop the paper, and other plans were hatched to devalue the paper until the church could buy it and take control. The church also investigated letter writers who spoke critically of the church. Continue reading The 1979 Clearwater Sun Editorial the Tampa Bay Times Should Run Today
 Jon Atack is the author of A Piece of Blue Sky, one of the very best books on L. Ron Hubbard and Scientology. He has a new edition of the book for sale, and on Saturdays he’s helping us sift through the legends, myths, and contested facts about Scientology that tend to get hashed and rehashed in books, articles, and especially on the Internet.
Jon, we have a feeling you’re going to get us in a lot of trouble this week. You’ve been unearthing some real gems for us recently, but in this investigation, you’ve found some connections in the early writings of Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard that suggest he owes a greater debt to some psychiatric techniques than his followers might like to admit. We have a feeling today’s comment section is going to be lively! Continue reading Scientology Heresy: Jon Atack on L. Ron Hubbard’s Debt to Psychiatry
 We have some rare video of David Miscavige, leader of the Church of Scientology, giving a drawn-out and very strange explanation for why and how the IRS battled and ultimately caved to the church over its tax exempt status in 1993. The speech is from the New Year’s Eve 2000 Scientology event, which we hadn’t seen before, and it was edited into a funky video presentation that was assembled in 2007 by J. Swift, who tells us the thing hasn’t been online for several years.
We’d love to get your thoughts on this pre-Anonymous bit of church criticism, and Miscavige’s weird explanation for what motivated the IRS. Continue reading VIDEO: Scientology Leader David Miscavige’s Weird Explanation for the IRS Victory
 Marty and Monique Rathbun Last night, stunning new documents were filed in Monique Rathbun’s lawsuit against the Church of Scientology and its leader, David Miscavige. New defendants have been added to the lawsuit, which is heading for a temporary injunction hearing a week from today. But the real fireworks come in responses to a declaration filed last week by Miscavige in his attempt to be let out of the lawsuit. Miscavige argued that he should be let out of the suit because he has only a limited role in Scientology, has conducted no activities in the state of Texas, and he has never even heard of one of his fellow defendants, a private investigator named Monty Drake. We predicted that Miscavige might be stepping into some trouble with those statements — in our own reporting, we had talked to two men who said they worked directly for Miscavige and had conducted business for him in Texas. Continue reading THE MARTY RATHBUN AFFIDAVIT: Scientology Leader David Miscavige Lied To Texas Court
 Jonny Jacobsen Cour de Cassation , France’s highest court, which is considering an appeal of the church’s fraud conviction which was upheld last year. He sent us this report…Scientology’s lawyers argued today in France’s highest court that they did not get a fair trial on appeal, because when the defendants walked out of the proceedings half-way through, the appeal court did not stop proceedings to get them new lawyers. Continue reading Our Man in Paris, Jonny Jacobsen, on the Scientology Appeal in France’s Highest Court
 Take off, Clark! Er, hoser! Oh, Narconon. For so many years you were Scientology’s reliable cash cow, doing your best to pretend that you actually had nothing to do with the church itself, but basking in the glow of testimonials by Scientology’s biggest celebrities — Tom Cruise, John Travolta, and Kirstie Alley, who all parroted that you were doing legitimate work as a drug rehab network. And now, it’s all falling apart so fast we can hardly keep up. Continue reading Scientology’s Drug Rehab Network Stymied in Canada, Sued by Insurers, Generally Screwed
 Claire Headley is taking us on our journey to train as Scientologists. She and her husband Marc were Sea Org workers who escaped from Scientology’s International Base in 2005. She spent years working with Scientology’s “tech,” and was trusted to oversee the auditing of Tom Cruise. Go here to see the first part in this series.
Last week, Claire, you introduced us to Scientology’s “security checks” — tough interrogations that all Scientologists eventually experience on their way up the “Bridge to Total Freedom.” Next on our way up the Bridge is Expanded Grade 3, which seems less menacing, but still carries some pretty steep prices. CLAIRE: Well, after this and Grade 4 we’re on to Dianetics and the state of Clear… THE BUNKER: In that case, where’s our checkbook! Continue reading Making the Grade: Scientology Prepares Us for the Future
 AS SEEN ON TV: The title image for Bryan Seymour’s report on Today Tonight The Underground Bunker has teamed up with another Australian news organization for an exclusive story about Scientology. In this case, we are pleased to have worked with Bryan Seymour of the 7 News program Today Tonight. We coordinated with Seymour to investigate the story of Manuela Oliveira, a woman who had been a rising dancer building a solid television choreography career, working on such shows as The Voice, and The X Factor, and for such stars as Jennifer Lopez, Rihanna, and Paula Abdul. Three years ago, Manuela moved to Los Angeles from Australia with her boyfriend and fellow choreographer, Yannus Sufandi, as the two followed their dreams of breaking into Hollywood. Two years later, their dreams were disrupted and Manuela had abandoned her relationship with Yannus. To her family’s utter surprise, she had given up everything to join the Church of Scientology’s strict inner corps, the Sea Organization. Continue reading SCIENTOLOGY’S PRIVATE DANCER: A Story of Seduction, Intervention, and Betrayal
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Leah Remini finally stopped with the coded messages and spoke directly and publicly about leaving Scientology today with her appearance on The Ellen Degeneres Show. But it still was a very limited statement, and nothing like the detail that we provided when we broke the story of her defection on July 8 and in a lengthy interview with her sister Nicole on July 18.
