outside Celebrity Centre; newspaper article titled “Scientology–A Long Trail of Controversy”; another shot of Celebrity Centre; part of newspaper article title “struggle for credibility” VO: Over its rocky 45- year history, Scientology has driven for mainstream acceptance. DAVID MISCAVIGE (interview): People have been searching for thousands of years for spiritual release and freedom, and what we have in Scientology is the answer. How to achieve that. JOHN TRAVOLTA (on movie set in Army camouflage outfit): Ultimately, the whole purpose is to ...

footage of hippies; picture of LRH with other Scienos VO: The United States of the early ’60s saw a new generation of Americans, suspicious of traditional authority. The atmosphere was ripe for L. Ron Hubbard, a sci-fi writer gone spiritual leader, to spread his promises of do-it-yourself healing to the people. L. RON HUBBARD (from video): We live in a world where, where, where, where we have governments and we have societies and so forth, who are desperately trying to help ...

pictures of FBI raid on Scn churches; newspaper article titled, “Secret probe sparks raid on Scientology” VO: On July 7, 1977, 134 FBI agents stormed into Scientology centers in Washington and Los Angeles. Washington Post newspaper article titled, “Scientologists Kept Files on ‘Enemies’ ROBERT VAUGHN YOUNG (voice of): We hit the front page of every newspaper in the country at that time. footage of Scn press conference; copy of “Alaska Mental Health Act”; newspaper article titled, “Woman Sees ‘Political Siberia’ In ...

outside Celebrity Centre in Los Angeles; magazine “Bay Guardian” with cover story “Scientology secrets revealed in 2 million dollar consumer fraud case”; outside AOLA building in Los Angeles; news footage from Julie Christofferson Titchbourne trial in Portland, with Scienos picketing VO: The ’80s saw a series of lawsuits brought against the Church of Scientology. Ex-members united, claiming they had been lied to and bilked out of millions of dollars. In 1985, an ex-Scientologist was awarded $39 million after she claimed the ...

picture of LRH; pictures of books “L. Ron Hubbard, Messiah or Madman?”, “Bare-Faced Messiah] VO: Scientology lost its founder in 1986. And the news that Hubbard was no longer sparked a flurry of unofficial biographies. Russell Miller walking down road; picture of LRH RUSSELL MILLER (voice of and on camera): I knew that there was some question mark over L. Ron Hubbard’s background. The church presents a picture of L. Ron Hubbard as being a very extraordinary individual, and was almost ...

“Operation Clambake” web page VO: The ’90s brought with it a new challenge for the Church of Scientology in the form of the Internet. newspaper article titled “Showdown in Cyberspace”; David Gerard’s web page; web page that says “Why I hate Scientology” GRAHAM BERRY (voice of and on camera): The Internet has been a disaster for Scientology. Netizens, or people who spend a lot of time on the net, have a particular wild west attitude towards the First Amendment. They believe ...

Crowd of people outside Celebrity Centre in Los Angeles; picture of Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman VO: The high profile role of Scientology’s celebrities– which include America’s most popular actor, Tom Cruise– adds to Scientology’s mystique. footage of Travolta being presented with a “1998 Celebrity with glamour of the year” (?) award from somebody (glass trophy with red and blue hand prints painted on it) JOHN TRAVOLTA (on movie set in Army camouflage outfit) (voice of and on camera): I’m part ...

Depending on whom you ask, last week's verdict in Religious Technology Center v. Keith Henson is either a vote for intellectual property rights or a vote against freedom of information. But regardless of whom you ask, Henson is in an unenviable position: He faces a US$75,000 fine for violating the Church of Scientology's copyright. And this Friday, the Palo Alto, California, electrical engineer must tell the judge in the case why he should not be held in contempt of court for ...

Type: Tort, intentional infliction of emotion distress, alter ego. Bench decision: Amendment of judgment - $6,025,857 ($4,649,328 renewed judgment plus $1,376,529 accrued interest). Case/Number: Larry Wollersheim v. Church of Scientology of California / C332027. Court/Date: L.A. Superior Central / Oct. 29, 1997. Judge: John P. Shook. Attorneys: Plaintiff - Craig J. Stein (Gartenberg, Jaffe, Gelfand & Stein, LLP, L.A.); Daniel A. Leipold, Cathy Shipe, Robert F. Donohue (Hagenbaugh & Murphy, Orange); Lita Schlosser (Encino); Ford Greene (Hub Law Offices, San Anselmo). ...

After more than seventeen years of litigation, Lawrence Wollersheim knows that talk isn't cheap–not when you're talking to lawyers and your life's work happens to involve badmouthing the Church of Scientology. But the price of silence is even higher. Too high, in Wollersheim's estimation, which is why he says he walked away from an alleged settlement offer by the church that would have netted him and a few colleagues $12 million in exchange for abandoning their crusade against Scientology. Wollersheim is ...

When the end finally came for the old Cult Awareness Network, it happened fast. Cynthia Kisser, CAN's executive director, struggled to stay calm as she sat in federal bankruptcy court in Chicago late last October waiting for the auction to begin. Kisser, who had spent the past nine years leading CAN's efforts to inform the public about dangerous cults, had hoped that she wouldn't have to pay much for her group's assets that day. Nor did she want much, she claims ...

A web of intrigue surrounds the high-stakes legal brawl between FACTnet and the Church of Scientology. Strange things happen around Lawrence Wollersheim. His businesses collapse. His Boulder apartment gets raided by federal marshals, his computers seized. When college students offer to help him rebuild his computer bulletin-board system, they receive threatening phone calls–anonymous voices urging them to stay away from Larry. A California judge who presided over a lawsuit in which Wollersheim was the plaintiff told reporters he'd encountered a lot ...

In 1995, a jury awarded Jason Scott $5 million, ruling that his civil rights had been violated during an involuntary "deprogramming" by Rick Ross, a Phoenix resident and well-known cult expert. That judgment eventually forced Ross into bankruptcy court, put an anticult group out of business and made national news. Last week, however, the case made a sudden and surprising about-face. Scott and Ross reached a settlement that requires the deprogrammer to pay Scott not $3 million–his share of the judgment–but ...

It was 9:30 and Arnie Lerma was lounging in his living room in Arlington, drinking his Saturday morning coffee, hanging. Suddenly, a knock at the door — who could it be at this hour? — and boom, before he could force anything out of his mouth, they were pouring into his house: federal marshals, lawyers, computer technicians, cameramen. They stayed for three hours last Saturday. They inventoried and confiscated everything Lerma cherished: his computer, every disk in the place, his client ...