Scientology Critical Information Directory

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Destroying/hiding/doctoring evidences

«In January 1980, fearing a raid by law enforcement agencies, Hubbard's representatives ordered the shredding of all documents showing that Hubbard controlled Scientology organizations, finances, personnel, or the property at Gilman Hot Springs. In a two week period, approximately one million pages were shredded pursuant to this order.» — California appellate court, 2nd. district, 3rd. division, July 29, 1991, B025920 & B038975, Super. Ct. No. C 420153


Washington Post (1998): "The Life and Death of a Scientologist" by Richard Leiby

The Scientologists injected McPherson with magnesium chloride and gave her the sedative chloral hydrate -- both substances apparently endorsed by Hubbard. By Dec. 1, she was so dehydrated that she needed two liters of fluid, according to Johnson's notes. The medical examiner later said it appeared that she'd gone without water for at least five days. The watchers' records are spotty, and church logs of her final 53 hours were lost or destroyed, according to the prosecution affidavit.
France 2 (1999): "Is Scientology above the law?"

A French TV documentary which was dubbed into English by an Australian TV network, which covers a court case in which documents were stolen from the French courts.

Affidavit of Michael Leonard Tilse (19 April 2003)

When I was in the Church Sea Organization in 1978 I was ordered to destroy documents which I now realize were material evidence in Federal investigations as to the continued influence and intimate control of the Church of Scientology by L. Ron Hubbard when such control and influence was illegal due to the nonprofit status of the Church. I was not told that destroying these documents was a crime and that such control and influence were subjects of investigation even though there is testimony and recorded tapes from that time that show that executives within the Church at the time knew and discussed these exact facts.

I feel that my personal reputation and integrity has been blackened by having been ordered to commit this crime and my having done it because I was told at the time it was not unethical or a crime. Had I known it was a crime I never would have done it.

Affidavit of Jesse Prince (20 August 1999)

16. David Miscavige specifically ordered destruction of any documents in ASI's possession which would implicate Hubbard as managing agent of Scientology.  He stated that under his directive the LRH orders, or "advices" were being collected and transferred by truck to a Riverside County recycling plant where the documents were to be "pulped."  This method of destruction was considered to be better than shredding.  I was also put in charge of purging the remainder of the LRH orders, i.e. "Advices".  This was to include "advices" that were located in Church of Scientology of California (CSC); Church of Scientology International (CSI); and RTC. [...]

35. ...  The Lisa McPherson "caretaker logs" are missing substantial day-to-day portions, in particular, the last three and one-half days of her Isolation.  This is no accident.  Records of this magnitude are not lost.  Based on my experience, these missing records were intentionally destroyed to conceal material matters damaging to Scientology. Hubbard explicitly writes in CS SERIES 97 and CS SERIES 98  that "omissions from folders and complete loss of folders is a very serious matter...."

Time (1991): "Scientology: The Thriving Cult of Greed and Power" by Richard Behar

By late 1985, with high-level defectors accusing Hubbard of having stolen as much as $200 million from the church, the IRS was seeking an indictment of Hubbard for tax fraud. Scientology members "worked day and night" shredding documents the IRS sought, according to defector Aznaran, who took part in the scheme. Hubbard, who had been in hiding for five years, died before the criminal case could be prosecuted.

Affidavit of Jesse Prince (27 July 1998)

24. David Miscavige specifically stated that ASI was "already dealing with the problem", ridding ASI of any documents that would implicate L. Ron Hubbard as managing agent of Scientology. He stated that under his directive the LRH orders, or "advices", were being collected and transferred by truck to a Riverside County recycling plant where the documents were to be "pulped". This method of destruction was considered to be better than shredding. I was also given instructions that I was in charge of purging the remainder of the Scientology organization of LRH orders. This was to include Church of Scientology of California (CSC); Church of Scientology International (CSI); and RTC. ...

28. Later, I was informed that a second court order was issued to produce Mr. Wollersheim's entire file. Faced with the prospect of having to produce the entire file David Miscavige gave orders that the entire file simply be destroyed by being pulped.

29. Pursuant to Mr. Miscavige's orders I ordered Rick Aznaran to take Mr. Wollersheim's PC files to the recycling plant in Riverside to be pulped. Several hours after I gave the order to have Mr. Wollersheim's PC files destroyed, Mr. Aznaran returned and confirmed that the records had been pulped and even showed me a small bottle of pulped material, saying "Here's what's left."

Toronto Globe and Mail (1980): "Secret Ontario documents found in U.S. cult's files" by John Marshall

He said that at the time of the lawsuit he went to Health Ministry archives to get material for his defence, only to discover many of the committee documents missing.

According to other sources in Toronto, documents concerning the Scientologists have also disappeared from other files in the Health Ministry.

And files involving the controversial cult have also disappeared mysteriously from the Ontario Ministry of Consumer and Commercial Relations.

ITV England (1996): "The Big Story - The S Files"

RT: If there was a receipt for a course, say about £4,000, part of that's your tax which has to be deducted. But then the receipt would be changed, that receipt taken out and destroyed and a new receipt made to make it into a donation.

RH: In the event that the Church is deliberately falsifying its accounting records, destroying receipts and the like so that its trading income or income from services is understated to the Customs and Excise then that is an extremely serious criminal offence. It could be theft, false accounting and could be subject to many years of imprisonment.

Gerry Armstrong (Feb. 2004): "Complaint Report"

47. At the beginning of 1980, the threat of an imminent raid by some law enforcement agency was announced by the CMO at Gilman. Everyone was required to go through all their documents and find and remove anything that showed Hubbard’s control of Scientology, his control of organization monies, his ordering of staff at Gilman or staff anywhere to do anything, his having been at Gilman, or his intention to live there. A commercial paper shredder was rented and operated day and night for weeks to destroy hundreds of thousands, or millions, of pages of incriminating documents, and the shredded paper was removed from the property by truck.

Affidavit of Vicki Aznaran (7 March 1994): Scientology destroys evidence and rewrites history

28. During litigation between Gerald Armstrong and Scientology, which was before Judge Breckenridge of Superior Court for Los Angeles County, the court ordered the production of Armstrong's preclear ("PC") folders - These are files maintained by Scientology on those who submit to interrogation sessions in a process called auditing.

During the course of that litigation I was ordered to go through Armstrong's folders and destroy or conceal anything that might support Armstrong's claim against Scientology. This practice is known within Scientology as "culling PC folders" and is a common litigation tactic employed by Scientology. [...]

33. In later 1979 and early 1980, there was a massive document destruction program undertaken to destroy any evidence showing that L. Ron Hubbard ("LRH") controlled Scientology. I participated in this activity in Clearwater, Florida and am informed that there was also intensive document destruction at facilities in Gilman Hot Springs, California. From at least that point onward there was a continuous effort to hide or destroy any evidence of Hubbard's control. For example, during an IRS investigation in 1984 and 1985, while in bed with pneumonia, I was ordered out of bed by Norman Starkey, who told me that they had received a tip from a Los Angeles police officer advising them of a pending IRS raid in Los Angeles.

Los Angeles Times (1990): "The Mind Behind the Religion" by Joel Sappell and Robert Welkos

In 1980, for example, a massive shredding operation was undertaken at the church's desert compound outside Palm Springs after Scientology officials received an erroneous tip of an imminent FBI raid, according to a former aide.
 
 "Anything that indicated that L. Ron Hubbard controlled the church or was engaged in management was to be shredded," recalled Hubbard's former public relations officer, Laurel Sullivan.
 
 For more than two days, Sullivan said, roughly 200 Scientologists crammed thousands of documents into a huge shredder nicknamed "Jaws." Documents too valuable to destroy, she added, were buried in the ground or under floorboards.

The Guardian (Feb. 1980): "Scientology's bizarre manual of dirty tricks"

Further evidence of dirty tricks used by Scientology is contained in a document dated March 9, 1975, explaining how files belonging in the sect's private intelligence service, B1, should be cleared of "legally actionable evidence against the GO (Guardian's Office) and its personnel."

The memo says all references in the cult's files "that would indicate something illegal was happening, already did happen or was being planned" should be cut out with a razor blade and shredded.

Affidavit of Andre Tabayoyon (5 March 1994)

107. In 1988 I case supervised Tom Ashworth who had gone PTS type III, slashed his wrists and later tried to escape with some upper level materials he had somehow obtained. I ordered a C/S 53 FIN and a LCRE. Tom Ashworth's pre clear folder was sent up to Ray Mithoff who was then RTC Inspector General for Tech. I was CSI. The folder came back with everything regarding the psychotic break removed from the folder.

Wikipedia (as of Apr. 2007): "Operation Snow White"

Operation Snow White was the Church of Scientology's name for a project during the 1970s to purge unfavorable records about Scientology and its founder L. Ron Hubbard. This project included a series of infiltrations of and thefts from government agencies, carried out by Church members, including the single largest infiltration of the United States government in history.[1]

Stacy Brooks Young (1998): "A classic example of the fair game policy at work"

So [David Miscavige] called me in and ordered me to edit the transcripts of the videotapes to make it look like Gerry was admitting to being a paid informant, even though he never had admitted any such thing. I was to edit out Rinder’s and Kluge’s leading questions so it looked like Gerry was volunteering information, when in fact all he was really doing was answering a hypothetical question that had been posed to him. [...]

Affidavit of Vicki Aznaran (29 June 1993)

8. I understand that Lynn Farny has submitted a declaration stating that Scientology complied with Judge Swearinger's order in the Wollersheim case to produce Wollersheim's pre-clear files. This is false. As I stated in my Fishman declaration, I personally culled and destroyed (shredded) from these files evidence which would help Wollersheim and hurt Scientology in the case. I was personally ordered to do so by David Miscavige, the head of Scientology, and Marty Rathbun. The culling and destruction took place at the Fountain Avenue building in Los Angeles. I was assisted in the document destruction by then Scientologist Jessie Prince. Lynn Farny was a low level Scientology official, and was not at the meetings where this was discussed. However, Lynn Farny is not telling the truth, because as a Scientology staff member he knows it is Scientology policy never to turn over information in litigation without first culling out (deleting and destroying) material that will harm Scientology. It is also, however, Scientology policy to lie to cover up such misdeeds.

Clearwater Sun (1982): "Witnesses Tell of Break-ins, Conspiracy" by Steven Girardi

She said she was taught to shred documents in the event of an FBI raid. Mayer testified that the sect's most sensitive "red box" files were always ready to be loaded onto one of Hubbard's two ships. Those files escaped discovery when the FBI raided the sect's Washington D.C. and Los Angeles offices in 1977, Flynn said.

Robert Vaughn Young (1997): "Scientology's system 'hacker proof' (by RVY)"

Knowing of the 1977 raid and to prevent it from happening again, there was one person in charge of the entire system who sat at the back of this huge room, behind locked doors and secured glass. Knowing that in the event of a raid the power might be turned off, INCOMM had backup battery systems and generators whose sole purpose was to keep the system on line long enough for the systems operator to crash and trash it. The only entrance was not only secured but had TV cameras so that, Foster figured, that even with the highest speed of a raid, the systems operator had more than enough time to crash/trash the system to prevent it from being confiscated.

Declaration of Joseph A. Yanny (13 July 1988)

18. Mr Cooley (who in his last two outings for the church lost a $39 million dollar verdict in Oregon and another $30 million verdict in L.A.) has personally ordered the destruction of evidence relating to Cult litigation in my presence. These orders were given to Warren McShane and Mark "Marty" Rathburn

AP (1984): "Ex-publicist says she was 'target' of Scientologists"

On Thursday, Sullivan said Hubbard had ordered shredding of some documents that indicated Hubbard maintained some control of church operations. The shredding was ordered at a time when church officials feared a raid by federal agents, she said.

The Globe and Mail (March 1983): "Stall police, destroy evidence is Scientology plan, PCs say" by Kevin Cox

[...] The statement says that the Scientologists had conducted drills and had written instructions and a warning system to alert officials about what to do in the event of a police search and how to stall it.

It also says that the centre had written instructions on how to dispose of sensitive or "Z" materials by shredding or vetting the documents.

Police believe the "Z" materials are the equivalent of sensitive "Red Box" materials in the United States, which were in portable files which could be quickly removed. [...]

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