‘Criminal Enterprise’ Scientology Should Be Charged With RICO, Danny Masterson Prosecutors Say; Church appears to be contradicting herself in the lawsuit against Leah Remini

The Church of Scientology should be designated a “criminal enterprise” because of its “pattern of racketeering activity,” say prosecutors in the civil intimidation case against the organization led by David Miscavige and Danny Masterson. With three new charges of rape against the prisoners That 70’s show As a player in a proposed second amended lawsuit, prosecutors want LA courts to now allow mob-inspired RICO charges to be included in the case.

Almost simultaneously, in another lawsuit, the church appears to have undermined its own argument that one of the main reasons for its harsh criticism of Leah Remini is that the former Scientologist has a long history of inciting “violence” against Scientology and his leadership. .

After several failed attempts by Scientology to settle the harassment lawsuit filed by former members of the church in 2019 out of court, the trial date has been set for September 22, 2025. The amendment filed on December 27 reads (read here): The addition of the Racketeer and Corrupt Organizations Act is legal because “many of Scientology’s criminal money-making activities are criminal in nature.” Before a hearing on the motion for leave to amend scheduled for February 27, the proposed 22-complaint SAC joins plaintiffs Chrissie Carnell Bixler, Cedric Bixler-Zavala, Jane Doe #1, Bobette Riales, Jane Doe #2 and Tricia Vessey de De Kerk to “routinely and systematically engage in fraud, human trafficking, identity theft and money laundering to fill his coffers and enrich his leadership.”

“Defendant David Miscavige is the undisputed and undisputed leader of this criminal

“Society and derive significant financial benefit from Scientology’s criminal and illegal activities,” the potential SAC states bluntly.

“The claims about the church are complete fabrications and the lawsuit is nothing more than an attempted money grab,” a Scientology spokesperson told Deadline on Tuesday. Represented by attorneys from the Los Angeles and San Francisco offices of Boies Schiller Flexner and Edwards Henerson Lehrman of Fort Lauderdale, the civil lawsuit, which now has six plaintiffs, seeks various damages and injunctive relief.

In their original lawsuit nearly five years ago, the original plaintiffs alleged that they were placed under church supervision, pets were repeatedly abused and slaughtered after they went to the LAPD with their rape allegations against Masterson several years ago. Now, thanks in part to California’s statute of limitations to repeal the Sexual Abuse and Cover-Up Accountability Act, which expired on December 31 of last year, the SAC is placing a much greater focus on the sexual assaults and alleged sexual assaults by Masterson and Scientology’s active role in the fight against sexual crimes. Aftermath.

“Although Scientology knew that Defendant Masterson was a rapist, Plaintiffs Bixler, Riales, Vessey and Jane Did 1 and 2 did not because Scientology’s criminal enterprise concealed this fact,” states the LA Superior Court filing, which un- Scientologist Tricia refers. . Vessey as a victim of Masterson’s sexual assault. In addition to the alleged 1996 rape of actress Vesey, who testified during Masterson’s criminal trials, the proposed second amended indictment also alleges previously unknown, allegedly covered-up rapes of a 15-year-old Scientologist in 1994 and another female member of Masterson’s church in 1994. 1996.

“Corporate Defendants and Defendant Miscavige closely monitor and protect prominent members,” the permission to edit comment reads. “To this end, Corporate Defendants and Defendant Miscavige, based on information and belief, cooperated with Defendant Masterson to discourage his sexual assault victims from reporting their abuse and launched an aggressive campaign of harassment against the victims once the sexual assault became public. has.”

On the same day, Masterson, who was convicted of multiple counts of rape, was scheduled to be transferred from the LA prison to the North Core State Prison in Delano, California, to serve the majority of his 30-year sentence in December to serve on parole. 27 The fact that several victims were changed in the actor’s criminal cases leaves no doubt that, in their opinion, Scientology is only interested in money. In a significant expansion of the suit originally filed in 2019, the plaintiffs allege that the church, which includes high-profile members such as Tom Cruise, Elisabeth Moss and John Travolta, will do anything to keep the money flowing — especially when it involves celebrities. involve. , also called “public ambassadors”. .”

The amendment, filed Dec. 27, recalls the language prosecutors heard in Masterson’s two criminal cases, explaining how it argues that Scientology really works when you contradict them — and the importance of prominent members

Like many criminal enterprises, Scientology takes measures to protect itself and its organizations
Co-conspirators from government agencies. The Scientology criminal enterprise takes a two-pronged approach to protecting its criminal activities: simultaneously presenting an innocuous front to the public while terrorizing anyone who speaks out about its illegal activities to intimidate and discourage them from seeking protection seek against law enforcement who oppose cooperation with government authorities.

To give itself a patina of legitimacy, the Scientology criminal enterprise recruits celebrities as public ambassadors. The defendant, Daniel Masterson, is one such celebrity. During Masterson’s long association with Scientology, Scientology’s criminal enterprise used its resources to assist Masterson in his budding acting career and gave him preferential treatment within Scientology. In return, Masterson publicly supported Scientology and its criminal enterprise (he claimed, for example, that Scientology cures depression).

Although the Scientology criminal enterprise outwardly presents itself as a respectable organization, it has a policy of terrorizing victims (and witnesses) of its crimes – whether those victims (or witnesses) are Scientologists or not – in order to make Scientology’s crimes a commit a secret . It begins with establishing a distrust of outsiders among its members and especially a distrust of government enforcement. The Scientology Criminal Enterprise has a strict policy of reporting crimes to authorities. When a member finds the courage to contact the authorities, the Scientology Criminal Enterprise and its agents undertake a coordinated effort to destroy the victim’s life through targeted intimidation. Campaign. These harassment campaigns also extend to non-members, who are often targets of harassment when Scientology’s criminal enterprise perceives them as a threat.

The effort to amend prosecutors’ long-running Masterson criminal case isn’t the only legal hot spot Scientology finds itself in right now. Former high-ranking church member Leah Remini’s August 2 harassment case took a very strange turn, whether intentional or not.

In a December 22 statement by Taiwanese national Yi-Chen (Cathy) Wan, the current LA-based Scientology religious volunteer described the January 2019 knife attack by enraged teenager “Tony” in Sydney, Australia, in which a security guard one was Kirche is dead and another is injured. . Scientology has long shifted the blame for this tragic incident onto itself Scientology and its consequences Host explaining that Remini has “blood on her hands”.

Now, with a key hearing in the case scheduled for January 9 in LA Superior Court, Wan’s on-the-spot testimony ( read it here ) could be a potentially powerful rebuttal to much of Remini’s original lawsuit against the church. That might be so, except the four-page statement is an obvious contradiction of Scientology’s war of words and even more so for the “King of Queens” star. Wan says absolutely nothing about Remini in connection with the fatal attack or anything else.

Wan’s testimony, which echoes previous Australian court findings about the incident, focuses on 16-year-old “Tony” who was upset about possible pornographic material his Scientologist mother had given one of his electronic devices on the advice of a church member to turn devices off. The boy was at the Scientology site in suburban Sydney in the early afternoon of 3 January 2019 and demanded to speak to “Steve”, who allegedly promised “Tony” to get the deleted material back on his device. Wan is frustrated that “Steve” didn’t show up right away and says that’s when “Tony” started cutting people.

After the police arrived and arrested “Tony,” Wan spoke to his mother and the parent gave her a URL to an anti-Scientology site the teenager had recently read. This page, now no longer available but in the archive, contains much criticism of the church, but nothing about or about Remini.

Zero.

It remains to be seen whether the meaning of this statement will be discussed at the hearing in the case next week. As for the civil trial against several plaintiffs in the Danny Masterson criminal case, the jury trial on Scientology’s decision to drop large portions of the trial will take place on February 13 in downtown Los Angeles before LASC Judge Upinder Kalra.