We’ve kept an eye on Scientologist attorney, legislator, and Real Water honcho Brent Jones for a long, long time. Way back in the year 2000, our New Times Los Angeles colleague Ron Russell wrote a pretty amazing piece about how a man named Raul Lopez, after suffering a brain injury and receiving a large cash settlement, was fleeced by Scientology. Ron’s piece explained that Brent Jones was one of Raul’s attorneys, and had gotten him involved in an ostrich egg investment scheme.
It's usually very sad to hear of families in financial difficulty, but not in this instance. These are predatory con artists who caused devastating injury and even death through their con. All my sympathies lie with the victims - I don't have even a thimble of sympathy left over for these terrible people.
Those injuries also arise out of the offender's delusion that they are 'Big Beings' who don't need to think things through - just do it. In fact, due diligence is actively disapproved of in Scientology as unproductive time-wasting.
When these people make big money, that delusion is reinforced. To us, they appear criminally careless - and they are. However, they don't understand that they can't just 'postulate' things like safety.
The blame is with the con artists - and with the organisation that encourages their delusions of competence, takes their share of the money defrauded, and abandons them, with impunity, when it all turns bad..
These con artists are merely extending the Legacy of Hustlin' Hub. From Flim Flam Flubbard's affirmations:
" You can tell all the romantic tales you wish. You will remember them, you do remember them. But you know which ones were lies. You are so logical you will tell nothing which cannot be believed. But you are gallant and dashing and need tell no lies at all. You have enough real experience to make anecdotes forever. "
And so on and so forth, ad nauseam. I agree with Andrea's comment: It's difficult to muster even a mini-poof-fart of compassion for these grifting, predatory cultists...
This article described the life cycle of a scientologist.
Get in
Get indoctrinated
Learn to scam
Become successful
Be forced to donate all your I’ll gotten gains to support your “religion”
Go bankrupt
Be abandoned by the group you gave all your money to.
On a side note: who are the people willing to give handouts two able bodied people to the tunebp if $4200 a month and why aren’t these people getting oh, I don’t know ... jobs? I realize this won’t make the lawsuits go away but there is no reason they should be living off handouts.
Aimee and Brent Jones probably have money stashed somewhere. I really doubt that they left everything behind and now live on the largess of family members. I bet those 'family members' have received a lot of danegeld from the Jones and are just hiding it for them.
I really hate how the law lets people who do actual harm just walk away and only get financial penalties for their harm. Both Jones should have been criminally charged and tried. They freaking killed people and they only get a bankruptcy for that?
If even one relative is hiding stuff for them and any other relative who isn’t on the best of terms with them know about it, the unhappy relative simply has to let the trustee know where the money is hidden and the hider and the Joneses are guilty of Federal Fraud. I saw an ex wife turn her ex husband in for this. He’s still in the federal pen 13 years later, the Trustee recovered over $43 million in hidden assets. Wouldn’t that be rich.
I was also the EO for Raul Lopez and can tell you about all the things that led up to that lawsuit. Bill Youde was the Snr C/S and was orchestrating much of it. My husband ran into Lopez about 3 or 4 years ago and apologized for what he went through. Raul’s biggest upset was with Jim Hamre who set up the whole phone company in jails deal at the Pavilion at CC LA. There was a SPD (Scientology Policy Directive) that came out soon after that which stated that no outside business was to be conducted on church grounds.
I met Brent when he was just starting out in SCN. I was his first EO and worked with him on his 1st O/W write up. He is a Dr Jekyll & Mr. Hyde character. Really down and critical most of the time, then blown out, wanting to change the world the next. I never liked him either way. If ever there were such thing as an SP, he is it. I’ve known a few people who worked for him who are still-in, but talked about how abusive he was. Those people quit long ago.
I don’t recall Brent being Raul Lopez’s lawyer, but I do remember the ostrich debacle though. What a scam.
I also was involved in getting Brent to come clean with the SEC. He’s criminal and will never change his stripes.
It's usually very sad to hear of families in financial difficulty, but not in this instance. These are predatory con artists who caused devastating injury and even death through their con. All my sympathies lie with the victims - I don't have even a thimble of sympathy left over for these terrible people.
Those injuries also arise out of the offender's delusion that they are 'Big Beings' who don't need to think things through - just do it. In fact, due diligence is actively disapproved of in Scientology as unproductive time-wasting.
When these people make big money, that delusion is reinforced. To us, they appear criminally careless - and they are. However, they don't understand that they can't just 'postulate' things like safety.
The blame is with the con artists - and with the organisation that encourages their delusions of competence, takes their share of the money defrauded, and abandons them, with impunity, when it all turns bad..
These con artists are merely extending the Legacy of Hustlin' Hub. From Flim Flam Flubbard's affirmations:
" You can tell all the romantic tales you wish. You will remember them, you do remember them. But you know which ones were lies. You are so logical you will tell nothing which cannot be believed. But you are gallant and dashing and need tell no lies at all. You have enough real experience to make anecdotes forever. "
And so on and so forth, ad nauseam. I agree with Andrea's comment: It's difficult to muster even a mini-poof-fart of compassion for these grifting, predatory cultists...
This article described the life cycle of a scientologist.
Get in
Get indoctrinated
Learn to scam
Become successful
Be forced to donate all your I’ll gotten gains to support your “religion”
Go bankrupt
Be abandoned by the group you gave all your money to.
On a side note: who are the people willing to give handouts two able bodied people to the tunebp if $4200 a month and why aren’t these people getting oh, I don’t know ... jobs? I realize this won’t make the lawsuits go away but there is no reason they should be living off handouts.
Aimee and Brent Jones probably have money stashed somewhere. I really doubt that they left everything behind and now live on the largess of family members. I bet those 'family members' have received a lot of danegeld from the Jones and are just hiding it for them.
I really hate how the law lets people who do actual harm just walk away and only get financial penalties for their harm. Both Jones should have been criminally charged and tried. They freaking killed people and they only get a bankruptcy for that?
Sometimes, the law is an ass.
If even one relative is hiding stuff for them and any other relative who isn’t on the best of terms with them know about it, the unhappy relative simply has to let the trustee know where the money is hidden and the hider and the Joneses are guilty of Federal Fraud. I saw an ex wife turn her ex husband in for this. He’s still in the federal pen 13 years later, the Trustee recovered over $43 million in hidden assets. Wouldn’t that be rich.
Good grief, so much in ill-gotten gains!
I was also the EO for Raul Lopez and can tell you about all the things that led up to that lawsuit. Bill Youde was the Snr C/S and was orchestrating much of it. My husband ran into Lopez about 3 or 4 years ago and apologized for what he went through. Raul’s biggest upset was with Jim Hamre who set up the whole phone company in jails deal at the Pavilion at CC LA. There was a SPD (Scientology Policy Directive) that came out soon after that which stated that no outside business was to be conducted on church grounds.
I met Brent when he was just starting out in SCN. I was his first EO and worked with him on his 1st O/W write up. He is a Dr Jekyll & Mr. Hyde character. Really down and critical most of the time, then blown out, wanting to change the world the next. I never liked him either way. If ever there were such thing as an SP, he is it. I’ve known a few people who worked for him who are still-in, but talked about how abusive he was. Those people quit long ago.
I don’t recall Brent being Raul Lopez’s lawyer, but I do remember the ostrich debacle though. What a scam.
I also was involved in getting Brent to come clean with the SEC. He’s criminal and will never change his stripes.