On December 6, we told you about some stunning new court documents that Leah Remini’s legal team filed in her lawsuit against the Church of Scientology.
Leah is suing Scientology for what she says has been years of unrelenting attacks under founder L. Ron Hubbard’s “Fair Game” policy of retaliation against the church’s perceived enemies. She says she has been subjected to crude online smears as well as elaborate intimidation campaigns by private investigators and other agents of Scientology.
And one of the most persistent attacks has been Scientology’s claim that Leah had “blood on her hands” resulting from a tragic January 2019 knife slaying at Scientology’s “Advanced Org” in a suburb of Sydney, Australia.
The incident involved a 16-year-old boy whose mother had brought him to the AO from Taiwan, and who had knifed a Scientology security guard, slashing his throat, and injuring another guard as well.
For years, Scientology has claimed that the 16-year-old boy was motivated to kill by watching Leah Remini’s A&E series Scientology and the Aftermath. But in her lawsuit, Remini’s legal team filed previously unreleased documents written by two different Australian judges which suggested a very different interpretation of what happened.
According to those investigations by the Australian courts, the young man’s mother was a Scientologist who had come from Taiwan to study at the AO in Sydney, but the boy himself wasn’t interested in taking courses. Also, he had previously been diagnosed as being both autistic and schizophrenic.
What made him upset, the documents say, is that a Scientologist had pointed out to the mother that her son was reading “a novel containing pornographic and violent themes” on his MP3 player. She removed the material while her son was sleeping, and when he realized what she had done, he assaulted her. He told a Scientology employee named Steve Zargon about it, and Zargon told him he could work things out and get the file restored to his device.
The next day, on January 3, 2019, when the boy went to the AO armed with a knife and was stopped by security guards, he slashed one of them, repeatedly saying that he wanted to see “Steve.”
The clear implication of the court investigation was that the boy was angry because of the missing novel, and he was still looking for Steve Zargon to help him restore it to his device when he killed the security guard. Because of his age and mental state, however, the court found that the boy was guilty but not responsible, and he was not tried.
As we pointed out, the assessment by the Australian courts was plain: The boy was angry about the missing material on his device, he was asking for “Steve” when he slashed at the security guards, and Leah Remini and her television show were never mentioned in the court’s investigation.
Now, however, Scientology has responded by putting into the court record a declaration by a Taiwanese Scientologist named Yi-Chen “Cathy” Wan, who says she was at the Sydney AO and talked to the boy. She says that in December 2018, the boy had told her that “He was very antagonistic about Scientology and said he wanted to ‘burn the church down’,” and a couple of days later, “he said that he had been reading an anti-Scientology material in Chinese and that he did not want to attend any Scientology services because of what he read.” For that reason, she says, she didn’t approve him for classes.
Then, on January 3, 2019, she was called to the scene of the slashing, saw the injured security guard, and was asked to speak with the agitated boy. “I want Steve,” he told her, waving the knife. She admitted that she didn’t know why the boy was asking for Steve, just that he gave her two minutes to find him and then began counting down. Then the police arrived, and she helped translate as they arrested the boy.
The next day, she says, she talked to the mother, who showed her the boy’s phone, and they looked at its history, including an anti-Scientology blog in Chinese. Wan says she then reported the website’s URL to the church’s legal department.
And that’s her entire testimony. This, apparently, is Scientology’s attempt to bolster its claims that Leah Remini has “blood on her hands,” that the boy had looked at an anti-Scientology website.
First, we want to point out that Ms. Wan’s testimony actually bolsters what the Australian judges had found, that when he encountered the security guards, the agitated boy was only asking for one thing — to see Steve, the Scientology employee who had told him he knew how to restore the removed material to this MP3 player.
Also, the website that Ms. Wan says she reported to Scientology no longer exists on the Internet. However, we found that it was preserved at the Internet Archive.
The website was only a couple of pages long, averaging only three or four posts a year, and it is well preserved at the Archive. These are its contents as of January 20, 2019, a few days after the knifing incident had occurred:
— a link to a video by a Taiwanese man warning people about Scientology
— a post explaining where Scientology’s secret “OT” materials could be downloaded from Wikileaks.
— a post criticizing Scientology “Volunteer Ministers” and their activities at the sites of natural disasters
— a link to a 2016 Atlantic magazine article about the increase of Scientology activity in Taiwan
— a post describing a video about Scientology being investigated for its treatment of a Sea Org employee in Australia
— a post noting some login issues moderators at Pixnet were having
— a link to an ABC Australia interview with Ron Miscavige, father of Scientology leader David Miscavige
— an excerpt of a letter from a Taiwanese young man whose mother was giving away the family’s money to Scientology
— two posts with links to the HBO film about Scientology, Going Clear
— a message from a reader wondering if they should join the Sea Org or leave Scientology altogether
— a link to a video made by former Scientologist Chris Shelton calling Scientology a cult
— a post describing how to resist Scientology recruitment
— two posts describing Scientology as brainwashing by former Freedom Medal winner Wendy Honnor
— a post by the blog’s owner, describing their purpose to publish information to help keep people from joining Scientology
— two more posts about Wendy Honnor announcing that she had left Scientology
— three posts by Taiwanese Scientologists praising some things about Scientology but arguing that some church officials were practicing fraud
— a correction to a post about Debbie Cook’s famous email
— a post complaining about service at a Taiwanese center
— two posts with Debbie Cook’s famous 2012 email
— a link to a 2011 ABC Australia investigation of Scientology that featured Mike Rinder
— two posts answering a question about leaving Scientology
— a post answering the question, Is Scientology a cult?
— two posts about statements by Maria Pia Gardini
And that's it.
Two words are conspicuously missing from the blog: “Leah Remini”
And we have to wonder, did Scientology's attorneys submit this woman’s sworn testimony not realizing that the website she named could be retrieved from the Internet Archive, and did they believe that anyone who heard that the boy had looked at an “anti-Scientology website” would simply assume that it contained references to Leah or her show?
Sloppy, Scientology. Very sloppy.
Continuing our year in review: The stories of October 2023
There was more and more proof that Scientology leader David Miscavige planned to return to England to revive the tradition of an annual IAS gala at Saint Hill Manor in East Grinstead. We asked Mike Rinder for his thoughts about why Dave was ready to take this risk.
And if the IAS party was returning, then Alex Barnes-Ross decided to make sure Dave got a welcome party in the form of a protest.
Scientology wanted a large part of the Bixler lawsuit stricken, even though they knew a new version was coming.
Trish Conley not only stepped forward to identify herself as our source on the Daycare-from-hell story, but she also spent time with us on two episodes of the podcast.
Mirriam Francis penned a great piece for us about how the Masterson trial had exposed Scientology’s systemic pattern of abuse for those who grow up in it.
Jane Doe 1 opposed Scientology’s attempt to force her forced-marriage lawsuit into arbitration by explaining the fairly wild backstory to why she had signed a 2002 contract. She also attempted to serve the lawsuit to David Miscavige in some interesting places.
But Scientology was successful in putting that lawsuit on a stay until their arbitration motion can be heard. (Later Jane Doe 1 won the right for limited discovery in the meantime, though.)
Scientology went on the attack against Leah Remini’s Fair Game lawsuit, attempting to have much of it stricken.
A LOOK BACK AT OCTOBER 2022: The US Supreme Court didn’t take up Scientology’s petition, and so the Bixler suit remains restored by an appellate ruling. Danny Masterson’s prosecution was planning to call Lisa Marie Presley as a witness in the trial. On Day 2 of the trial, we were stunned to spot prosecutor Deputy DA Reinhold Mueller greeting a known Scientology spy in the court hallway. Bruce Hines described what it was like to audit Mary Sue Hubbard. The Danny Masterson trial seated a jury, had opening statements, its first witness, Jane Doe 1, and even defense attorney Philip Cohen’s first of many motions for a mistrial. Marc Headley explained more about the Scientology spy.. Scientologist witness Shaun Fabos was declared a hostile witness. Jane Doe 3 began her testimony and had an epic panic attack. An LAPD witness made us wonder if Danny might have been prosecuted 18 years ago if a detective could have moved her vacation.
A LOOK BACK AT OCTOBER 2021: Dan Ribacoff’s PI firm was not only working for Scientology, it was also being paid to stalk your Proprietor. Chris Shelton took on the academics. Taking a look at L. Ron Hubbard’s nutty cosmology. Revealing the name of the ‘Cooper I/C.’ David Miscavige passed L. Ron Hubbard in tenure. A Toronto woman added her name to the list of Danny Masterson’s victims. How the Sea Org broke Bruce Hines’s spirit. And at the Daily Beast, the mysterious death of Kuba Ka.
A LOOK BACK AT OCTOBER 2020: A leaked document showed Scientology’s outside investments at the time it got tax exemption. Geoff and Robbie Levin previewed the trailer for their documentary. Bijou Phillips said her husband Danny Masterson was the “Strong Island” type with women. Tommy Davis hires Australian attorneys to go after the ‘Black Ops’ leak.
A LOOK BACK AT OCTOBER 2019: Valerie Haney dropped ‘Jane Doe’ and filed a brutal amended complaint. Hanan Islam in handcuffs in a Los Angeles courtroom as her Narconon insurance fraud case got crazy. FreeZone wizard offers the secret to living to 150. Nancy Cartwright’s new trophy for reaching $17 million in giving. Tom Cruise brought Isabella and Connor to the IAS gala for the first time. The Kominsky Method skewers Scientology, and we figured out that creator Chuck Lorre had an extensive Scientology past.
A LOOK BACK AT OCTOBER 2018: Heather Ruggeri told us her story of forced abortion and escape from the Sea Org. The Underground Bunker gave statuses to its own whales. DC District Attorney Stanley Harris schooled Scientology in 1983. Detroit got its Ideal Org. Sylvia DeWall spoke truth to family that had abandoned her. Alec Nevala-Lee’s fine book ‘Astounding’ came out, and he gave us an amazing document he found in his research, when L. Ron Hubbard invented a friendly psychiatrist to rebut Dianetics. On Halloween we released our book with Paulette Cooper, Battlefield Scientology.
A LOOK BACK AT OCTOBER 2017: We received reports that the RPF was a thing of the past. We marveled at the 1989 OT 8 graduation of Margie Zacks. David Miscavige’s new portrait in the belly of the Freewinds wowed us. Aftermath looked at Mace-Kingsley Ranch and talked to Mimi Faust. The vile secret in Dianetics got dissected.
A LOOK BACK AT OCTOBER 2016: Karla Taylor’s lawsuit reminded us of the chances people take when the sue Scientology. We broke the news that Tom Cruise was building a double penthouse in Clearwater. And we ID’d one of the private eyes stalking Leah Remini in Denver.
A LOOK BACK AT OCTOBER 2015: The month began with a lot of Cat White and Jim Carrey and Mark Burton coverage, including the young Hollywood Scientologists she hung out with, and the family in Ireland that had first pointed her toward the church. We went to the London premiere of Louis Theroux’s My Scientology Movie. And thanks to Bryan Seymour and Steve Cannane, our trip to Australia’s cities of Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, and Perth was a great success. And our big bombshell: The “Knowledge Reports” about Leah Remini that informed her book.
A LOOK BACK AT OCTOBER 2014: Scientology’s private threat letter to the S.F. Chronicle. A perplexing tale about Bob Duggan, the richest Scientologist in the world. Tom Cruise and his medal in London. Marty Rathbun ambushed at LAX by raving Jenny Linson. L. Ron Hubbard’s amazing 1949 letter to Forrest Ackerman. Mark Ebner finds Gay Ribisi’s plaques.
A LOOK BACK AT OCTOBER 2013: Live-blogging the Garcia mini-trial in Tampa, Scientology denied by the US Supreme Court, interpreting Leah Remini’s epic dance, and live-blogging a dramatic hearing in Laura DeCrescenzo’s lawsuit in Los Angeles.
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This is what happens when you use Chat-torney or some other AI to generate your defense, Dave.
Not sloppy on the part of the criminal organisation. It's religious observance of the instruction to use the law to harass
𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘶𝘳𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘶𝘪𝘵 𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘢𝘴𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘥𝘪𝘴𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘢𝘨𝘦 𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘯 𝘵𝘰 𝘸𝘪𝘯. 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘭𝘢𝘸 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘣𝘦 𝘶𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘪𝘭𝘺 𝘵𝘰 𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘢𝘴𝘴, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘦𝘯𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩 𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘢𝘴𝘴𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘰𝘯 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘣𝘰𝘥𝘺 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘪𝘴 𝘴𝘪𝘮𝘱𝘭𝘺 𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯 𝘦𝘥𝘨𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘺𝘸𝘢𝘺, 𝘸𝘦𝘭𝘭 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘩𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘢𝘶𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘻𝘦𝘥, 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘨𝘦𝘯𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘣𝘦 𝘴𝘶𝘧𝘧𝘪𝘤𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘤𝘢𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘧𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘭 𝘥𝘦𝘤𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘦. 𝘐𝘧 𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘣𝘭𝘦, 𝘰𝘧 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘴𝘦, 𝘳𝘶𝘪𝘯 𝘩𝘪𝘮 𝘶𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘭𝘺.
Hubbard, L. R. (1955). The Scientologist - A Manual on the Dissemination of Material, reprinted in Hubbard, L. R. (1976). The Technical Bulletins of Dianetics and Scientology. Vol. II. Copenhagen: Scientology Publications. ISBN 0-685-04188-3.
That's not surprising. What is surprising is that the IRS is cool with letting US tax payers co-sponsor this harassment, and that the courts of the US go along with the harassment.