Richie Acunto, a colorful Scientology “whale” who had donated at least $10 million to the church, and who was once a major player in auto insurance in California, was found dead this week in Marina del Rey on his boat, where he had been living for several years.
Los Angeles County officials say the cause of death his still pending. He was 70.
We have written about Acunto numerous times here at the Bunker, and we considered him a fascinating character. At one point his company Survival Insurance was a ubiquitous presence in California and in the 1990s it was almost impossible to avoid its advertising.
Here’s an example of a classic Survival TV ad that featured Acunto himself…
But around the time that Acunto reached his greatest financial heights and became one of Scientology’s biggest donors as a “Patron Laureate” — indicating at least $10 million in donations — his businesses fell apart and he found himself mired in litigation.
Former associates accused Acunto of harming his businesses by funneling money from his ventures into Scientology in a bid to raise his status in the church, which became an issue in the lawsuits against him.
But we found other things interesting about Acunto. For example, that despite his great wealth and business success in California, he was terrified of flying, and it had to do with something he had experienced doing Scientology’s notorious “OT 3” auditing level, when wealthy church members are exposed to the “Xenu” story.
Because of what he’d experienced on OT 3, he told friends, Acunto refused to fly in airplanes or ride in elevators. On the other hand, he was a huge fan of ripping around on overpowered street bikes, despite the risk that entailed.
Acunto made the donations to Scientology that brought him to the $10 million level in 2008, but by 2011 his companies were in bankruptcy. His creditors, in litigation, claimed that the two were related to each other.
Between 2010 and 2012, Acunto not only lost his businesses, but also several homes, and his marriage fell apart. He then moved to his boat in Marina Del Rey.
His ex-wife, Scientologist Amy Walker, died of cancer in 2020. She and Acunto had two daughters who are young adults.
One sign that Acunto had hit hard times was that his Patron Laureate and other Scientology trophies showed up in an auction after Acunto had lost control of a storage unit. One of the trophies, for “Platinum Meritorious” ($2.5 million) somehow then ended up being dropped off at a Christian church in Florida, of all places. When a reader told us they’d found it, we made sure it got a home where it would be appreciated.
For more about Richie Acunto and his fortunes as a car insurance mogul and Scientology donor, please see our 2014 story about him.
The Underground Bunker’s 2022 Scientology year-in-review starts today!
A very happy winter solstice to our northern hemisphere readers, and to our antipodean friends, enjoy your summer! Once again it’s time to take stock of the year just past with our annual review, and there’s no doubt about it, this was a mistrial of a year!
For years we have been preparing for the Danny Masterson criminal trial and all that it would entail for the Church of Scientology, and then arrived the weeks of actual coverage which were some of our most intriguing as a journalist, and then it all ended with a hung jury, a mistrial, and a retrial scheduled for next year.
What an experience. What a year. And what a lot of Scientology watching with our great Bunker of regulars.
As usual, we covered a lot of different topics in the world of Scientology this year, and as is our custom, we’ll be reviewing a different month each day until December 31 when we wrap up our look back at November and December. At that point we’ll also reveal our picks for our favorite 20 stories of the year.
Of course, we won’t stop reporting the news over the next ten days, but we hope you enjoy our look through the archives. So here we go. First up, the stories of January 2022…
THE STORIES OF JANUARY
Our first big piece of the new year was focused on a Scientology private investigator who had stalked both Leah Remini and Jennifer Lopez. The PI, Yanti Michael Greene, was outed when texts released in an unrelated lawsuit got into our hands, and now we also learned that Greene was unlicensed at the time he was tailing Leah and J-Lo.
In another follow-up to a big previous story, another person came forward to say they had experienced the “Chase Wave,” and brought along a check to prove it.
We had fun taking a look at some of the videos that are posted at Scientology leader David Miscavige’s personal website, which feature prominent church members gushing about what a great guy he is.
On January 12 we published a truly unique video, a Mannequin Challenge filmed by members of the Miscavige family, including David’s twin sister Denise and her husband.
The next day, we reported that Danny Masterson’s new lawyers were sending out aggressive process servers that were setting his victims on edge.
We also noted the passing of a journalist who had been outed as a paid agent for Scientology.
Then, on January 19, one of the biggest stories of the year: An appellate court overturned a lower court ruling restoring the civil lawsuit filed by Danny Masterson’s accusers. Scientology’s winning streak with its “religious arbitration” scheme had finally had a setback, and it was a remarkable one.
Also, Bruce Hines gave us another of his intriguing narratives, this time about selling Scientology in Germany.
A LOOK BACK AT JANUARY 2021: The Whales getting Scientology through the pandemic. We start up The Lowdown, a place to discuss politics. Never-before-seen photos of a celebrity-soaked mission opening. Danny Masterson pleads not guilty to rape charges and his case is assigned to Judge Charlaine Olmedo. Chris Owen goes deep on Scientology in Russia (part 1, part 2, part 3).
A LOOK BACK AT JANUARY 2020: Scientology arch spy Henning Heldt died, and we looked back at his infamous career. Sonya Bianchi, the original ‘Clear,’ died at 92. Brian Statler’s parents filed a wrongful death lawsuit over his fatal shooting by Inglewood police. Cedric Bixler-Zavala accused Scientology of poisoning his dog. Judge Richard Burdge granted Scientology’s motion to force Valerie Haney’s lawsuit into “religious arbitration.”
A LOOK BACK AT JANUARY 2019: Leah Remini’s ‘Aftermath’ series featured episodes on Paul Burkhart and Bert Schippers, Heather Ruggieri and Carol Nyburg, and a two-parter on the city of Clearwater. Scientology tried to pin a frightening stabbing death at the Advanced Org in Sydney on Leah. A new Advanced Org opened in South Africa. And Chris Shelton interviewed a new defector, Bree Mood, who said that Sea Org women are still being forced to get abortions.
A LOOK BACK AT JANUARY 2018: Chris Owen delivered on the mysteries of L. Ron Hubbard and his parents. We printed revelations about Joy Villa from her ex-boyfriend and her ex-manager. We weighed in on Xenu or Xemu. Katrina Reyes finally got to tell her story of disconnection. Former Scientology spy Cierra Westerman came forward.
A LOOK BACK AT JANUARY 2017: Brandon Reisdorf was featured on Aftermath. The LAPD snubbed Leah Remini. Marc Headley revealed that he was “bedsheet Jesus.” Billionaire Scientologist Trish Duggan made the scene at Trump’s inaugural. And Bernie Headley inspired us to start our ‘disconnected’ list.
A LOOK BACK AT JANUARY 2016: A local police chief gets played by Scientology, but later thinks better of it. Researcher R.M. Seibert gets the lowdown on how Scientology is using ‘religious’ visas to bring in foreign workers. Karen de la Carriere gets a nasty letter from a Scientology attorney.
A LOOK BACK AT JANUARY 2015: Alex Gibney’s documentary Going Clear premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in Utah, and we were there. Scientology had taken out full-page ads in major newspapers attacking Gibney before the film debuted. And it made predictable attacks afterwards. And in a new release of old documents, John McMaster, the world’s first true “Clear,” revealed that L. Ron Hubbard expected to come back as his daughter Diana’s child.
A LOOK BACK AT JANUARY 2014: We posted the Tommy Davis deposition from the Monique Rathbun lawsuit. Scientology’s own attorney discussed David Miscavige’s “black heart” in open court. Barbara Cordova Oliver went missing. Jefferson Hawkins wrapped up his series on Scientology “ethics.”
A LOOK BACK AT JANUARY 2013: Lawrence Wright’s epic book Going Clear debuted, as did John Sweeney’s book, Luis and Rocio Garcia filed their federal fraud lawsuit, and Atlantic magazine screwed up big time.
Thank you for reading today’s story here at Substack. For the full picture of what’s happening today in the world of Scientology, please join the conversation at tonyortega.org, where we’ve been reporting daily on David Miscavige’s cabal since 2012. There you’ll find additional stories, and our popular regular daily features:
Source Code: Actual things founder L. Ron Hubbard said on this date in history
Avast, Ye Mateys: Snapshots from Scientology’s years at sea
Overheard in the Freezone: Indie Hubbardism, one thought at a time
Past is Prologue: From this week in history at alt.religion.scientology
Random Howdy: Your daily dose of the Captain
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Richie was an unfortunate object lesson of what happens to any scientologist who makes it big. He is hounded to donate into bankruptcy. Although Hubbard claimed he wanted his adherents to flourish and prosper, the minute they showed signs of doing so, they were chased down by a horde of hungry regges hell bent on stripping them of everything. I hope any scientologists still in who read this understand that your fate is to escape or die. That is the only way to get peace. I hope Richie has found his.
I had a vicarious run with Richie Acunto in around 2011 when his "empire" fell apart. He had taken money from the corporation to give to Scn to get higher an higher IAS statuses an the glory that brought on. There was a young kid, maybe 18 years old, who live in Clearwater and base on Richie Acunto hiring him an giving him a job, he drove his motorcycle across country from Clearwater to LA for the job. He got to LA an Richie could not afford to pay him so the job promise was off. The poor kid had no money an nowhere to stay. So Richie said he could live wih him an his wife for a while if he promise to babysit the kids. I think there were three of them. It was like he was an indentured servant an he could never leave. To rip off a young kid like that was despicable. His wife left him right around that time.