Scientology leader David Miscavige doing business in Florida: The evidence

One of the most stunning claims that Scientology leader David Miscavige has made in his frenetic attempts to keep himself from being named a defendant in a Tampa labor trafficking lawsuit is that he does no business in Florida.

With the Flag Land Base, Scientology’s “spiritual mecca,” being located in Clearwater, and with Miscavige having offices in several of the base’s buildings, that is a pretty bold legal position by the diminutive church leader.

However, on February 14 US Magistrate Judge Julie S. Sneed found that not only was Miscavige doing business in Florida as Scientology’s leader, but that he had been purposely evading service of the lawsuit, and she declared him served by substitute service, making him a defendant and giving him 21 days to answer the lawsuit, which had been filed last April by former Sea Org workers Valeska Paris and Gawain and Laura Baxter.

Miscavige filed an objection to that ruling on February 28, asking District Judge Thomas Barber to overrule Sneed’s decision. And once again Miscavige made the case that he was not personally doing business in the Sunshine State.

Well, now Valeska and the Baxters have fired back, taking apart Miscavige’s numerous arcane arguments in his objection. But they also pointed out some interesting pieces of evidence that support the notion that Miscavige is, indeed, personally doing business in Florida, and we thought we’d share those with you as we wait for Judge Barber to make a ruling.

First, they point to a fascinating story written by Tampa Bay Times reporter Tracey McManus that appeared on January 14.

In it, McManus explains that the day after Clearwater City Manager Jon Jennings was fired by the city council, his interim (and later permanent) successor, Jennifer Poirrier, received an unexpected call from none other than Miscavige himself…

She picked up on the fourth “No ID” call in a row. It was Church of Scientology leader David Miscavige.

“He called my personal phone, so I don’t know how he got that number,” she said.

Miscavige called on Jan. 6, Poirrier said, to explain he would soon arrange a meeting to catch her up on the discussions he’d been having with Jennings about the church’s plans for its downtown real estate.

What’s this? Scientology’s leader personally lobbying Clearwater officials about the church’s plans for real estate development in the city? Well, what do you know.

Also, they point to something we noticed as well, Scientology promoting Miscavige’s personal appearance at Scientology’s New Year’s event that was held at the Fort Harrison Hotel in Clearwater, and something that was then advertised to the rest of the Scientology world…

What we see here is David Miscavige personally leading the celebration in Clearwater, Florida that then was used to rope in the faithful around the world. Gee whiz.

And there was one more item that Valeska and the Baxters pointed out that we thought was interesting. Scientology’s attorneys have been questioning whether the Tampa court even has jurisdiction over claims made about the cruise ship Freewinds, which sails the Caribbean, and is not based in Florida.

But Valeska’s attorneys pointed out something fun. If you go to the official website of the Freewinds, look what is listed as the contact information for the vessel…

Whoopsadaisy.

Well, that’s some interesting stuff, and we hope Judge Barber now has enough information to make a determination about whether to uphold Magistrate Judge Sneed’s ruling that Miscavige is a defendant in this lawsuit, which alleges that he oversaw years of abuse of Sea Org workers on the Scientology cruise ship.

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Sunny Pereira dishes on Brad Pitt

Today at noon Eastern, it’s the fourth episode of our special podcast series for subscribers, ‘Up the Bridge’ with Sunny Pereira.

Sunny’s been taking us through Scientology’s courses to help us experience what it’s actually like to become a Scientologist. And in today’s installment, she talks about the ‘TRs and Objectives’ course and the most famous person she actually saw doing it, actor Brad Pitt!

Yes, Sunny describes her interactions with him, and we think you’re really going to enjoy it.

We’re offering this special series to our subscribers to thank them for supporting the work we do here at the Bunker.

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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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