Swiss trial pitting two Scientology mega-donors against each other opens today
Earlier this year we told you about a bizarre situation, a legal battle between major Scientology donors, and in Switzerland of all places.
We were regularly getting calls from the jail in Lugano, a city in the Italian-speaking part of that small country from a man named Ivan Gaspari, who has been incarcerated there since June 2023.
The really strange thing, at least from an American perspective, is that Gaspari was in jail based on accusations made by a private third party, and not because of the initiative of local law enforcement. And even stranger, that accuser was not Swiss but an American, Trish Duggan, the richest donor in Scientology, who has given the church something approaching half a billion dollars over the years.
Gaspari, backed up by documents we obtained, explained that after he had come to Scientology’s spiritual mecca in Clearwater, Florida in 2016, he was approached by Duggan (through her money manager Osman Ozsan) with a business proposition. Gaspari was a steel trader who had done very well for himself, and he had achieved the status of “Diamond Meritorious” for donating a cumulative $5 million to the IAS, Scientology’s membership organization.
Gaspari said that Duggan proposed to invest $20 million in him by creating a new company so they could super-size his profits for even bigger donations to the church. But then, Duggan and her Scientologist attorney Steven Hayes accused Gaspari of mismanaging the new company and skimming profits, and alleged that $7 million was missing.
Based on those allegations, Gaspari was jailed as local prosecutors looked into the matter, while Gaspari insisted that the scheme was set up to benefit Scientology, not himself. And now his trial is beginning today, and it has been generating some local interest as the parties were in court yesterday for some preliminary matters.
We have not had a phone call from Gaspari in months, but our sources close to the case tell us that his legal team is very frustrated that the court so far is indicating that it will restrict testimony about Scientology, which is essentially Gaspari’s entire defense. “It seems that the public prosecutor and the judge are making it personal, as if their careers depend on this trial,” one observer told us.
“It was a complaint from a lawyer for Scientology, and an American billionaire, that started the investigation and sent the defendant to prison, who has been in jail since June 2023. Prosecutor Veronica Lipari is asking for a sentence of more than five years for the man,” wrote one local publication in Lugano yesterday. “The specter of Scientology hovers over the Lugano criminal courtroom. But whether it is a mere splash of color or a central element of the proceedings before the Criminal Assizes Court presided over by Judge Amos Pagnamenta, will become clearer [on Tuesday].”
We’ll try to get some reports from court as this strange trial ensues.
Recommended: The ‘Shadow of Hope’ Podcast
Our readers know we have a strong focus here at the Bunker on one particular Space Age past-life totalitarian organization.
But we wanted to tell you about a remarkable podcast we’ve been listening to about an entirely different subject. Now with five episodes of eight available to listen to, the series takes a fascinating look at an insular, separatist Catholic group in New Jersey that may have been part of the inspiration for Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale.
Journalist Karen Ann Coburn dives into the history of the People of Hope, a Catholic Covenant Community that peaked in the 1980s, and we think you’ll find some interesting parallels to the group led on a much larger scale by L. Ron Hubbard and then David Miscavige.
Check out Coburn’s “Shadow of Hope” series wherever you get your podcasts. We think you’ll enjoy the ride.
Chris Shelton is going Straight Up and Vertical
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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
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I t still boggles my mind that the cult can convince people to give millions of dollars for a trophy. There are starving people whose lives could be saved with much less money than they give to buy and renovate buildings that sit empty and for their ‘war chest’ that pays private detectives, lawyers and even used to harass people who have left. Oh, wait, I forgot. They don’t care about the needy people. They are here to make the able more able. What a joke. How does any of this qualify for tax exemption?
I don't understand Switzerland's legal system. I don't know what evidence Trish and her $cieno friends provided the Court, but I would look at any such evidence very carefully before I put anyone in jail. Given any $cientology involvement, I bet Dave Miscavige had to give his approval for this legal maneuver.
What, no $cieno 'arbitration' for this? If there ever was any attempt at getting both of them together, Trish Duggen, being at the top of the Whales Totem Pole, would win any internal fight.