French head of Scientology convicted of fraud facing charges in appellate court

scarabas · Feb 3, 2012

Source: http://scryr.com/news.php?extend.57

France's appeal court, the Court of Cassation, has upheld the findings of the lower courts in a 2009 fraud conviction of the Church of Scientology.

According to the ruling, the church has to pay 400,000, the church's bookshop has to pay 200,000, and the head of the Church of Scientology in France, Alain Rosenberg, has to pay 40,000 and has a two-year suspended sentence. Four other members of the Church have been given fines and suspended sentences...
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Can you believe this BS? How does this messed up religion get away with this crap.

waltky · Jan 25, 2013

Goes on in a lot of churches...

US couple sues Church of Scientology over donations
Fri, Jan 25, 2013 - Two former members of the Church of Scientology claimed in a lawsuit filed on Wednesday that the church and its affiliates deceived members into donating millions of US dollars to misrepresented causes.

Luis and Maria Garcia of Irvine, California, filed the complaint in federal court in Tampa, Florida, near the churchs national headquarters in Clearwater. The couple claims they were duped into giving more than US$420,000 for a building campaign, disaster relief efforts and other causes, only to find the bulk of the money went to inflate the church coffers and line the pockets of its leader, David Miscavige. Scientology spokeswoman Pat Harney said the church had not yet been served with the lawsuit, but challenged any contention that money was misappropriated. The Garcias were 28-year members of the church, rising to upper levels of Scientology. They left in November 2010 over their disenchantment with its direction under Miscavige, who has led the church since founder L. Ron Hubbards death in 1986.

The lawsuit names various trusts and nonprofits linked to Scientology as defendants and says they collectively engage in fraud. Attorney Theodore Babbitt of West Palm Beach, Florida, who is among those handling the suit, said it would be followed by other similar claims from former Scientologists. He said the Garcias still believe in the precepts of Scientology and that the litigation is not a commentary on whether it is a true religion, a question that has dogged it across the world since it was founded in the 1950s. Among the accusations made in the lawsuit is that the Garcias and others were repeatedly approached with urgent requests for funding of Scientology charity work around the globe.

Babbitt said high-ranking former Scientologists would testify that the church knowingly rerouted such collections for other spending, including financing a lavish lifestyle for Miscavige, stifling inquiries into church activities and finances, and intimidating members and ex-members. A common tactic, Babbitt said, when a disaster unfolded somewhere in the world, would be to send a small group of Scientologists with a camera crew that would pay locals in the affected area to appear on camera. A scene would essentially be staged in which people would be begging or appear to be starving, even if it were not the case, he said. A cornerstone of church practice is personal counseling sessions, known as auditing, in which members disclose many facets of their personal lives.

Babbitt says members financial statuses would be known from those sessions and then be used in tandem with footage from disaster sites in desperate and urgent pleas for money. Theres an emergency, we need your money right now, we know that you have X dollars in the bank in Los Angeles, Babbitt said. Those contributions, the lawsuit says, were collected by a Scientology-linked group called IAS Administrations, which Babbitt says former church members will testify accumulated more than US$1 billion in contributions.

http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/world/archives/2013/01/25/2003553421
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FreshAir · Jan 25, 2013

waltky said: ↑

Goes on in a lot of churches...

US couple sues Church of Scientology over donations
Fri, Jan 25, 2013 - Two former members of the Church of Scientology claimed in a lawsuit filed on Wednesday that the church and its affiliates deceived members into donating millions of US dollars to misrepresented causes.
Click to expand...

lol, seriously, I think many religions could be sued for this one...

...

Anobsitar · Jan 25, 2013

FreshAir said: ↑

lol, seriously, I think many religions could be sued for this one...

...
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Scientology has nothing to do with religion - Scientology is a criminal organisation.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=py2TiFsq9T0

FreshAir · Jan 25, 2013

Anobsitar said: ↑

Scientology has nothing to do with religion - Scientology is a criminal organisation.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=py2TiFsq9T0
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while I am not a believer, it is a religion

Anobsitar · Jan 27, 2013

FreshAir said: ↑

while I am not a believer, it is a religion
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Do you also think the Nazis were a religion?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OBCOGfafqYY

... Manchmal, da fallen mir Bilder ein
Von einem Stück Brot in verstümmelten Händen
Von einer Alten, die sie allein
Hervorzerren unter berstenden Wänden.
Von verbrannten Gesichtern, in Händen vergraben:
Manchmal schäm‘ ich mich dafür, mich geschämt zu haben!
Das wollt‘ ich dir sagen, hörst du mir noch zu?
Nein, du schläfst schon, vom Tag wirst du müde sein.
Ich lösche das Licht, und ich deck‘ dich wärmer zu.
Manchmal schäm‘ ich mich, trotz allem so glücklich zu sein!

Reinhard Mey

.

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French head of Scientology convicted of fraud facing charges in appellate court

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French head of Scientology convicted of fraud facing charges in appellate court

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