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From: martinottmann@yahoo.com (Martin Ottmann)
Newsgroups: alt.religion.scientology
Subject: Federal Complaint II - Violations (g)
Date: 1 Jan 2003 15:08:31 -0800
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May 29, 2002 - On the 8th day of his testimony Minton admitted that he
had also lied about another transfer in connection with Gerald
Armstrong – a donation of $ 100,000 towards the LMT in the year 2001
[Exh. No. 137]:

[ … ] Dandar: "In addition to you giving Gerry Armstrong a UBS check
that was from your bank account to pay back your loan of $ 100,000,
isn't it true you also gave him money - $ 100,000 to make a donation
to the LMT?"

Minton: "That is correct."

Q: "And was that also on a UBS check?"

A: "It was a UBS check."

Q: "So when you testified on April 8 of 2002 in your deposition with
Mr. Rosen, that is the second area that you did not tell the truth
about?"

A: "Mmm, that was one of the areas that I marked off in this
deposition. Yes."

Q: "All right. So both moneys to Mr. Armstrong?"

A: "Correct."

Q: "In your deposition of April 8, you did not tell the truth about
that, correct?"

A: "That is right."

The Court: "Is this - this is not the $ 100,000 used to pay back the
loan. This is a second $ 100,000?"

The Witness: "Yes. Yes, your Honor."

The Court: "All right."

By Mr. Dandar: "And were you ever planning on filing a recantation
affidavit about the Gerry Armstrong money now totaling $ 200,000?"

A: "Correct. I was."

Q: "Have you given Mr. Armstrong more money?"

A: "Mmm, I have."

Q: "How much?"

A: "I don't remember the amount."

Q: "Was it also by way of UBS checks?"

A: "Yes."

Q: "And did you tell him it was from anonymous sources in Europe?"

A: "No, I didn't."

Q: "Did you tell him it was from you?"

A: "Yes."

Q: "And the loan repayment check, UBS, and the donation LMT check from
UBS, did you tell Mr. Armstrong that was your money?"

A: "Yes. I also told you with regards to the loan repayment." [ … ]

June 3rd, 2002 - The examination of Robert Minton's lasted until May
30th. After he had been released from the witness stand, Minton wrote
another affidavit in which he recanted his previous testimony in
depositions in connection with the payments given to the LMT [Exh. No.
138]:

" [ … ] 8. I have previously made the statement under oath, including
in my deposition in this cause of September 18, 2001, at page 117, as
well as in my deposition of April 8, 2002, in Case 00-2750-Cl-20 at
page 117, that I did not have the amount of $ 500,000 wire transferred
to the Lisa McPherson Trust (hereinafter ‘the LMT') and that the $
500,000 was an anonymous contribution. These statements are false. In
truth, I used my own funds to cause that transfer to be made to the
LMT at my own direction, and therefore these funds were not from an
anonymous source.

"9. I have previously made the statement under oath, including in my
deposition of April 8, 2002, in Case 00-2750-Cl-20 at pages 116 and
117 that Andreas Heldal-Lund from Operation Clambake in Norway wired $
300,000 to the LMT, that he received this money from someone else,
that I did not know who the source was, and that it was an anonymous
contribution to the LMT. These statements are false. In truth,
although Andreas Heldal-Lund did wire transfer the $ 300,000 to the
LMT, this was after I provided Andreas Heldal-Lund with a check issued
by UBS in the amount of $ 300,000 payable to Andreas Heldal-Lund. This
$ 300,000 was my money and this payment to the LMT came from me and
therefore was not from an anonymous source.

"10. I have previously made the statement under oath, including in my
deposition of April 8, 2002, in Case 00-2750-Cl-20 at pages 117 to 118
that Gerry Armstrong contributed $ 100,000 to the LMT in 2001 and that
I did not know where he got the $ 100,000. This statement is false. In
truth, in 2001 I gave Gerry Armstrong $ 100,000 which I directed Gerry
Armstrong to send to the LMT.

"11. I have previously made the statement under oath, including in my
deposition of April 8, 2002, in Case 00-2750-Cl-20 at page 119 that
Gerry Armstrong repaid all of my $ 100,000 loan back to me. This
statement is false. In truth, I gave Gerry Armstrong so that it would
appear that he repaid me this loan. [ … ] "

June 7th, 2002 - On this day the former Scientologist Peter Alexander
testified in the McPherson hearings. Alexander, who had produced and
directed the film "The Profit," had also been on the LMT's board of
directors. Minton had fired Alexander from the board over a quarrel in
relation to the making of the film, which Minton had supported with $
2,000,000.

In his testimony Alexander recounted a meeting with Minton during
which he had confided to Alexander that he had evaded paying taxes on
the revenue of his Nigeria business [Exh. No. 139]:

[ … ] Dandar: "Do you recall this particular time that Mr. Minton
showed up at the sound stage and you all went to the Hyatt for
drinks?"

Alexander: "I recall another occasion, but it wasn't the day he was on
the film. That was much, much earlier."

Q: "Okay."

A: "That was back in April."

Q: "Of what year?"

A: "2000."

Q: "All right. And what was your conversation with Mr. Minton at the
Hyatt?"

A: "We had just come from looking at the sound stage where we were
building the set. He didn't seem to be very interested in it. He
seemed to be agitated and upset and unhappy. So he ordered a drink.
And I said, ‘What's up?' He said: ‘These Scientologists are driving me
crazy. They're following me everywhere. They're harassing my
daughters.' He said, ‘And I'm very, very upset.' And he said, ‘They're
all over me for this Nigerian thing.' He made some business deal in
Nigeria. And I said, ‘Well, so? What's up with that?' You know,
‘They're not going to get anything on you.' And then Patricia was
there for some of that conversation. She left. And when she left and
he was talking about that Nigeria money, he broke down into tears, and
he said that he had tax problems with respect to that money and that
that was what was worrying him. And so …"

Q: "Did he say what kind of tax problems he had with that Nigerian
money?"

A: "Yes, said he hadn't paid taxes on that money."

Q: "And he was in tears?"

A: "Yes." [ … ]

June 12th, 2002 - At another hearing judge Schaeffer indicated that
she believed that Minton was involved in criminal activities. She also
announced that she would submit a report to the State Attorney's
Office in Tampa upon the completion of the hearings [Exh. No. 140]:

[ … ] The Court: "Let me ask you this, as I perceive this hearing up
until now, when this hearing is over - this is probably all in the
record so you have probably seen it - there is no question that I'll
have to - I mean, I'm not going to get in trouble over this. I'm going
to turn this matter over to the State Attorney because there has been
all kinds of allegations of criminal acts from all sides, so that is
not my job, I don't sort it out. ‘Here you are, that is your job,'
everything goes to the State Attorney with a cover letter. It's my
understanding, having been somewhat of a criminal lawyer, having sat
on the bench for ten years, that Mr. Minton is far less than candid in
his recantation, that some of the matters of perjury I uncovered, or
others uncovered, and then he recanted. He's too late, quite frankly.
Florida has a statute called perjury that is two inconsistent
statements, whether he recants or doesn't; one statement, another
statement, two inconsistent statements. One is a third degree, one is
a second-degree felony. I think Mr. Minton is in all manner of
trouble. Whether or not the State Attorney wants to get bogged down in
this is, quite frankly, doubtful. But - so Mr. Minton has perjury
problems. Mr. Minton has contempt problems, without any thought about
it because, frankly, I'm in my 22nd day of hearing and I am most
aggravated, you know. Who all I'm aggravated with depends what I
decide. But he surely, surely is one of them." [ … ]

The Court: "I think Mr. Minton has IRS problems. I, frankly, have no
intention of keeping anything from them. And I think he's got problems
because he hasn't filled out the form that anybody that fills out a
Schedule B knows that - I have seen this form. There must be some
reason why they asked me whether I had a foreign bank indicated. Never
having had one, I never followed up. But I got on the Internet, saw
this little form is supposed to be filled out. Right there on the
bottom it says if you don't fill this form out, you've got big
trouble." [ … ]

The Court: "So from what I gather, he's got troubles with two
government agencies, both of which involve criminal sanctions. He has
trouble with the State Attorney, which involves criminal sanctions. He
has trouble with me which involves criminal contempt." [ … ]

At the time of the writing of this affidavit the hearings in the Lisa
McPherson case have not been concluded, and apparently judge Schaeffer
has also not ruled yet on the motion from the Church of Scientology to
disqualify Kennan Dandar from the case.

Notwithstanding Robert Minton's various allegations against the
attorneys Kennan Dandar and John Merrett during the recent court
hearings, Minton's own testimony has established that he committed
perjury in connection with five payments in the amount of $ 1,500,000:

- a $ 500,000 check to Dandar issued by the Union Bank of Switzerland
on May 1st, 2000 [Exh. No. 127];

- a wire transfer in the amount of $ 500,000 carried out by a Swiss
branch of the Dresdner Bank on March 19th, 2001 [Exh. No. 135];

- a $ 300,000 check to Norwegian citizen Andreas Heldal-Lund issued by
the Union Bank of Switzerland on January 30th, 2001;

- two payments of $ 100,000 to Canadian citizen Gerald Armstrong,
apparently issued by the Union Bank of Switzerland in 1999 and in
2001;

Additionally Minton used payments to the LMT, to the individuals
Heldal-Lund and Armstrong to funnel funds in the amount of $ 750,000
into his own pocket by disguising them as "loan re-payments."
Specifically Minton laundered in this way:

- $ 150,000 in form of a check issued by the LMT on March 19th, 2001
[Exh. No. 141];

- $ 200,000 in form of a check issued by the LMT on March 20th, 2001
[Exh. No. 142];

- $ 300,000 through a withdrawal from an LMT account on April 11th,
2001 [Exh. No. 136];

- $ 100,000 by Gerald Armstrong during the year 2001.

While in court Minton refused to identify the financial institution,
which he had originally used to execute the above-mentioned operations
by invoking his Fifth Amendment rights against self-incrimination. He
also used this privilege when he was asked if he had falsified his
income tax declarations during the years 1997 until 2001.

Minton's former close friend Peter Alexander testified under oath
during the same proceedings that Minton had confided to him in the
year of 2000 that he had not declared the earnings from his major
business operation for government of Nigeria to the Internal Revenue
Service.