From manage@factnet.org Wed Apr 17 18:14:42 2002 Reply-To: "FACTNet International" From: "FACTNet International" Newsgroups: alt.crime Subject: New Update on the Wollersheim Scientology Litigation 04/17/02 Lines: 146 Organization: FACTNet International X-Priority: 3 X-MSMail-Priority: Normal X-Newsreader: Microsoft Outlook Express 6.00.2600.0000 X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V6.00.2600.0000 Message-ID: X-Complaints-To: abuse@usenetserver.com X-Abuse-Info: Please be sure to forward a copy of ALL headers X-Abuse-Info: Otherwise we will be unable to process your complaint properly. NNTP-Posting-Date: Wed, 17 Apr 2002 20:16:28 EDT Date: Wed, 17 Apr 2002 18:14:42 -0700 Path: corp.newsgroups.com!propagator-maxim!news-in.spamkiller.net!newsfeed.sjc.globix.net!hub1.meganetnews.com!hub1.nntpserver.com!peer1-sjc1.usenetserver.com!usenetserver.com!newsfeeds-atl2!e420r-atl1.usenetserver.com.POSTED!not-for-mail Xref: newsfeeds alt.crime:16420 Special Update on the Wollersheim Scientology Litigation 04/17/02 I have been asked by numerous individuals to update them on what is happening with the Wollersheim case. It has been at least 2-3 years since my last update. The Wollersheim Scientology litigation is and has been one of the most important legal cases and developing precedents in cult and mind control litigation. It has set many new precedents. The Wollersheim Scientology case has now entered the last part of its third and final phase. The first phase was the original case, which showed Scientology's auditing practices as dangerous mind control. It was upheld by The US Supreme court. The case was won, but Scientology conveyed $500,000,000 out of the CSC (Church of Scientology of California) and transferred the assets to other, newly created, corporations in order to claim that CSC could not pay the now approximate $9,000,000 judgment. The second phase was the Wollersheim victory in a SLAPP (Strategic Lawsuits against Public Participation) lawsuit against Scientology in which Wollersheim was awarded, and Scientology paid, $500,000 in fines. (SLAPP laws and lawsuits were designed to protect small organizations and individuals from wealthy organizations who would file frivolous lawsuits on them designed to punish them financially for speaking out.) The third phase is just about to go to the judge for a ruling. This phase involves showing that CSI (Church of Scientology International) and RTC (Religious Technology Corporation) controlled CSC, controlled the Wollersheim litigation and received the CSC assets and therefore are responsible to pay the CSC Wollersheim judgment. But, there are a lot of outcomes that could come from the Judge's next decision besides just ordering CSC and RTC to pay the judgment. The Judge will be listening to the infamous MCCS tapes where Scientology discusses transferring assets and committing a fraud on the IRS. The judge may order David Miscavige to the witness stand as he was intimately involved, as the senior executive, in most of the CSC, CSI, RTC and MCCS transactions. The judge has already hinted in his comments that if he discovers a criminal fraud he will act as appropriate. In addition, if the judge rules that CSI, CSC and RTC operated as one corporation and there was no true corporate integrity between corporations, this will have a devastating effect on Scientology's whole corporate reorganization that they undertook in the early 1980's. Such a ruling would be a court determination that is in direct contradiction to the IRS ruling that Scientology corporations were separate entities. A ruling by the court that CSC, CSI and RTC have no real corporate separation and integrity has a devastating potential effect on Scientology's tax exempt status. The judge could even assign personal responsibility to David Miscavige for any criminal fraud or fraudulent conveyance discovered. No one can predict how this judge will rule but, so far, he seems not to be intimidated by Scientology or its history and those who know him say he will rule fairly on the facts of the case. The Wollersheim attorneys have done a great job of providing the court with the hard evidence it needs to allow the court to make its decision. The final evidence for phase three will be heard May 9-15, 2002. The judge is expected to issue his final ruling within 30-90 days after that. Scientology has regularly approached the Wollersheim attorneys over the last months seeking to settle. On every occasion they have come up with terms I would never accept. They have been making similar "settlement killer" offers for the past 18 years. . (Their settlement approaches appear to be more "intelligence gathering" activities that are designed more to ascertain the strength of one's position or efforts to sow dissent than to conduct realistic or sincere negotiations.) Here is how I see the case ending and the realistic timetables: Scientology will play brinkmanship games to the 11th hour and then will fall over the brink of its own making. The judge will rule in our favor --- a type of Wollersheim litigation "triple witching" against Scientology. Scientology will then spend another two-to-three years appealing that new decision. Scientology will have to put up about a 15 million dollar bond. We will survive their appeals and enforce the collection against the 15 million bond or CSI and RTC by seizing their assets. (From the beginning I never believed this case would end any other way than by our legal team ENFORCING the judgment every single step of the way.) I see great benefit in perusing the many new potential opportunities and advantages that Scientology has have provided to me in this third phase of the litigation. Continually refusing to pay the original judgment of phase one has brought them to this point. Doing everything else in the organization's power to alienate everyone associated with, or who has had any contact with this case in any way has opened many a new door that I could have never have dreamed of. If one looks closely, one will see that in this third phase of the Wollersheim litigation, Scientology is fighting against itself in a descending spiral of paradoxes and worsening potential outcomes. IMHO Lawrence Wollersheim Co-Founder and Director of Factnet PS For more information use the "Search FACTNet" button at the top of http://www.factnet.org/ . Search on the keywords....Wollersheim litigation....and....MCCS tapes. ----------------- This News alert has been brought to you by F.A.C.T.Net (Fight Against Coercive Tactics Network) a non-profit organization providing news and information on cults and mind control since 1995. Please also forward your breaking news stories relating to cults and mind control to manage@factnet.org. We have 1,000 media editors on a international e-mail list to whom who we regularly forward major stories to as they break. We also post breaking stories on our home page. 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