In the laws within Scientology one cannot report a crime or felony to law enforcement. Reporting internal conduct to anyone outside Scientology is deemed a suppressive act and the punishment is you will get your nearest and dearest family and friends disconnected (shunning) from you. The Church of Scientology flagrantly violates public policy in many ways. For example, Scientology does not turn in pedophiles and even protects rapists. Scientology’s obstruction of justice is rampant and they want to handle criminal matters internally.
Scientology’s attorney Monique Yingling admitted to CNN’s Anderson Cooper that the beatings David Miscavige inflicted upon his subordinates — as well as the beatings other staff members inflicted upon each other — were handled internally. Victims have no recourse to justice in Scientology. Rather, victims only have resort to Scientology’s internal “justice system” which invariably acts to protect the Church at the expense of victims.
The second episode of Leah Remini: Scientology and the Aftermath aired this evening on A&E. This episode featured Scientology’s former international spokesman Mike Rinder and his wife Christie Collbran.
This episode exposed the sadistic ways in which the Church of Scientology — using tax exempt dollars — stalked, harassed, spied on, and Fair Gamed Mike and Christie. It was shocking to watch. The Church of Scientology is always worse than you think; it really is a malicious organization whose 501(c)3 tax exemption needs to be revoked for cause by the IRS.
To say that tonight’s episode was powerful is an understatement. Leah’s show is tremendous television that reaches deeply and existentially into the Scientology experience and its aftermath.
Mike Rinder has always been very generous in sharing his time and wisdom with the media, critics, and especially those people who have left Scientology. Mike’s blog Something Can Be Done About It is a widely read blog that covers the many things that are going on inside the rapidly collapsing Church of Scientology.
Mike Rinder
Mike Rinder granted me the first interview I did when I began my Surviving Scientology Radio podcast series. Thanks to Mike Rinder and other former Sea Org members who have so generously, and sometimes so very painfully, shared their experiences of Scientology, my podcast now has more than two million listens across YouTube, iTunes, and my dot.com Surviving Scientology Radio.
Because of the dozens of aggregators who have taken the podcasts that my guests and I have released into the public domain at no cost, I don’t know how many listens the show actually has. What my guests and I care about is that the truth about Scientology, L. Ron Hubbard, and David Miscavige is carried far and wide across the planet.
I have interviewed Mike Rinder several times on my podcast as I value his singular insights. One tradition my podcast has is to interview Mike Rinder at the New Year. In these shows, Mike looks back at Scientology the previous year and offers his predictions on what Scientology will face in the New Year. Mike’s predictions have been spot on.
Mike Rinder’s 2015 New Year’s Eve podcast is a classic and well worth a listen to get a sense of just how incredibly perceptive Mike Rinder is as a strategic thinker and analyst. Thanks for everything you do Mike.
Leah Remini’s new book Troublemaker: Surviving Hollywood and Scientology is available here.
“The outspoken actress, talk show host, and reality television star offers up a no-holds-barred memoir, including an eye-opening insider account of her tumultuous and heart-wrenching thirty-year-plus association with the Church of Scientology.”
“Leah Remini has never been the type to hold her tongue. That willingness to speak her mind, stand her ground, and rattle the occasional cage has enabled this tough-talking girl from Brooklyn to forge an enduring and successful career in Hollywood. But being a troublemaker has come at a cost.”
“That was never more evident than in 2013, when Remini loudly and publicly broke with the Church of Scientology. Now, in this frank, funny, poignant memoir, the former King of Queens star opens up about that experience for the first time, revealing the in-depth details of her painful split with the church and its controversial practices.”
Here are PDF’s of the actual 990-T documents the Church of Scientology submitted to IRS. These forms irrefutably prove the $1,503,163,225.30 figure for the Church of Scientology shown in HBO’s Going Clear:
Additional Scientology tax documents show another ~$150,000,000 in Scientology book value, thus bringing the Church of Scientology’s 2012 book value to $1.7 billion dollars.
In addition to the assets listed above — which include real estate and cash — there is thought to be $1.5 billion dollars in Scientology liquid cash in bank accounts owned or controlled by these corporations:
11. CSRT: Church of Scientology Religious Trust
13. US IAS Members Trust
14. COSRECI: Church of Scientology Religious Education College, Inc. (UK)
15. SIRT Scientology International Reserve Trust – may have been dissolved
16. SORT: Sea Org Reserves Trust
If you have any corrections or additions for this list, please post comments below or contact Jeffrey Augustine at scienowriter@gmail.com.
I received an e-mail from someone who asked me where I obtained the Church of Scientology 990-T’s. The person asking wanted to know because, as they claimed, anyone “still in the Church” would dismiss the IRS 990-T’s posted on this blog as “Black PR.” In other words, if a “still-in” came here they would believe the IRS 990-T’s posted here were not real, that the forms were somehow manufactured to attack the Church of Scientology.
I can assure my readers that the 990-T’s posted on this site are genuine and were made available by the IRS. Moreover, I fail to see how showing anyone that the Church has $1.5+ billion dollars in book value is Black PR, but the mindset is clear to see: “Still ins” may only consider that which they are spoon-fed in OSA handlings or Church PR.
The person writing to me argued that the 990-T’s should be available on a neutral website; the apparent logic being that special steps need to be taken to satisfy the distrust and paranoia of people still in the Church of Scientology.
Aside from the fact that I have no interest whatsoever in catering to the distrust and paranoia of people still in the Church of Scientology, the key point is this: The 990-T’s are publicly available from the IRS and they are now posted online here and at many other websites. Everyone is free to download the IRS 990-T’s I have posted on this blog and repost them on a “neutral website” or any other website.
As for handling “still-ins” on the 990-T’s my recommendation is this: Print out the 990-T’s, hand them to the still-ins, and have the still-ins ask Church management if they are Black PR or if they are real. OSA can address the questions.
For the record: I was able to legally obtain the 990-T’s due to the following IRS regulation, the text of which I have cut and pasted below. Source: IRS webpage.
Public Inspection and Disclosure of Form 990-T
Section 501(c)(3) organizations (charities) must make available for public inspection Forms 990-T, Exempt Organization Business Income Tax Return.IRS guidance provides as follows:
Guidelines in Treas. Reg. § 301.6104(d)-1 and Notice 2007-45, for making annual returns available for inspection and copying generally continue to apply, except that a return covered by the guidelines includes an exact copy of a Form 990-T filed by a charity after August 17, 2006. The return also includes any schedules, attachments, and supporting documents that relate to the imposition of tax on the unrelated business income of the charity. Schedules, attachments and supporting documents that do not relate to the imposition of the unrelated business income tax do not have to be made available for inspection and copying.
A charity must make Form 990-T available only for the three years beginning on the last day (including extensions) for filing the return.
The IRS must make Forms 990-T filed by charities publicly available; use Form 4506-A to request copies. Copies of Forms 990-T on DVD may be purchased from the IRS.
Social Betterment Properties International is a Church of Scientology entity that holds properties for the Church’s so-called “social betterment” groups.
No 990-T’s are available at present. However, the stated 2008 asset value stated for Social Betterment Properties International was $39,647,311.
This increased by at least $5,000,000 when Tony Ortega reported that SBPI had purchased the late actor Larry Hagman’s Ojai, California estate for $5,000,000 in cash.
“Founded in 1989, the Association for Better Living and Education (ABLE) is an umbrella organization that administers six of Scientology’s social programs:
