| October 9, 1979 | 9 Scientologists OK Conviction So They Can Appeal | Nine leaders of the Church of Scientology, in a rare legal maneuver, have agreed to be found guilty by a federal judge on reduced charges of conspiracy and theft as an outgrowth of their long battle with the federal government over allegedly stolen U.S. documents. | |
| April 2, 1985 | Hubbard's Absence Leads to Dismissal of Scientology Suit | A Los Angeles federal judge dismissed Monday a $2-million libel suit by the Church of Scientology of California against a Boston lawyer because of the failure of Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard to appear at a court-ordered deposition. A Scientology attorney claimed that Hubbard was not available to be deposed. Waving a Scientology advertisement, the judge asked, "Then why do you advertise that he can be reached?" | |
| September 19, 1986 | $30-Million Court Fight Lost by Scientology | In a staggering blow to the Church of Scientology of California, a Superior Court judge Thursday upheld a jury's $30-million damage award to a former church member who said the organization wrecked him mentally and financially. | |
| September 27, 1986 | Verdict Is Upheld Against Scientology | A Los Angeles judge last week rejected a request that he either overturn a $30 million verdict against the Church of Scientology of California or grant a new trial in a suit by former member Larry Wollersheim, who said Scientologists destroyed his business and drove him to the brink of insanity when he left the church after 11 years. | |
| June 24, 1990 | Los Angeles Times: The Scientology Story - About This Series | Scientology's largest stronghold is in Hollywood. Eleven of its top leaders — including Hubbard's wife — were jailed for burglarizing the U.S. Justice Department and other federal agencies in the 1970s. Within the church, there have been widespread purges and defections. Some former members have filed lawsuits accusing the church of intimidating its critics, breaking up families and using high-pressure sales techniques to separate large sums of money from its followers. | |
| June 24, 1990 | Los Angeles Times: The Making of L. Ron Hubbard | From a life haunted by emotional and financial troubles, L. Ron Hubbard brought forth Scientology. He achieved godlike status among his followers, and his death has not deterred the church's efforts to reach deeper into society. | |
| June 24, 1990 | Los Angeles Times: Creating the Mystique | Hubbard's image was crafted of truth, distorted by myth. To his followers, L. Ron Hubbard was bigger than life. But it was an image largely of his own making. A Los Angeles Superior Court judge put it bluntly while presiding over a Church of Scientology lawsuit in 1984. Scientology's founder, he said, was "virtually a pathological liar" about his past. | |
| June 24, 1990 | Los Angeles Times: Life With L. Ron Hubbard | L. Ron Hubbard enjoyed being pampered. He surrounded himself with teen-age followers, whom he indoctrinated, treated like servants and cherished as though they were his own children. He called them the "Commodore's messengers." | |
| June 24, 1990 | Los Angeles Times: The Final Days | Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard often said that man's most basic drive is that of survival. And when it came to his own, he used whatever was necessary — false identities, cover stories, deception. There is no better illustration of this than the way he secretly controlled the Church of Scientology while hiding from a world he viewed as increasingly hostile. | |
| June 24, 1990 | Los Angeles Times: Defining the Theology | What is Scientology? Not even the vast majority of Scientologists can fully answer the question. No single book comprehensively sets forth Scientology's beliefs. Teachings are revealed to church members through a progression of sometimes secret courses that take years to complete and cost tens of thousands of dollars. | |
| June 24, 1990 | Los Angeles Times: Burglaries and Lies Paved a Path to Prison | A web of criminal conspiracy to discredit the church's foes resulted in prison sentences for 11 top-ranking Scientologists. | |
| June 24, 1990 | Los Angeles Times: The Man in Control | The Church of Scientology today is run by David Miscavige, a high-school dropout who grew up at the knee of the late L. Ron Hubbard and wields power with the iron-fisted approach of his mentor. | |
| June 24, 1990 | Los Angeles Times: Staking a Claim to Blood Brotherhood | As L. Ron Hubbard told it, he was 4 years old when a medicine man named "Old Tom" made him a "blood brother" of the Blackfeet Indians of Montana. But one expert on the tribe doesn't buy Hubbard's account. | |
| June 24, 1990 | Los Angeles Times: Church Scriptures Get High-Tech Protection | Scientology is determined that the words of L. Ron Hubbard shall live forever. Using state-of-the art technology, the movement has spent more than $15 million to protect Hubbard's original writings, tape-recorded lectures and filmed treatises from natural and man-made calamities, including nuclear holocaust. | |
| June 25, 1990 | Los Angeles Times: The Selling of a Church | Behind the religious trappings, the Church of Scientology is run like a lean, no-nonsense business in which potential members are called "prospects," "raw meat" and "bodies in the shop." Its governing financial policy, written by the late Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard, is simple and direct: "MAKE MONEY, MAKE MORE MONEY, MAKE OTHERS PRODUCE SO AS TO MAKE MONEY." | |
| June 25, 1990 | Los Angeles Times: Shoring Up Its Religious Profile | Since its founding by the late science fiction writer L. Ron Hubbard, Scientology has worked hard to shore up its religious profile for the public, the courts and the Internal Revenue Service. In the old days, those who purchased Hubbard's Scientology courses were called "students." Today, they are "parishioners." The group's "franchises" have become "missions." And Hubbard's teachings, formerly his "courses," now are described as sacred scriptures. | |
| June 25, 1990 | Los Angeles Times: The Courting of Celebrities | The Church of Scientology uses celebrity spokesmen to endorse L. Ron Hubbard's teachings and give Scientology greater acceptability in mainstream America. In 1955, Hubbard inaugurated "Project Celebrity." According to Hubbard, Scientologists should target prominent individuals as their "quarry" and bring them back like trophies for Scientology. | |
| June 26, 1990 | Los Angeles Times: Defectors Recount Lives of Hard Work, Punishment | Over the years, defecting Scientologists have come forward with similar accounts of how their lives and personalities were upended after they joined the church's huge staff. They say the organization promised spiritual liberation but delivered subjugation. | |
| June 27, 1990 | Los Angeles Times: Reaching into Society | Scientologists are disseminating Hubbard's writings in public and private school classrooms across the U.S., businesses and business groups, and detox programs, using front groups that seldom publicize their Scientology connections. | |
| June 27, 1990 | Los Angeles Times: Scientology and the Schools | The Scientology movement has launched a concerted campaign to gain a foothold in the nation's schools by distributing to children millions of copies of a booklet Hubbard wrote on basic moral values. | |
| June 27, 1990 | Los Angeles Times: Converting the Business World | Scientology is using a network of private consulting firms to gain a foothold in the U.S. business community. The firms promise businessmen higher earnings but appear to be mainly interested in recruiting new members for the church. | |
| June 27, 1990 | Los Angeles Times: Scientology and Science | Scientologists are trying to win recognition for Hubbard's detox/purification program in scientific and medical circles. Physicians affiliated with the regimen have touted it as a major breakthrough, and a number of patients who have undergone the treatment say their health improved. But some health authorities dismiss Hubbard's program as a medical fraud that preys upon public fear of toxins. | |
| June 27, 1990 | Los Angeles Times: Courting the Power Brokers | From politicians to the leaders of business, the courts and the media, Scientology works to win allies to smooth the way for expansion. To create a favorable environment for Scientology's expansion, church executives are working to win allies among society's power brokers and opinion leaders. | |
| June 27, 1990 | Los Angeles Times: The "Org Board" | A key element of the management techniques Scientologists sell to businessmen is L. Ron Hubbard's "organizational board". Used also by the Church of Scientology, the "Org Board" divides an organization into seven divisions — executive, personnel, sales, finance, training, marketing and qualifications. | |
| June 27, 1990 | Los Angeles Times: Foundation Funds Provide Assist to Celebrated Teacher Escalante | The Scientology movement's Foundation for Advancements in Science and Education has befriended one of America's most celebrated teachers, Jaime Escalante of Garfield High School. | |
