David Miscavige | |
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.jpg) Miscavige in 2019 | |
| Born | (1960-04-30)April 30, 1960 (age 65) Bristol, Pennsylvania, U.S. |
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| Organization | Church of Scientology |
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| Relatives | Jenna Miscavige Hill (niece) |
| Website | Official website |
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David Miscavige (/mɪˈskævɪdʒ/; born April 30, 1960)[1] is an AmericanScientologist who is serving as the second and current leader of theChurch of Scientology. His official title within the organization ischairman of the board of theReligious Technology Center (COB RTC). RTC is a corporation that controls the trademarks and copyrights ofDianetics andScientology. He is also referred to within the Scientology organization as "DM", "COB", and "captain of the Sea Org".[2]: 57 [3]: 128 [3]: 139
Miscavige was a deputy to Scientology founderL. Ron Hubbard as a teenager. He joined theSea Org, a management group for the Scientology organization, then later joined theCommodore's Messenger Organization, a group within the Sea Org that carried Hubbard's orders to subordinates.[4] He rose to a leadership role by the early 1980s and was named "chairman of the board" of RTC in 1987, the year after Hubbard's death.[5] Official Church of Scientology biographies describe Miscavige as "the ecclesiastical leader of the Scientology religion".[4][6]
Since he assumed his leadership position, there have been a number of allegations made against Miscavige. These include claims ofhuman trafficking,child abuse,slavery,forced separation of family members, coercive fundraising practices,harassment of journalists and Scientology critics, and emotional and physical abuse of subordinates by Miscavige. Miscavige and spokespersons for the Scientology organization deny the majority of such statements, often making derogatory comments about and attacking the character of those who make them.[7][8][9][10][11]
Miscavige has been investigated by theFederal Bureau of Investigation due to allegations of criminal activities within the Scientology organization.[12][13] He is named as a defendant in numerous lawsuits involving his role in the organization.[22] One such recent lawsuit, filed in April 2022, refers to repeatedsexual assault of children by senior Scientology executives in the Sea Org during Miscavige's leadership. The case also involves allegations of human trafficking, forced labor, and other forms of child abuse.[19][20][21]
David Miscavige was born inBristol, Pennsylvania,[23][24] on April 30, 1960. His parents,Ronald Thomas "Ron" Miscavige Sr. and Loretta Gidaro, wereCatholics of Polish-Italian heritage.[25] Miscavige and his twin sister, Denise, were raised primarily inWillingboro Township, New Jersey.[26]: 1 As a child, Miscavige played baseball and football, but he suffered fromasthma and severeallergies.[26] His father, a trumpet player, became interested inScientology and sent the younger Miscavige to see a Scientologist. According to both father and son, a 45-minuteDianetics session cured Miscavige's ailments.
Miscavige's family joined theChurch of Scientology in 1971 and eventually moved to the organization's world headquarters atSaint Hill Manor inWest Sussex, England.[25] Saint Hill served as Miscavige's training ground as anauditor, and he is remembered by the Scientology organization as a "12-year-oldprodigy" who became its youngest professional auditor.[26] The family returned to Philadelphia within a few years, where Miscavige attendedMarple Newtown High School.[25]
In 1976, with his father's permission, Miscavige left high school on his sixteenth birthday and moved toClearwater, Florida, to join theSea Org, a Scientologist organization established in 1968 by founderL. Ron Hubbard.[25] Some of his earliest jobs in the Sea Org included deliveringtelexes, groundskeeping, food service and taking photographs for Scientology brochures.[25]
Miscavige was appointed to an elite group of young Scientologists within the Sea Org called theCommodore's Messenger Organization (CMO), which Hubbard had established to carry out his personal errands and deliver executive directives to Scientology management. As they grew into adolescence, the Messengers' power and influence within the Sea Org increased.[27][28][29]: 264–5 By 1977, Miscavige was living inLa Quinta, California, working directly under Hubbard as a cameraman for Scientology training films at CMO Cine Org.[29]: 264
In 1981 David Miscavige had begun the year as a cameraman atGilman Hot Springs and a junior member of the Commodore's Messenger Organization. He ended it in charge of the Watchdog Committee and the All Clear Unit which he announced was now senior to CMO International.
In the late 1970s, after the public relations disaster of the criminal convictions of eleven leaders of theGuardian's Office, including Hubbard's wifeMary Sue, Hubbard had to maintain his distance from Church management since he had formally resigned in 1966. Hubbard further distanced himself from the Guardian's Office, his wife, and CMO—which stood for Commodore Messengers Org where "Commodore" had been Hubbard's title as leader of the Sea Org.
In April 1979, the Watchdog Committee was formed, consisting of the senior executives of CMO International, with Miscavige assuming a prominent role.[29]: 257–258 [30]: 91 When Hubbard went into hiding with Pat and Annie Broeker in 1980, Miscavige became the sole link between Hubbard and church leaders, secretly relaying Hubbard's orders from the Broekers.[27] In early 1981, Miscavige set up theAll Clear Unit "which was allegedly designed to work towards a situation when Hubbard could come back on lines"; to be "All Clear" for Hubbard to emerge from hiding.[30]: 94
By the end of 1981, Miscavige was in charge of the Watchdog Committee and the All Clear Unit,[30]: 94 as well asAuthor Services Inc., a for-profit entity established in 1981 to manage Hubbard's literary and financial affairs.[27] As head of the CMO, Miscavige sent out teams to investigate problem areas within Scientology.[31]
Next, setting his sights on dismantling the larger and more powerful Guardian's Office, Miscavige strong-armed Hubbard's wifeMary Sue to resign from her post as Guardians' controller, removed several other GO officials, andpurged several more throughComm Evs includingDavid Gaiman,Duke Snider,Mo Budlong andHenning Heldt.[30]: 94–95 TheSt. Petersburg Times later reported: "During two heated encounters, Miscavige persuaded Mary Sue Hubbard to resign. Together they composed a letter to Scientologists confirming her decision – all without ever talking to L. Ron Hubbard."[25] She subsequently changed her mind, believing that she had been tricked.[29]: 266 Despite this, Miscavige claims he and Mary Sue remained friends thereafter.[32]
In 1982,[33][4] Miscavige set up a new organizational structure to insulate Hubbard from personal liability and to handle his personal wealth through a corporate entity outside of the Scientology network. He established theReligious Technology Center (RTC), an entity responsible for licensing Scientology's intellectual property, and Author Services Inc. to manage the proceeds.[33] Miscavige has held the title ofchairman of the board of the RTC since the organization's founding.[4] TheChurch of Spiritual Technology (CST) was created at the same time with anoption to repurchase all of RTC's intellectual property rights.[33] In a 1982probate case,Ronald DeWolf, Hubbard's estranged son, accused Miscavige ofembezzling from and manipulating his father. Hubbard denied this in a written statement, saying that his business affairs were being well managed by Author Services Inc., of which Miscavige was also chairman of the board. In the same document, Hubbard called Miscavige a "trusted associate" and "good friend" who had kept his affairs in good order. A judge ruled the statement was authentic.[25] The case was dismissed on June 27, 1983.[32]
In October 1982, Miscavige required Scientology Missions to enter new trademark usage contracts which established stricter policies on the use of Scientology materials.[27][34] Over the two years following the formation of the RTC, Miscavige and his team replaced most of Scientology's upper and middle management.[35] A number of those ousted attempted to establish breakaway organizations including theAdvanced Ability Center led byDavid Mayo, a former RTC board member who had also been Hubbard's personal auditor.[35][36] The Advanced Ability Center closed in 1984, two years after opening.[35]
When Hubbard died in 1986, Miscavige announced his death to Scientologists at theHollywood Palladium.[37] Shortly before his death, an apparent order from Hubbard circulated in the Sea Org that promoted ScientologistPat Broeker and his wife to the new rank of Loyal Officer, making them the highest-ranking members; Miscavige asserted this order had beenforged.[29]: 362 After Hubbard's death, Miscavige assumed the position of head of the Church of Scientology and, according to the organization, "ecclesiastical leader of the Scientology religion."[5][38] Within the Sea Org, Miscavige holds the title of "captain of the Sea Organization" and is its highest-ranking member.[3]: 139
Since Miscavige assumed his leadership role in Scientology, there have been numerous accounts of illegal and unethical practices by the Church and by Miscavige himself. A 1991Time magazine cover story, "The Thriving Cult of Greed and Power," described Miscavige as "ringleader" of a "hugely profitable globalracket that survives by intimidating members and critics in aMafia-like manner."[6] Miscavige stated in a 1992 interview onNightline—his only live televised interview to date—that the publication of the article resulted from a request byEli Lilly, because of "the damage we had caused to their killer drugProzac".[39] Scientology filed a suit againstEli Lilly,J. Walter Thompson,Hill & Knowlton and theWPP Group. Scientology agreed tosettle the case shortly before it went to trial.[40][41]: 132–133 [42]: 217–218
The Scientology organization also brought alibel lawsuit against the piece's publisherTime Warner and its authorRichard Behar, seeking damages of $416 million.[43][44] All counts of the suit were dismissed by the court, and the dismissal upheld when Scientology appealed.[45][46] Similar lawsuits in Switzerland, France, Italy, the Netherlands and Germany were dismissed as groundless.[47]
In 1987, theBBCPanorama programScientology: The Road to Total Freedom? featured an interview with former member Don Larson, who served as the church's $25-per-week "finance ethics officer" and who described Miscavige's physical violence towards a staff member:
It was about 15 of us. We went out and rented three limos, drove up to an organization in San Francisco and did a practice beat-'em-up kind of meeting, you know. We took the CDB Org—the commanding officer of that org, organization. He got thrown into the filing cabinets, he was sec-checked on the meter and, um, you—that's where you, what, you have to tell the truth. And there's a whole row of people around the guy, right? And he's sitting there hanging onto the cans and—this is nothing to do with religion any more, right? This is, 'Where's the money, Jack? I want the money! Where did you put the money?' And he said, 'I, you—I don't know! I don't have the money.' David Miscavige comes up, grabs him by the tie and starts bashing him into the filing cabinet. And he's thrown out in the street; his tie is ripped off. Um, this is just a warm-up kind of bash.[48]
In a 1995 interview forITV,Stacy Young, Miscavige's former secretary and the ex-wife of Hubbard's former spokesman,Robert Vaughn Young, asserted that Miscavige emotionally tormented staff members on a regular basis. "His viciousness and his cruelty to staff was unlike anything that I had ever experienced in my life," she said. "He just loved to degrade the staff."[49] Though Miscavige and Scientology have been the subject of much press attention, he has rarely spoken directly to the press. Exceptions include the 1992 interview onNightline,[39] a 1994 print interview with weekly Austrian news magazineProfil,[50] a 1998 newspaper interview with theSt. Petersburg Times,[25] and a 1998 appearance in anA&EInvestigative Reports installment called "Inside Scientology."[51][39]
In the aftermath of theSeptember 11 attacks, David Miscavige published a message to all Scientologists entitled "Wake Up Call", urging them to redouble their efforts to use Scientology. Miscavige asserted thatWorld War II,Hitler,Pearl Harbor, theCold War, the9/11 attacks, and "endless world conflicts can be traced to a lack of real technology of the mind and reliance on false mental therapies of psychiatry and psychology." Miscavige declared that Scientology "work[s] to reform the field of mental health" and "we have the technology and organization to overcome any obstacle facing this planet today" and "we have the technology to pull it off."[52][53]: 189-90
In 1991, Miscavige, together withMarty Rathbun, visited theInternal Revenue Service (IRS) headquarters in Washington, D.C. to arrange a meeting withCommissionerFred T. Goldberg, Jr. For more than two decades, the IRS had refused to recognize Scientology as a nonprofit charitable organization. Before this meeting, Scientology had filed more than fifty lawsuits against the IRS and, according toThe New York Times:
Scientology's lawyers hired private investigators to dig into the private lives of IRS officials and to conduct surveillance operations to uncover potential vulnerabilities... [and] taken documents from an I.R.S. conference and sent them to church officials and created a phony news bureau in Washington to gather information on church critics. The church also financed an organization of I.R.S. whistle-blowers that attacked the agency publicly.[54]
At the meeting with Goldberg, Miscavige offered to cease Scientology's suits against the IRS in exchange fortax exemptions.[54] This led to a two-year negotiating process, in which IRS tax analysts were ordered to ignore the substantive issues because they had been resolved prior to review. In 1992 Scientology was granted recognition as a nonprofit organization in the U.S., which creates a tax exemption for the Church of Scientology International and its subsidiaries, and tax deductions for those who contribute to their programs.[54]
Scientology officials and the IRS later issued a statement that the ruling was based on a two-year inquiry and voluminous documents that, they said, showed the organization was qualified for the exemptions.[54] To announce the settlement with the IRS, Miscavige gathered a reported 10,000 members of Scientology in theLos Angeles Memorial Sports Arena, where he delivered a two-and-a-half-hour address and proclaimed, "The war is over!"[54] The crowd gave Miscavige an ovation that lasted more than ten minutes.[25]
According to Scientology, Miscavige initiated a long-term project of issuing unreleased and corrected editions of Hubbard's books and restoring Hubbard's lectures, including translating many works into other languages. Another initiative by Miscavige, launched in 2003, is to build new or remodeled Scientology locations, called "Ideal Orgs,"[55] in every major city worldwide. Since then, over seventy[56][57] new or remodeled locations have been opened, including facilities in Washington, D.C.,[58]Madrid, New York City, London, Berlin,[59]Mexico City,[60]Rome,[61]Tel Aviv,[62]Atlanta,[63] Miami,[64] andSan Diego.[65] Until the late 2010s, Miscavige worked primarily from Scientology'sGold Base nearHemet, California.[66][67]
One of the largest projects of Miscavige's career is theFlag Building, originally called the "Super Power Building," which is described as the spiritual headquarters of Scientology.[68] The largest of Scientology's properties inClearwater, Florida, the 377,000-square-foot (35,000 m2) structure[69] is reportedly outfitted with custom-built equipment designed to administer the supposedly perception-enhancing "Super Power Rundown" to high-level Scientologists.[70][71] The building was scheduled for completion in 2003, but underwent ten years of delays and re-designs as Scientology completed two other major construction and restoration projects in the same area ahead of it, theFort Harrison Hotel and the Oak Cove Hotel.[72] Miscavige inaugurated the Flag Building on November 17, 2013.[73][74] He reportedly took up permanent residence at the Flag Building in the late-2010s.[75]
In 2009, theSt. Petersburg Times published a series titled "The Truth Rundown," which featured allegations by former Scientology executives that Miscavige had repeatedly humiliated andphysically beaten his staff, and had confined Scientologists in degrading conditions in a building at Gold Base known as "The Hole."[10][66] The series included interviews withMike Rinder, former spokesperson for Scientology and director of the organization'sOffice of Special Affairs, andMark Rathbun, the former Inspector General of the RTC. Rinder has said that he was physically assaulted by Miscavige on about fifty occasions.[10] These allegations have been supported by other former Scientologists.Lawrence Wright, author ofGoing Clear: Scientology, Hollywood, and the Prison of Belief, interviewed twelve individuals who reported having been personally attacked by Miscavige and twenty-one people who say they witnessed such attacks.[42]: 345 Scientology denies all of these reports.[76]
"The Truth Rundown" was recognized with journalistic honors, including the 2010 Gold Medal for Public Service award from the Florida Society of News Editors.[77][78][79][80] The series was cited as a basis for subsequent journalistic investigations, including a weeklong series hosted onCNN byAnderson Cooper.Jeff Hawkins, a former marketing guru for Scientology, reported attending a meeting where Miscavige "jumped up on the conference room table, like with his feet right on the conference room table, launched himself across the table at me – I was standing – battered my face, and then shoved me down on the floor."[81] Amy Scobee, another ex-Scientologist, corroborated Hawkins' account.[82]
Scientology representatives have consistently denied abuse by Miscavige, insisting that the allegations come fromapostates motivated by bitterness or attempting toextort money from the organization.[10][76][25][83] Hawkins' claims were responded to by Scientology when he reiterated them in a documentary, saying they were "fabricated" and referring to him as "a discredited anti-Scientology media source."[84] Scientology executive David Bloomberg said that it was Hawkins who attacked Miscavige.[82] Miscavige sent an open letter to the newspaper challenging the integrity of the reporters and labeling their sources as "lying," after the persons in question had been removed from the Scientology organization for what Miscavige described as "fundamental crimes against the Scientology religion."[8] Scientology also commissioned an independent review of theTimes' reporting, but has not, to date, released those findings.[85][86]
Miscavige is portrayed within Scientology as "a servant of Hubbard's message, not an agent in his own right."[87] Official Scientology websites describe him as Hubbard's "trusted friend."[88] Miscavige uses Scientology publications as well as professionally produced videos of gala events, at which he acts asmaster of ceremonies, to communicate with Scientologists worldwide.[25] According to the organization, as the RTC's chairman of the board his primary task is to "preserve, maintain and protect" the Scientology organization.[25] In 2012, Miscavige opened Scientology's "National Affairs Office" in Washington, D.C., which he declared to be, "an office designed to give back to a United States government that steadfastly guaranteed our religious rights, the very freedom that allows us to do what we are doing today."[89] Scientology says the National Affairs Office was built "to oversee programs around the country and the world dealing with human rights, drug addiction, literacy and disaster response."[90]
In his role as the leader of Scientology, Miscavige has been the subject of law enforcement investigations, including by theFederal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), into suspectedhuman trafficking andslavery.[12][13] He is also the subject of ongoing lawsuits involvingchild abuse, human trafficking and forced labor. Miscavige was investigated as part of wide-ranging investigation into Scientology by the FBI in 2009 and 2010, which focused particularly on criminal activities at Gold Base, against which the FBI had planned a raid before the investigation was discontinued.[12][13][91]
Scientology launched theScientology Network, aDIRECTV broadcast andOTT streaming service, on March 12, 2018, with Miscavige introducing its inaugural broadcast in a rare on-camera appearance.[92][93][94][95] The network is produced by Scientology Media Productions in Los Angeles, a facility opened by the organization in May 2016. Addressing the crowd at the SMP opening, Miscavige called the channel "our uncorrupted communication line to the billions. Because as the saying goes, if you don't write your own story, someone else will."[96][97][98][99]
In 2019, a then-unnamed female individual, who was raised as a Scientologist and joined the Sea Org as Miscavige's steward at age 15, filed suit against Miscavige and Scientology.[14][15][16] The lawsuit also allegedkidnapping,stalking, libel,slander, constructiveinvasion of privacy and intentional infliction of emotional distress.[100] Lawyers for Scientology convinced a judge to move the case to internal church arbitration in January 2020.[101][102] Miscavige is named in a lawsuit involving a series of rapes by ScientologistDanny Masterson, and subsequent efforts by the Scientology organization to harass Masterson's victims.[17] Scientology's lawyers had tried to force the case into internal church arbitration, similar to the case in 2020, but this failed following a three-judge ruling in January 2022.[103][18]
Three former Scientology workers filed a lawsuit for human trafficking, andpeonage of children as young as six years old, against Miscavige and Scientology in April 2022.[19][20][21] The lawsuit also alleges repeatedsexual assault of children by senior members of the Sea Org, of which Miscavige was leader at the time and remains so to the present.[19][21] The court overseeing the case was told by counsel for the plaintiffs that Miscavige was evading service in the case over a period of months, with at least fourteen attempts being made to serve thesummons. The evasion included Miscavige ordering the security team at his house to prevent the summons from being delivered. The court found the allegations sufficiently credible that it ordered that Miscavige be served through the office of theSecretary of State of Florida.[104][needs update]
Miscavige is married to fellow Sea Org memberMichele Diane "Shelly" Miscavige, who has not been seen in public since August 2007 when she was spotted being escorted to her father's funeral.[42]: 303 Multiple sources have alleged she disappeared from Gold Base shortly after she "filled several job vacancies without her husband's permission."[105] In July 2012, responding to press speculation on Shelly's whereabouts, lawyers who said they represented her informed two UK newspapers that "she is not missing and devotes her time to the work of the Church of Scientology."[106]
In 2013, theLos Angeles Times reported that theLos Angeles Police Department (LAPD) had closed their investigation following amissing persons report filed by former Scientologist and actressLeah Remini, having "located and spoke[n]" to Shelly Miscavige.[107] The LAPD declined to answer questions about the details of the report.[108] AuthorLawrence Wright reports that "former Sea Org members" claim that they believe Shelly Miscavige is being held against her will at the compound of the Scientologist'sChurch of Spiritual Technology corporation near the mountain town ofRunning Springs inSan Bernardino County.[42]: 347
In 2012, after gaining access to the full Internet viaKindle, Ron Miscavige discovered new information about the church and subsequently left the Church of Scientology. TheLos Angeles Times reported that he was put under surveillance by the Church, which was said to have paid two private investigators to watch him around the clock for 18 months for $10,000 a week. The surveillance was said to have been "all because [David] Miscavige feared that his father would divulge too much about the organisation's activities." At one point, the investigators were said to have phoned David Miscavige when they thought his father was having a heart attack and were allegedly told not to intervene: "If it was Ron's time to die, to let him die and not intervene in any way." David Miscavige denied having ordered the surveillance or speaking to one of the investigators.[109] Subsequently, Ron published a book in 2016, titledRuthless: Scientology, My Son David Miscavige, and Me.[110]
Thomas Tobin of theTampa Bay Times reviewed the book, writing that the author "describ[es] his son as a tyrant who has turned the organization into a destructive influence." Tobin wrote that Ron Miscavige said the church had "morphed into an immoral organization that hides a long list of abuses behind First Amendment protections, spends millions to investigate and harass its critics, and has destroyed families—including his own—through its practice of disconnection."[111]
Ronald "Ronnie" Miscavige Jr., David Miscavige's older brother by seven years, served in CMO in the Sea Org for a time,[29]: 264 but left Scientology in 2000.[112][113]Jenna Miscavige Hill, Ronnie Miscavige's daughter and David Miscavige's niece, remained in the Sea Org until 2005; she subsequently became an outspoken critic of Scientology and published a book in 2013 titledBeyond Belief: My Secret Life Inside Scientology And My Harrowing Escape.[113] Denise Licciardi, Miscavige's twin sister, was hired by major Scientology donor Bryan Zwan as a top executive for the Clearwater-based company Digital Lightwave, where she was linked to anaccounting scandal.[114][115]
Shelly Miscavige's mother, Mary Florence "Flo" Fike Barnett, was a long-time Scientologist[25] who later resigned, taking with her copies of "confidential upper-level materials." She joined David Mayo'sAdvanced Ability Center, an independent Scientology organization consideredheterodox by the Church of Scientology.[116] According to testimony by former high-ranking church executiveVicki Aznaran: "The fact that David Miscavige was linked to [Barnett] by familial ties was extremely repugnant to him and to his wife."[116] On September 8, 1985, Barnett was found dead at age 52 from a shot to the head from aRuger 10/22 rifle.
The body also had three rifle shot wounds to the chest (one surface wound, one through a breast implant, and one that passed through the left lung and fractured a rib), and there were superficial slash marks on her wrists that were identified in the autopsy report as possibly having been several days old.[116] Despite the admittedly "very, very, very unusual" circumstances of multiple gunshot wounds and the unwieldy nature of the weapon, her death was ruled as consistent with suicide.[116] David Miscavige strongly denied any part in his mother-in-law's death in an affidavit on the case, calling it a "personal tragedy in my family's life."[116] However, in the presence of other witnesses he was reported to exclaim: "That bitch got what she deserved."[116]
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Miscavige is a close friend of actorTom Cruise[9] and served asbest man at Cruise's wedding toKatie Holmes.[117] Cruise was converted to Scientology by his first wifeMimi Rogers in 1986, becoming an outspoken advocate for theChurch of Scientology in the 2000s. Around the same time Cruise was beginning his relationship with Rogers, Miscavige made an announcement at a Church of Scientology rally, "The most important recruit ever is in the process of being secured. His arrival will change the face of Scientology forever."[118]
His involvement in the organization was leaked by the tabloidStar in 1990, and he publicly admitted to following Scientology in a 1992 interview withBarbara Walters. According to the bookInside Scientology: The Story of America's Most Secretive Religion byJanet Reitman, seven years after Cruise started studying Scientology, the organization's leaders promised to share Scientology secrets, such as the story of the extraterrestrial rulerXenu. According to Reitman's book, Cruise "freaked out" and took a step back.[119] He removed himself from the Church and worked on the filmEyes Wide Shut until 1999 when Miscavige sentMarty Rathbun to successfully "retrieve" Cruise and convince him to continue training.[119]
Lawrence Wright's 2013 bookGoing Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief andAlex Gibney's2015 television documentary adaptation of the same name cast a spotlight on Cruise's role in Scientology. The book and the film both allege that the Scientology organization groomed romantic partners for Cruise and that Cruise usedSea Org andRehabilitation Project Force workers as a source of free labor.[120][42]: 270–303 In the film, Cruise's former auditor Marty Rathbun claims that second wifeNicole Kidman was wiretapped on Cruise's suggestion, which Cruise's lawyer denies.[121][122] Cruise's ex-girlfriendNazanin Boniadi later compared the Scientology organization's auditioning of women to date Cruise and experiences with him to "white slavery."[123]
RTC's chairman of the board is David Miscavige, who is now the admitted head of the Church of Scientology.
More than 30 new Ideal Churches opening in major cities throughout the United States and around the world. This year those new Churches opened in Hamburg, Germany; Florence, Kentucky; Sacramento, Orange County, San Jose and Los Gatos, California; Phoenix, Arizona; Denver, Colorado; Buffalo, New York; Padova, Italy; and our first in the Middle East, in Tel Aviv, Israel.
Inside Scientology – TheSt. Petersburg Times reporting on the Church of Scientology is in the finest traditions of American journalism. The reporting by Joseph Childs and Thomas Tobin stands out for the ways in which it held accountable the powerful.
Posted 8:24 PM, March 12, 2018, by CNN Wire
According to Rinder andBrousseau, in June, 2006, while Miscavige was away from the Gold Base, his wife, Shelly, filled several job vacancies without her husband's permission. She disappeared soon after. Her current status is unknown. Tommy Davis told me, 'I definitely know where she is,' but he won't disclose where that is.
[Jenna Miscavige] Hill's father is Ron Miscavige, the older brother of David Miscavige ... [Hill's] parents officially left the church when [she] was 16 in 2000.
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