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TheFishman Affidavit is a set of court documents submitted by self-professed ex-ScientologistSteven Fishman in 1993 in the federal case,Church of Scientology International v. Fishman and Geertz (Case No. CV 91-6426 (HLH (Tx)United States District Court for the Central District of California).
Theaffidavit contained criticisms of theChurch of Scientology and substantial portions of theOperating Thetanauditing and course materials.
The documents were brought as exhibits attached to a declaration by Steven Fishman on 9 April 1993 as part ofChurch of Scientology International v. Fishman and Geertz. Along withKendrick Moxon and Laurie Bartilson,Timothy Bowles was one of the lead attorneys for the Church of Scientology in the case.[1]
Fishman told the court that he had committed crimes on behalf of the Church. He also attested that he was assigned tomurder his psychologist, Uwe Geertz, and then commitsuicide.[2][3] Fishman received a mail fraud conviction three years earlier, and he claimed being brainwashed by the Church and that he had committed the crime to cover the cost of his Scientology sessions. The court rejected Fishman's defense and he was soon after sued for libel by Scientology.[4]
As evidence, Fishman submitted course materials he said that he purchased from Ellie Bolger, a fellow Scientologist, andRichard Ofshe, an expert witness for his defense. The Church says the documents were stolen and considers them to becopyrighted and atrade secret.[5] Among other materials, theaffidavit contains 61 pages of the allegedly trade-secret and copyrighted story ofXenu.
The Fishman Affidavit contains much text from the old versions of the Operating Thetan levels. The versions of OT I to OT VII in the Fishman Affidavit are considered authentic as the church'sReligious Technology Center (RTC) broughtcopyright lawsuits over their release on theInternet. Fishman's description ofOT VIII contains what many interpret as the accusation thatJesus was apedophile. After initially asserting copyright to all the OT level descriptions in the affidavit, RTC amended its claim to remove the OT VIII description, calling it a forgery. Fishman stated that he had obtained his copy of OT VIII from Ofshe, a different source than his copies of the other OT Levels, purchased from a fellow Scientologist.[6]
The Church of Scientology dropped its libel case against Fishman and Geertz in 1994.[7]
An important side aspect of the case was that several high-rankingScientology officials and lead attorneys for the organization and former high-ranking Scientologists submitted declarations on their activities for the Church of Scientology, giving thereby insight into the internal ongoings of the Scientology management.
Among others, declarations were submitted by:
Although the Church of Scientology attempted to prevent others from receiving the document by continuously borrowing it, the text of this declaration and its exhibits were scanned,converted to text, and posted onto theUsenet newsgroupalt.religion.scientology by ex-ScientologistArnie Lerma.[17] The material was then placed on theWorld Wide Web byDavid S. Touretzky.
Lerma's newsgroup posting resulted in the August 1995raid of his home for copyright violation on the materials, and the resulting lawsuitReligious Technology Center (Scientology) vs Arnaldo Lerma, Richard Leiby, and The Washington Post.[17] U.S. Federal JudgeLeonie Brinkema ruled that while Richard Leiby and theWashington Post had not violated copyright, Lerma was liable and fined $2,500 but with no costs awarded to Scientology. Judge Brinkema also stated that the primary motivation for the case was "to stifle criticism of Scientology in general and to harass its critics."[18][19]
After being posted to the newsgroup, the documents were mirrored on hundreds of websites worldwide.[20] The Church of Scientology responded bysuing a number of people and theirInternet service providers forcopyright infringement. The defendants responded by challenging the church to prove it was actually the copyright holder of the disputed documents.
The other notable case in connection with this was againstDutch writerKarin Spaink. The Church brought suit on copyright violation grounds for reproducing the source material, and claimed rewordings would reveal a trade secret. In 2003, Spaink won the case, with the court holding that her quotation of Scientology works was acceptable and expressing concern about Scientology's attempts to prevent discussion of its doctrines.[21] The Church appealed but dropped the case after a negative advice on the appeal from the Attorney-General to the court in March 2005. In December 2005, the court dismissed the appeal, making the previous ruling final. The Church has no further possibility for appeal due to their dropping the case. The ruling also reversed earlier decisions affectinghyperlinking.[22]
Critics of the church have accused it of intentionally using lawsuits in these and other cases asSLAPP suits, intended to silence their opposition. Critics of Steven Fishman have produced the affidavit of Kenneth D. Long, a Scientology executive, which states that Fishman received services from a Scientology mission, did a few introductory courses, never worked for the Church orCCHR, and did not get any auditing or do any courses at the main Miami church, which would conflict with his claims.[23] Vicki Aznaran, a former Scientologist who was involved in anti-Scientology litigation before retracting her claims as part of a settlement with Scientology, gave a declaration through Scientology attorneys in which she states various allegations made by Steven Fishman and other church critics are untrue,[24] contradicting her previous declaration given inCSI v. Fishman and Geertz.[25]
A great deal ofcontroversy with regards to Fishman's involvement with the Church of Scientology has arisen in the decades following the case.[26] Initially, theallegations questioning Fishman's involvement came solely from the Church itself and their legal team, who pursued the libel suit recognizing that he was not in their records.[27] In 2015, notable Scientology criticTony Ortega published anexposé on the affair; in which he characterizes Fishman as a “squirrel” orIndependent Scientologist. He describes Fishman as follows:[28]
“Actual longtime Scientologists will tell you that the material in [Fishman’s] book, as well as Fishman’s statements on his notorious set of videos (recorded by his attorney to prove to the court that Fishman was a lunatic) prove that Fishman was never a Scientologist, but a nutcase who had amassed a huge library of Scientology materials which he studied closely so he could talk as though he knew what he was talking about — at least to the uninitiated.”
— Tony Ortega, Why Steve Fishman — of the notorious Fishman Papers — is today serving 21 years in prison
In addition to there being no listed Scientology completions for Steven Fishman ever published,[29] many now ex-Scientologists mentioned in his book,Lonesome Squirrel, have categorically refuted the events of the book mentioning them, and denied having known him altogether. Fishman has long asserted that he received OT levels I-VII and VIII respectively from twoSea Org members. Although Ortega professes skepticism regarding this, he states he believes the document to be authentic nonetheless.[28]
As we began reading “Lonesome Squirrel,” we realized that some of the people named in it have, 20 years later, come out of the church. So we reached out to them and they confirmed for us that nothing in the book associated with them actually happened. “Lonesome Squirrel” is an incredibly creative work of fiction that has enough actual names and locations and quotations from L. Ron Hubbard’s work that it has a veneer of authenticity.
— Tony Ortega, Why Steve Fishman — of the notorious Fishman Papers — is today serving 21 years in prison
Plaintiff claims that these documents are protected from both unauthorized use and unauthorized disclosure under the copyright laws of the United States and under trade secret laws, respectively.
Earlier this year, Scientology dropped its libel case against former Scientologist Steve Fishman and his therapist, Uwe Geertz.
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