1¾«Æ:w{{{{{|From: Steven Fishman 12980 S. W. 48th Street Fort Lauderdale, Florida 33330-2339 Telephone (305) 434-9777 To All Civil Litigation Attorneys on the Internet: This is a request for legal representation in a malicious prosecution case against the Church of Scientology. I have been a defendant in civil litigation brought by the Church of Scientology since 1991. The suit was for defamation arising out of statements made in the May 6, 1991 issue of Time Magazine entitled "Scientology: The Cult of Greed and Power", and damages were alleged by the Church in an amount up to twenty million dollars as a result. Time Magazine reporter Richard Behar obtained copies of my sentencing hearing at the Federal District Court in San Francisco on July 20, 1990, and used this material as a reference for his article. The case centered around orders and instructions received by me from staff members of the Church of Scientology to commit fraud, to murder my psychologist, and then afterwards to commit suicide. In 1988 I was arrested, charged, indicted and then in 1990 I was sentenced for securities class action fraud which I was trained to do as part of my duties as Financial Planner for the Church of Scientology. I raised over one million dollars by filing actions as a false plaintiff in derivative shareholder suits. The money was used to further the interests of Scientology. I served 2+ years in prison on a five year sentence. At the time of my arrest, I did everything in my power to protect the Church of Scientology from being implicated in the fraud, including sabotaging an FBI investigation which looked into their involvement, for which I was further charged with obstruction of justice. I was instructed to commit these crimes as a result of over eleven years of mind control ("auditing") caused by "occlusions" (hypnotic suggestions given to me during Scientology auditing or "spiritual counseling"). Later, while in prison, I received psychological counseling, deprogramming and intervention therapy, and I subsequently broke all ties with the "Church." It was then that I spoke for the first time to the Time Magazine reporter and I was subsequently sued by the Church, who simultaneously sued my long-time psychologist, Dr. Uwe Geertz on the basis of the aforementioned testimony. As Dr. Geertz was covered by malpractice insurance, the defense team was very well financed and led competently by Mr. Graham Berry. In the course of discovery, we were able to prove that the Church of Scientology had committed various criminal acts, ranging from having lied on their tax exemption application to the Internal Revenue Service to information linking the managing agent of the Church to the death of his mother-in-law. David Miscavige's mother-in-law, Mary Flo Barnett, could not have possibly shot herself three times in the chest with a rifle and once in the head. Nevertheless, the death was ruled a "suicide", and when Scientology realized that Dr. Geertz's defense team was making inquiries into this alleged "suicide", the Church of Scientology International elected to drop its lawsuit against us, rather than expose David Miscavige to grueling interrogations under deposition which might have resulted in his arrest on a murder charge. But there were various other significant reasons why the Church of Scientology International dropped its lawsuit against us. We obtained information that the Church of Scientology operates three armed concentration camps in the State of California alone where victims and members of the Church who have fallen in disfavor are held against their will, much like what occurred in Waco by the late David Koresh and his Branch Davidian cult or recently in Switzerland. Amazingly enough, we discovered that these concentration camps, operated by the Church of Spiritual Technology, a branch of Scientology, had been granted 501-C tax exempt status by the Internal Revenue Service. Subsequently, the managing agent and other top executives of the organization made a decision to dismiss their own case against us (Dr. Geertz and I) "with prejudice", rather than to expose Church leaders to possible criminal indictments, and have their prisons investigated (and their tax exempt status revoked). During the course of the litigation, we were successful in getting the court to agree that the "confidential upper level materials" euphemistically called "scriptures" by the cult, which were nothing more than mind control behavior modification mechanisms using hypnotic techniques, should remain unsealed and in the public domain. The Church has since appealed this ruling, and now the District Court must decide whether these science fiction writings and manipulative command chains are "Trade Secrets." The federal appeals court decided just last week that these upper levels must remain unsealed on remand to the district court. Scientology also has a motion on appeal to seal and suppress 31 declarations filed in our case, because these affidavits are an embarrassment to "Church" management, and also since they actively seek to prevent the truth from being made available to their own members and to the general public. My psychologist's attorney Graham Berry, as well as Dr. Geertz and myself were all subjected to the Church's "Fair Game Law", which meant that we could be "tricked, sued, deceived, lied to, and if possible, ruined utterly." The harassment campaign was unprecedented: Church operatives copied down the license numbers of Dr. Geertz's patients in order to illegally obtain their addresses, and then phoned them at home, which ruined his reputation and severed the psychologist / patient relationship. The "Church" told these patients that Dr. Geertz was "under investigation for sexual harassment charges", and that he was a "Nazi war criminal", both of which were false. Dr. Geertz was driven into bankruptcy. Agents of the Church ruined his credit, tried to have him deported, maligned his professional reputation, professing that he was laundering drug money, while at the same time they sabotaged his car, barraged him with junk mail and a continuous onslaught of nuisance phone calls, often in the middle of the night, which angered his family. Dr. Geertz was represented by an attorney in Los Angeles by the name of Graham Berry of the law firm of Lewis, D'Amato, Brisbois and Bisgaard. During the course of the litigation, and through this very day, Graham Berry has been targeted and attacked by the Church of Scientology as well. They have accused him of being a pedophile, an embezzler and even a murderer. They have brought him up on frivolous charges before the California Bar Association. They sent investigators to his native country of New Zealand to harass him. They also tried to kill him by running his vehicle off the road. I was set up as a "fall guy" by the "Church" and I went to prison for my part in a Church-sponsored scheme which involved the filing of false class action securities claim forms. I was constantly being manipulated by the Church's brainwashers or "auditors", and at one point I came very close to poisoning Dr. Geertz with cyanide pursuant to the orders of Church officials administered under hypnosis, and then nearly killing myself, which is correctly described in the Time Magazine article of May 6, 1991, entitled, "Scientology: The Cult of Greed and Power", page 55. As a result of Scientology's destructive influences, Dr. Geertz had me committed to a psychiatric in-patient hospital (Hollywood Pavilion), where I was under his care. Then later, while in prison, I was the victim of an assassination plot by a Church operative which was remarkably uncovered by IRS Special Agent Angelo Troncoso. Furthermore, another Church investigator gained access to me in the visiting room of the prison under false pretenses, claiming he was an agent of the Israeli government "investigating the Church", which was another crime. My elderly father was hounded by nuisance calls and junk mail, and his car was vandalized and sabotaged on several occasions. Once I was released, the Church destroyed my employer's business in order to render me without suitable work, leaving me broke. Scientology vehemently argued before the Parole Board and my Probation Officer to have me returned to jail. My house was set on fire and 500 pounds of sand was dumped in my well water. There have been two attempts to kidnap my youngest daughter in the last nine months while she was walking home from school. My ex-wife was run over by a car and killed only one week after she agreed to testify on my behalf in the Time Magazine case. The list goes on and on. There has been a pattern of the worst kind of harassment, intimidation and terror throughout the history of the lawsuit. Even prior to the lawsuit, and while a member of the Church, I fell into "ethics trouble" with the Church, and on February 25, 1987, I was whipped fifty times with a leather belt by Fred Hare, the Mission Holder of the Church of Scientology Mission of Fort Lauderdale, then forced to strip naked and locked in a garbage dumpster in back of the mission all night long, after table scraps were poured on me in order to attract ants. On April 11, 1988, I was tied down to the sauna benches of the Purification Rundown Room of the Church of Scientology Miami Org by my Ethics Officer, Frank Thompson, and he burned me eighteen times with cigarette butts. During that session, known as an "RPE" or Repair of Past Ethics", +ths of an inch of my flesh was cut away right above my elbow with scissors by the Director of Special Affairs, Humberto Fontana. Then, during the nine hours I was held in the sauna, I was sexually abused and sodomized by the Warehouse Manager, Charlie Fox. As incredible as it may seem, all of the above was done with my consent while under the mind control of the cult. I had written "Success Stories" after each episode, attesting to how beneficial these actions were to me at the time, which is routinely requested by Church "ministers" in case of a potential investigation by the authorities. While awaiting sentencing, I was ordered by Church officials (Frank Thompson and Leona Grimm) to plead guilty, in order to end the FBI investigation of the "Church's" involvement in the fraud. Meanwhile, Dr. Geertz had unearthed the "occlusions" (negative hypnotic suggestions during brainwashing) which contained the orders given to me to plead guilty. After Dr. Geertz did a hypnotic catharsis and removed the occluded commands to enter a plea against my best interests and against the advice of my criminal attorney, I was subsequently tortured by Frank Thompson, who pulled out two of my toenails with crude pliers and without anesthetic, after which Leona Grimm poured caustic soda on the wounds in order to inflict severe pain and kill the roots of my nails, as a reminder to me that I had committed "Treason" against the Church. In addition to my cause of action for these torts, I have a very strong case for both malicious prosecution and abuse of process. So does Dr. Geertz. What I need to point out from the beginning is that the case is highly winnable and in rather short order if the same successful actions which caused the defamation suit to be won were repeated in the malicious prosecution case. The Church dismissed their own case against Dr. Geertz and I "with prejudice" when it was clear that the managing agent of the Church, David Miscavige, could not avoid having his deposition taken. The Church of Scientology is run by David Miscavige, a ruthless tyrant with no respect for the law or the legal system. He did not want his deposition taken, since he has far too much to hide and is terrified of the possibility of criminal indictment. When we were successful with the court in setting a date and time for his deposition, he immediately dismissed the Church's lawsuit against us "with prejudice." Furthermore, the Church will not permit its celebrities to be deposed and questioned about either the "upper level materials" or the concentration camps known as the "Rehabilitation Project Force." These celebrities include Tom Cruise, Kirstie Alley, John Travolta, Demi Moore, Priscilla and Lisa Marie Presley, Michael Jackson, Isaac Hayes, Kelly Preston Travolta, Karen Black and others. If the Church leaders and celebrities were scheduled for deposition, the Church would not be able to continue defending their lawsuit without criminal liability and adverse publicity. I am writing to you because it takes an extraordinary amount of courage to represent plaintiffs in a lawsuit against the Church of Scientology. Graham Berry wants to represent us, but his law firm has refused to allow him to do so. They are a defense firm catering to clients with "deep pockets." I am indigent with no assets, earning a take-home pay of $ 206.87 per week, from which I support myself and my two children. I hope that you will consider taking my malicious prosecution case on a contingency basis, and help me in my endeavor to work with outside funding sources in order to cover the costs in the case, such as through the legal defense fund established through F.A.C.T. and its founder, Lawrence Wollersheim, who may be reached at (303) 278-7708 for confirmation. I am "time-barred", whereupon if I do not file our complaint by February 24, 1995, I am forever precluded from doing so. February 24, 1995 will be a year from the date of dismissal in the defamation case arising from the Time Magazine article. I have been Dr. Geertz's patient for twenty-five years. I was a member of the Church of Scientology for eleven of those years and after spending time in Federal prison and in a psychiatric hospital, I am finally free from all Scientology influences. Once in a lifetime an attorney can take on a Goliath-type litigant with a huge budget or "War Chest" and nevertheless serve justice. Perhaps you can help me. I have lost my livelihood, my rights and my dignity. With an attorney who has an interest in justice, I may prevail. This is a high profile case which has received a great deal of media attention. Recently the Church of Scientology declared war on Germany, now that the German government has identified the Church as a neo-Nazi terrorist group committing hate crimes. Please consider my request. I have no one else to turn to, now that Graham Berry has been prevented by the senior partner of his firm, Bob Lewis, from taking any plaintiff cases against the Church of Scientology. Please write to me, or call me at (305) 434-9777 and let me know if you will consider taking my case, and what other information you would need to make your decision. I look forward to hearing from you. Thank You, Steven Fishmann for these torts, I have a very strong case for both mali€Æ:wÆ:B€—°Õïñ%'–˜óõ¼¾„†