CLEARWATER — A poker-faced doorman bows slightly at the entrance of the Fort Harrison and motions visitors to the lobby, where a crowd waits at the front desk and dozens of guests rush up and down the marble staircases beneath the crystal chandeliers. A larger-than-life portrait of L. Ron Hubbard, the reclusive founder of Scientology, stares down upon his followers from high on the wall. Many of them wear the sea merchant uniform that is part of their code. Most criss-cross ...

Thirty-seven investors, including some who mortgaged their homes to get money, have lost $1.5 million in a Denver scheme that promised a whopping 60 percent in annual interest. Among the big losers was L. Ron Hubbard, founder of the Church of Scientology, who lost almost half a million dollars. The scheme has been investigated by the state securities division, and the FBI plans to investigate. The state has found evidence of criminal conduct and will present its findings Wednesday to the ...

Members of a Church of Scientology splinter group have filed a $42 million suit against the church, alleging fraud, slander and breach of contract. The suit was filed here last week on behalf of Bent Corydon, former director of the Riverside Scientology mission and member of the new Church of Sciologos. It seeks $40 million in punitive damages plus real damages of $1.83 million, said Corydon's attorney, Paul Morantz of Pacific Palisades. The suit is a cross-complaint to a $6.2 million ...

DAYTONA BEACH — The former mayor of Clearwater and his wife cannot drop just a part of a lawsuit they filed against the Church of Scientology, a Volusia County circuit judge ruled Monday. Citing case law, Judge Robert Durden said Gabriel Cazares and his wife Margaret must drop all or none of the three-count suit filed in circuit court against the controversial church. Arguing against partial dismissal of the suit, church lawyers accused the Cazares' attorneys of trying to drop the ...

A Riverside Superior Court judge Monday threw out a suit by L. Ron Hubbard's estranged son that claimed that his father, the controversial founder of the Church of Scientology, is either dead or incompetent. Judge David Hennigan had been "convinced" by a declaration Hubbard had filed three weeks ago that the reclusive science-fiction writer was alive. The declaration was signed and fingerprinted by Hubbard and apparently authenticated by handwriting and fingerprint experts. Hubbard, 71, had written in the document that he ...

Robert Dardano and Warren Friske were trusted members of the Boston mission of the Church of Scientology in the mid-1970s when they say they were recruited to join a group of other church members intent on carrying out "dirty tricks" against critics and others deemed enemies of the church in this area. The activities of the group included break-ins, the theft of documents, harassment and misrepresentation, according to sworn testimony by Dardano in Florida last year and affidavits from him and ...

"I am not a missing person," Church of Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard said in a signed statement that has led a judge to believe the reclusive author is healthy despite a son's claim to the contrary. Superior Court Judge David Hennigan said Friday that the declaration, which included fingerprints experts have said belong to the 72-year-old Hubbard, made him believe Hubbard still is alive. Hubbard has not made a public appearance in years. Hennigan said the seven-page document, filed with ...

Carson City, Nev. (AP) — More pleas for controls on cults were aired Monday as the Senate Judiciary Committee reviewed a plan to allow for civil lawsuits against cults or any other groups which bilk people. No immediate action was taken on SB343, being pushed by Sen. Bill Hernstadt who had to "deprogram" a daughter who had joined the Church of Scientology. Scientology representatives were criticized by Sen. Thomas "Spike" Wilson, committee chairman, for failing to deliver promised documents outlining their ...

A Los Angeles Superior Court judge Tuesday refused to release 21 boxes of personal letters and journals of reclusive Church of Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard to church officials, despite a handwritten letter purportedly from Hubbard claiming them as his property. The material is the subject of a lawsuit by the Scientologists against their former member and archivist, Gerald Armstrong, seeking permanent return of the documents. The church claims that Armstrong stole the material. He claims that Hubbard had permitted him ...

A federal judge opened the way Monday for four former Scientologists to sue the church for fraud over a variety of claims including promises that it could prevent colds, raise intelligence and solve obesity. Attorneys for the disillusioned Scientologists hailed the ruling, saying that it will open the way for other former church members to bring their complaints of fraud before juries. U.S. District Judge Consuelo B. Marshall ruled that while Scientology is a religion, many of the claims it makes ...

It is not uncommon for present or former Scientology members to try to kill themselves, according to three national experts on the controversial religion founded by L. Ron Hubbard. The head of the Scientology Church in Michigan, however, denies that Scientology practices have led to suicides. And the president of the international Church of Scientology, the Rev. Heber C. Jentzsch, headquartered in Los Angeles, dismisses the experts quoted in this story as "liars," who he says are out to discredit a ...

Certainly, L. Ron Hubbard exists, says Janet Kenyon, public affairs director for the B.C. Church of Scientology. He has an office in downton Vancouver. "Come on in," says Kenyon, unfastening the purple velvet cable that is hooked across the entrance to L. Ron Hubbard's office at 401 West Hastings. His name is on the open door in gold-colored letters. A gleaming gold, or brass, letter opener lies on his desk. There are pictures of his kids. There is an unopened package ...

Three years ago, somewhere near this dusty little town of watermelon fields and senior citizen trailer parks, a pudgy, prolific science fiction writer named L. Ron Hubbard climbed into a black van and reportedly disappeared from sight. Nobody in Hemet, 80 miles east of Los Angeles, or anywhere else might have cared about the fate of a 71-year-old eccentric with a lust for privacy, except that Hubbard was the founder of one of the word's wealthiest and most controversial new religions. ...

Church of Scientology officials Monday produced a second letter purportedly written by church founder L. Ron Hubbard, saying he is alive and well and believes his estate to be in good hands. The handwritten letter was filed as part of a motion to dismiss the Riverside County Superior Court probate battle in which Hubbard's son, Ronald DeWolf, claims his father is either dead or incompetent. DeWolf says church officials have been stealing millions of dollars from the 71-year-old Hubbard and is ...

[Picture / Caption: Scientology's headquarters in L.A. was formerly the Cedars of Lebanon Hospital. The church purchased It for $5 million In 1977.] Last October in San Francisco, some 70 local leaders of the Church of Scientology gathered to hear nine church executives harangue them about their shortcomings. Styling themselves with titles that ranged from the quasi-military ("Commander," "Warrant Officer") to the quasi-lunatic ("International Finance Dictator"), the men announced that they represented the new hierarchy of the organization, and that they ...

Defections by older members and publicity given a legal battle over control of hundreds of millions of dollars are believed to be cutting into the membership of the Church of Scientology. The church, which has a headquarters in Clearwater, is described by its leaders as a religion and by its critics as a highly profitable business with cult-like overtones. The church claims a worldwide membership of 6-million, although former officials say the number of adherents is probably fewer than 700,000. According ...