Scientology’s relentless hard sell has driven some members to the edge of bankruptcy, wrote one former member who had experienced such tactics. [...]

KEVIN Rudd raised concerns about the Church of Scientology yesterday, as NSW police began investigating complaints from seven former Scientologists. The Prime Minister said he intended to examine allegations against the church before deciding whether to back independent senator Nick Xenophon's demand for a Senate inquiry. Senator Xenophon told parliament on Tuesday that Scientology was a "criminal organisation" hiding behind religion. In response to that statement, Mr Rudd said the senator was making "grave allegations". "Many people in Australia have real ...

They squeezed into a two bedroom apartment, all they could afford. Two couples and a single guy had left the Church of Scientology and joined up in Las Vegas, starting a mortgage business near the Palace Station Casino. They were faces in the crowd. Except that the two wives were important in Scientology history, sisters Terri and Janis Gillham. They were two of the original four "messengers" for L. Ron Hubbard. The founder ran his church from his ship, the Apollo, ...

London socialite alleges a secret royal marriage, hush money and dodgy defence contracts A Saudi prince is being sued in London for allegedly breaching a contract to pay £12m to the "secret wife" of his father for retracting damaging allegations about the late King Fahd. Lawyers acting for British creditors of Janan Harb are bringing the High Court action after the socialite went bankrupt last year owing £3m. Allegations about King Fahd in Mrs Harb's sworn witness statement, written to support ...

Last week we learned that Amazon.co.uk has bowed to pressure to stop selling a book by a former senior Irish Scientologist. The Complex: An Insider Exposes the Covert World of the Church of Scientology (Merlin Publishing, Dublin) describes John Duignan's 21 years in the religion, not all of it a happy tale. According to Amazon, "Unfortunately, we have had to withdraw The Complex by John Duignan in the UK because we received a specific allegation that a passage in the book ...

Bruce Livesey investigates how former inner-sanctum member Gerry Armstrong became the Salman Rushdie of Scientology. The first time I met Gerry Armstrong, I thought he was paranoid. I’d driven down from Vancouver, summer 2007, into the verdant Fraser Valley to Chilliwack, BC, a somnolent, wind-blown town surrounded by jagged mountain ranges. A place as far removed from Tom Cruise, John Travolta and Scientology’s loopiness as one can possibly get. Armstrong and his third wife Caroline live in a walk-up, one-bedroom apartment ...

SACRAMENTO — A former Silicon Valley computer consultant whose decade-long fight with the Church of Scientology led to his ruin is asking Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to free him from a Riverside County jail. Keith Henson's crusade against the church brought him a misdemeanor conviction for interfering with the rights of others to practice their religion. The 64-year-old Californian is now two months into a six-month jail sentence for the crime. It is the latest development in a war that forced Henson ...

ST. PETERSBURG — In the world of Scientology, Scott W. Snow is a winner. He has achieved the religion’s highest level of training, higher even than megastar Tom Cruise, a distinction that brings with it lofty ethical standards. But in St. Petersburg, city leaders call him slumlord. Snow, 51, is the owner of the Chinook Apartments in Midtown, which the city shut down May 2 after finding multiple fire code violations. Now two dozen Chinook tenants have hired a lawyer and ...

A jury trial is slated to start in Los Angeles Superior Court Tuesday in a case in which an attorney who failed to secure a written representation agreement is seeking to recover the reasonable value of her services. So far, that probably seems hum drum. What makes this case worthy of note is that the proceeding will take place in Case No. C332027 — which was filed on July 28, 1980. The name of this 25-year-old case will probably sound familiar. ...

A financial services company that once ran newspaper ads touting its high rates on certificates of deposit is now seeking Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. Clearwater-based First Liberty Group LLC filed its petition Aug. 31 in Tampa bankruptcy court. The company has more than 100 creditors and estimated debts of $1 million to $10 million, according to the petition. Assets are estimated at $100,000 to $500,000. A case management summary in court records describes First Liberty as a financial services company that ...

COOPER: It's no secret that Tom Cruise is a devoted, outspoken member of the Church of Scientology. That has not always been the case. There was a time when the subject of his religion was off limits to reporters and to interviewers. Not so now. Just ask Matt Lauer who got lectured by Cruise weeks ago on what the actors says are the evils of psychiatry. Now, while some are surprised by the chance in Cruise, former Scientologists insist it's really ...

Exposing some of the unsavory claims that Tom Cruise, John Travolta and other celebrities would rather you didn't know about Scientology For nearly 20 years, Tom Cruise has been Hollywood's Golden Boy. The star of Top Gun," "Risky Business" and, most recently, "The War of the Worlds," Cruise has attributed his vast success to being a follower of Scientology, a self-help movement-turned-religion which claims the ability to "clear" its followers from all their problems. It seemed like the perfect match: the ...

Leaders of the Church of Scientology have long had the reputation of being uncooperative with the media. Still, we were surprised at their tenaciousness in trying to control our stories. Whenever reporters delve into a topic that is even the least bit controversial, we take extra care in making sure we've pulled together as balanced a report as possible. Such was the case on a package of stories published last Sunday on the Church of Scientology, one of the most unusual ...

In the 1900 block of East Carson Street on the South Side, there's an unassuming storefront that marked its first anniversary last month. It's the Pittsburgh office of the Church of Scientology, the controversial religious movement that recently captured international headlines when celebrity disciple Tom Cruise became increasingly public and, at times, combative, about his beliefs. Although the office opened here with little fanfare, Scientologists have high hopes for its growth as they try to regain a foothold in the region ...