TMZ has confirmed John Travolta will testify next week at the extortion trial involving the death of his son, Jett. Travolta will travel to the Bahamas to testify on behalf of the prosecution. Paramedic Tarino Lightbourne and former politician Pleasant Bridgewater allegedly demanded $25 million in return for not going public with a document which authorized paramedics to take 16-year-old Jett to a hospital via ambulance after suffering a massive seizure. We're told Travolta and wife Kelly Preston are outraged by ...

It claims to be one of the world's fastest-growing new religions but a battery of legal cases threaten its very existence in this secular country In a small Normandy village, surrounded by wheat fields, Gwen Le Berre keeps a Scientology "electrometer" machine in his bedroom. He opens the large green briefcase and peers at the machine inside. It looks like a lie-detector from an old TV cop show and Le Berre doesn't really understand how it works — he just knows ...

Day 3 (May 27): a Paris court heard how a company director's massive spending on Scientology put his business at risk. [...]

L’examen du dossier accablant l’église de scientologie reporté Escroquerie, extorsion, exercice illégal de la médecine, infraction aux pratiques de commerce et organisation criminelle : ce sont les faits reprochés à 12 personnes et 2 associations. La chambre du conseil de Bruxelles n'a pas entamé mardi les débats sur le règlement de la procédure dans le dossier impliquant l'église de scientologie. Elle a reporté cet examen à une date indéterminée, a-t-on appris auprès d'un des avocats des douze personnes inculpées, Me Xavier ...

http://www.jonesbahamas.com/ January 28th, 2009 Turnquest: Case Would Have Minimal Impact On Tourism By TAMARA McKENZIE Minister of National Security Tommy Turnquest (File photo) Even though much negative attention has been placed on the Bahamas since former PLP Senator Pleasant Bridgewater was charged in connection with an alleged extortion attempt against US Actor John Travolta and his family, National Security Minister Tommy Turnquest believes that its impact on the tourism industry would be minimal. "I don’t think there will be lower tourist ...

By BRENT DEAN,Guardian Staff Reporter Police have confirmed the alleged plot to extort money from actor John Travolta and his wife Kelly Preston included a request for $25 million so that a supposedly 'damaging' document would not be made public. "All I can say here is that, you know, there was a complaint made by Mr. Travolta – and those acting on his behalf – that there was an attempt on behalf of a number of individuals to extort initially some ...

By ARTESIA DAVIS,Guardian Senior Reporter,artesia@nasguard.com Former attorney general and PLP Senator Allyson Maynard-Gibson is listed as a witness against the ambulance driver who is accused of trying to extort $25 million from actor John Travolta whose son died of a seizure in Grand Bahama earlier this month, The Guardian has confirmed. Maynard-Gibson, who is Travolta's Bahamian lawyer, is one of the 14 witnesses listed on the court docket against Tarino Lightbourne. Lightbourne, 47, of Freeport, Grand Bahama, entered not guilty pleas ...

A Belgian prosecutor recommended that the Los Angeles-based Church of Scientology stand trial on charges of fraud and extortion, after a 10-year investigation. The prosecutor, Jean-Claude Van Espen, said that up to 12 people from the church should face charges and that his inquiry had concluded that Scientology’s Brussels-based Europe office and its Belgian missions had conducted unlawful practices in medicine, violated privacy laws and used illegal business contracts. The Church of Scientology said it would fight the charges.

They never broke into church buildings or planted electronic bugs, but for the past 13 years, undercover Clearwater police detectives have investigated the Church of Scientology. They never developed a case against the church that was prosecuted. The work ranged from gathering Scientologists' names to seeking refunds for dissatisfied parishioners. Police once stormed Scientology headquarters after hearing anonymous allegations - unfounded, it turned out - that Scientology children were being strapped to gurneys and given electric shocks. The investigation boils down ...

ROME - Seventy-five members of the Church of Scientology's Italian operation go before a Milan court today to face a long list of charges ranging from fraud, extortion and tax evasion to the illegal practice of medicine and taking advantage of incapacitated people. "It should be a lively court session," said the Milan daily Il Giornale, predicting possible courtroom demonstrations by Scientology sympathizers. The Scientologists have hired some of Milan's most prominent lawyers to defend them and are expected to base ...

Description of video is in italics. VO=VOICEOVER shot of Church of Scientology, Los Angeles; apparently group of ex-members VOICEOVER: The Church of Scientology, one of the largest and richest new religious movements, is being sued for a billion dollars by former members for fraud and breach of trust. They regard Scientology as a dangerous cult. group of Scientologists VO: Yet the church goes on expanding, making converts and claiming it is "The Road to Total Freedom". ''"Panorama" opening credits; while music ...

Former members of the Church of Scientology filed a $1-billion class-action lawsuit against the organization Wednesday, accusing its late founder, L. Ron Hubbard, and a cadre of his most trusted aides of plundering church coffers, intimidating critics and breaching the confidentiality of sacred confessional folders. The lawsuit was filed in Los Angeles Superior Court at a time when the church had hoped that its legal wars with its critics had been put largely to rest. Two weeks ago, the organization reached ...