36 ICSA TODAY 37 VOLUME 10 |ISSUE 3 |2019
that people are immortal spiritual beings who live in an
endless number of lifetimes. Scientologists, among them many
Hollywood celebrities such as Tom Cruise, often participate
in expensive sessions with counselors known as ‘auditors’ who
try to ‘clear’ them of their most troubling experiences….” (The
Washington Post, 03/05/19)
Scientology-linked company will operate small rehab at
Trout Run
“Frederick County [MD] has settled a long-running lawsuit with
a Church of Scientology-linked real estate company over plans
to build a controversial drug rehabilitation center on Catoctin
Mountain. Frederick County Circuit Court approved a joint
motion March 20 to dismiss the case of Social Betterment
Properties International [SBPI] v. Frederick County over the
former’s plans for the Trout Run property, a 40-acre site near
Thurmont. SBPI is now moving forward with plans for an eight-
bed rehabilitation home based on Scientology teachings that
would operate within the property’s long-standing zoning
restrictions. The settlement agreement reached between
SBPI and the county allows the company to “do what it’s been
allowed or permitted to do all along, and nothing more,” county
spokeswoman Vivian Laxton said in an email Wednesday.
SBPI brought the suit over a 2015 Frederick County Council
decision to deny a historic designation and zoning exemption
for the Trout Run property on Catoctin Mountain. SBPI had
purchased the 40-acre property in 2013 with the intention that
the Scientology-based Narconon International rehabilitation
program would open a 16-bed center there….” (The Frederick
News Post, 03/30/19)
Woman convicted of stealing millions for Church of
Scientology
“Ekaterina Zaborskikh, who had been already two times
convicted of embezzling millions of rubles from real estate
investors and transferring the money to the Church of
Scientology Moscow, will go on the third trial on similar
charges, RAPSI has learnt in the Oktyabrsky District Court
of St. Petersburg. … This time the woman is charged with
stealing over 3.5 million rubles ($54,000) from the members
of cooperative and housing societies. Earlier, the woman was
sentenced to 6.5 and then to 5.5 years for embezzling over 33
million rubles ($510,000) and over 130 million rubles (about
$2 million) respectively. Collectively, she received an 8.5-year
term in penal colony. According to investigators, Zaborskikh
was a chairman of several consumer committees and housing
cooperatives. Allegedly she was responsible for deceiving
people into paying her money under the guise of selling
apartments, houses and land plots around St. Petersburg and
Leningrad Region while she had no ability to provide such
real estate. Zaborskikh allegedly used the money on her own
volition by, among other things, transferring it to the religious
organization called “The Church of Scientology Moscow”.
According to investigators, she gave away money to the
organization both in cash and through cashless transfer.…”
(Rapsi, 3/29/19)
Shambhala International fights to survive in face of sex
scandal
“The sexual misconduct scandal rocking Shambhala
International, one of the largest Buddhist organizations
in the West, is causing the organization to suffer financially,
and many of their properties and programs are being sold off
or downsized. Started in the 1970s by the Tibetan Buddhist
teacher Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche, who also founded
Naropa University, Shambhala has been embroiled in crisis
since last summer, when Trungpa’s son and the organization’s
current spiritual leader, Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche, was
accused of sexual misconduct. Since the initial report, more
allegations have been made against other senior teachers in
Shambhala, suggesting a pattern of cover-ups and failure to
address sexual misconduct at the upper levels of the group’s
leadership. But at the heart of Shambhala’s financial woes is
the fact that, since the allegations broke, Sakyong Mipham
Rinpoche has stepped back from his leadership role and
is no longer teaching. Much of the organization’s revenue
was generated from his teachings….” (Religion News Service,
05/13/19)
Lawmaker who bared South Korea–Sun Myung Moon plot
dies at 95
“Donald M. Fraser, a former Minnesota congressman whose
hearings exposed a conspiracy by South Korean intelligence
officials and the Rev. Sun Myung Moon in the 1970s to buy
political influence in America and manipulate United States
foreign policies and currency laws, died on Sunday at his home
in Minneapolis. He was 95. A spokesman for Mayor Jacob Frey
of Minneapolis confirmed the death. A liberal Democrat and
protégé of Hubert H. Humphrey, the former Minnesota senator
and vice president under Lyndon B. Johnson, Mr. Fraser served
eight terms in the House of Representatives, from 1963 to 1979.
Like Humphrey, he also served as mayor of Minneapolis, in
his case for a record four terms. In the House, he established a
strong record on human rights, foreign aid and environmental
conservation. (He was an avid canoeist into his 80s, frequenting
the Boundary Waters area of northeast Minnesota.) He was also
one of the nation’s most outspoken opponents of American
involvement in the Vietnam War. But he was best known
as chairman of a panel whose hearings in 1977 and 1978
concluded that the Korean Central Intelligence Agency and
Mr. Moon—the Korean businessman, self-proclaimed messiah
and founder of the Unification Church—had conspired to bribe
American officials to influence national policies and illegally
raise and move millions of dollars across international borders.
The hearings grew out of the scandal known as Koreagate, a
conspiracy by the Korean C.I.A. to bribe a group of Democratic
congressmen to further South Korean objectives, including
reversal of a decision to pull American troops out of South
Korea. That scandal did not directly implicate Mr. Moon, but it
led to resignations, censures and indictments. One American,
Representative Richard T. Hanna, a California Democrat, was
convicted and imprisoned….” (The New York Times, 06/03/19)
‘Your honor, I was afforded a great gift by my grandfather and
father,’ Bronfman says. ‘With the gift comes immense privilege,
and more importantly tremendous responsibility. It does
not come with an ability to break the law it comes with a
greater responsibility to uphold the law. I failed to uphold the
following laws set forth by this country, and for that I am truly
remorseful….’’’ (Forbes, 05/31/19)
Utah Senate passes polygamy refugees’ reparations bill
“Utahns who flee polygamy will become eligible for crime
victims’ reparations if Gov. Gary Herbert signs a bill passed by
the state Senate Wednesday. The measure adds bigamy to the
list of crimes that can qualify victims for grants from the Utah
Office for Victims of Crime. The office reviews grant applications
individually and can award funds for counseling, medical care
or other needs. Fines charged to people convicted of crimes
provide the money for the fund. ‘We are all so happy,’ said
Melissa Ellis, who left the Kingston polygamist clan and helped
work toward passage of House Bill 214. She said women need
therapy after leaving polygamist relationships but can’t afford
it. ‘They have to feed themselves before their mental health,’
Ellis said….” Update: Governor Herbert signed the bill on March
26, 2019 (see A. Hilliard article in IT 10.2, pp. 12–13, for further
details). (The Standard Examiner, 03/14/19)
Police say lawyer swindled out of $1.5M in psychic scam
“...The [psychic] scam allegedly began more than a year ago,
when the lawyer was charged $1,500 for a ‘chakra clearing,’ the
article reports. She was told ‘her chakras were off balance.’ By
May 2018, she lost hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash
alone, according to the story. After that, the scammers allegedly
persuaded the lawyer to finance a trip to New Orleans for
David Marks and his girlfriend, Rita Stevens, who has not been
charged in the case pay for two BMWs make cash payments
and turn over her credit card to Sherry Marks, according to a
police report cited by the Las Vegas Review-Journal. Using the
name Paula Williams, Sherry Marks allegedly told the lawyer
that her life was in jeopardy and she had to continue cash
payments. If the money stopped flowing, Marks allegedly had
said, all their work would have been done for nothing. The
Las Vegas Review-Journal identified the victim as a workers’
compensation lawyer in California. She also has a home in
Summerlin, Nevada.” (ABA Journal, 05/16/19)
US psychic industry has grown 52% since 2005, report
finds
A Daily Mail report about the psychic industry notes that
• “Industry revenue is expected to grow 0.9% each year
to total $2.3 billion by 2024”
• “The industry’s growth comes as religious beliefs
in the US have become more flexible: more than a
quarter of Americans have left the faith they were
raised in”
• “Some 15% of Americans have consulted psychics or
fortune tellers—and women are twice as likely to visit
one as men, according to Pew Research Center” and
• “The highest concentration of psychics is in Florida,
where 14.4% of the entire industry works, followed
by California (12.5%), New York (7.2%) and Texas
(6.9%)”… (Daily Mail, 03/15/19)
Pope issues law, with penalties, for Vatican City to address
sexual abuse
“Pope Francis has issued a highly anticipated law for Vatican
City officials and diplomats overseas to tackle sexual abuse,
setting up what is intended to be a model for the Roman
Catholic Church worldwide by requiring, for the first time, that
accusations be immediately reported to Vatican prosecutors.
The Vatican characterized the law—and accompanying pastoral
guidelines—as a reflection of the most advanced thinking
on preventing and addressing sexual abuse in the church.
The law, dated March 26, calls on church authorities to listen
immediately to people who say they are victims and to report
any credible allegations to prosecutors. Those who fail to
report could be subjected to financial penalties and jail time.
‘Protection of minors and vulnerable people is an essential
part of the evangelical message that the church and all of its
members are called to spread across the world’…” (The New York
Times, 03/29/19)
How Scientology and the CIA battled 40 years ago
“The tiny article inside The Washington Post on Jan. 13, 1979,
read like something from a cartoonishly sinister spy show:
‘CIA documents released yesterday show the agency once
considered using drugs, shock treatments and even removal
of parts of the brain to “dispose of blown agents, exploited
defectors and defecting trainees.” The CIA wanted to cut out
parts of people’s brains? The Post article says the agency memo
makes it clear that ‘lethal methods were ruled out.’ By then, the
American public had read countless stories about investigations
into Langley’s infamous program code-named ‘MK-Ultra,’ which
carried out mind-control drug experiments in the 1950s and
1960s on U.S. and Canadian citizens. But this small wire story
in The Post seemed to add a new, more menacing allegation in
the saga of the CIA’s once-top-secret efforts. How exactly did
this scoop come to light? Courtesy of a group whose anodyne
name, American Citizens for Honesty in Government,
masked its financial backers: The Church of Scientology.
The religious organization, itself a secretive entity known for
mind-control and spying, would go on to spend the remainder
of 1979 releasing embarrassing CIA documents it obtained
through Freedom of Information Act requests and multiple
lawsuits—a campaign that was part of the church’s war with
the U.S. government. Founded in the early 1950s in Los Angeles
by science fiction writer L. Ron Hubbard, the church for
decades has fought against constant scrutiny from all corners:
the FBI, the media, and more recently, the Internet collective
of hackers known as “Anonymous.” The religion, which wasn’t
given official tax-exempt status by the IRS until 1993, preaches
that people are immortal spiritual beings who live in an
endless number of lifetimes. Scientologists, among them many
Hollywood celebrities such as Tom Cruise, often participate
in expensive sessions with counselors known as ‘auditors’ who
try to ‘clear’ them of their most troubling experiences….” (The
Washington Post, 03/05/19)
Scientology-linked company will operate small rehab at
Trout Run
“Frederick County [MD] has settled a long-running lawsuit with
a Church of Scientology-linked real estate company over plans
to build a controversial drug rehabilitation center on Catoctin
Mountain. Frederick County Circuit Court approved a joint
motion March 20 to dismiss the case of Social Betterment
Properties International [SBPI] v. Frederick County over the
former’s plans for the Trout Run property, a 40-acre site near
Thurmont. SBPI is now moving forward with plans for an eight-
bed rehabilitation home based on Scientology teachings that
would operate within the property’s long-standing zoning
restrictions. The settlement agreement reached between
SBPI and the county allows the company to “do what it’s been
allowed or permitted to do all along, and nothing more,” county
spokeswoman Vivian Laxton said in an email Wednesday.
SBPI brought the suit over a 2015 Frederick County Council
decision to deny a historic designation and zoning exemption
for the Trout Run property on Catoctin Mountain. SBPI had
purchased the 40-acre property in 2013 with the intention that
the Scientology-based Narconon International rehabilitation
program would open a 16-bed center there….” (The Frederick
News Post, 03/30/19)
Woman convicted of stealing millions for Church of
Scientology
“Ekaterina Zaborskikh, who had been already two times
convicted of embezzling millions of rubles from real estate
investors and transferring the money to the Church of
Scientology Moscow, will go on the third trial on similar
charges, RAPSI has learnt in the Oktyabrsky District Court
of St. Petersburg. … This time the woman is charged with
stealing over 3.5 million rubles ($54,000) from the members
of cooperative and housing societies. Earlier, the woman was
sentenced to 6.5 and then to 5.5 years for embezzling over 33
million rubles ($510,000) and over 130 million rubles (about
$2 million) respectively. Collectively, she received an 8.5-year
term in penal colony. According to investigators, Zaborskikh
was a chairman of several consumer committees and housing
cooperatives. Allegedly she was responsible for deceiving
people into paying her money under the guise of selling
apartments, houses and land plots around St. Petersburg and
Leningrad Region while she had no ability to provide such
real estate. Zaborskikh allegedly used the money on her own
volition by, among other things, transferring it to the religious
organization called “The Church of Scientology Moscow”.
According to investigators, she gave away money to the
organization both in cash and through cashless transfer.…”
(Rapsi, 3/29/19)
Shambhala International fights to survive in face of sex
scandal
“The sexual misconduct scandal rocking Shambhala
International, one of the largest Buddhist organizations
in the West, is causing the organization to suffer financially,
and many of their properties and programs are being sold off
or downsized. Started in the 1970s by the Tibetan Buddhist
teacher Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche, who also founded
Naropa University, Shambhala has been embroiled in crisis
since last summer, when Trungpa’s son and the organization’s
current spiritual leader, Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche, was
accused of sexual misconduct. Since the initial report, more
allegations have been made against other senior teachers in
Shambhala, suggesting a pattern of cover-ups and failure to
address sexual misconduct at the upper levels of the group’s
leadership. But at the heart of Shambhala’s financial woes is
the fact that, since the allegations broke, Sakyong Mipham
Rinpoche has stepped back from his leadership role and
is no longer teaching. Much of the organization’s revenue
was generated from his teachings….” (Religion News Service,
05/13/19)
Lawmaker who bared South Korea–Sun Myung Moon plot
dies at 95
“Donald M. Fraser, a former Minnesota congressman whose
hearings exposed a conspiracy by South Korean intelligence
officials and the Rev. Sun Myung Moon in the 1970s to buy
political influence in America and manipulate United States
foreign policies and currency laws, died on Sunday at his home
in Minneapolis. He was 95. A spokesman for Mayor Jacob Frey
of Minneapolis confirmed the death. A liberal Democrat and
protégé of Hubert H. Humphrey, the former Minnesota senator
and vice president under Lyndon B. Johnson, Mr. Fraser served
eight terms in the House of Representatives, from 1963 to 1979.
Like Humphrey, he also served as mayor of Minneapolis, in
his case for a record four terms. In the House, he established a
strong record on human rights, foreign aid and environmental
conservation. (He was an avid canoeist into his 80s, frequenting
the Boundary Waters area of northeast Minnesota.) He was also
one of the nation’s most outspoken opponents of American
involvement in the Vietnam War. But he was best known
as chairman of a panel whose hearings in 1977 and 1978
concluded that the Korean Central Intelligence Agency and
Mr. Moon—the Korean businessman, self-proclaimed messiah
and founder of the Unification Church—had conspired to bribe
American officials to influence national policies and illegally
raise and move millions of dollars across international borders.
The hearings grew out of the scandal known as Koreagate, a
conspiracy by the Korean C.I.A. to bribe a group of Democratic
congressmen to further South Korean objectives, including
reversal of a decision to pull American troops out of South
Korea. That scandal did not directly implicate Mr. Moon, but it
led to resignations, censures and indictments. One American,
Representative Richard T. Hanna, a California Democrat, was
convicted and imprisoned….” (The New York Times, 06/03/19)
‘Your honor, I was afforded a great gift by my grandfather and
father,’ Bronfman says. ‘With the gift comes immense privilege,
and more importantly tremendous responsibility. It does
not come with an ability to break the law it comes with a
greater responsibility to uphold the law. I failed to uphold the
following laws set forth by this country, and for that I am truly
remorseful….’’’ (Forbes, 05/31/19)
Utah Senate passes polygamy refugees’ reparations bill
“Utahns who flee polygamy will become eligible for crime
victims’ reparations if Gov. Gary Herbert signs a bill passed by
the state Senate Wednesday. The measure adds bigamy to the
list of crimes that can qualify victims for grants from the Utah
Office for Victims of Crime. The office reviews grant applications
individually and can award funds for counseling, medical care
or other needs. Fines charged to people convicted of crimes
provide the money for the fund. ‘We are all so happy,’ said
Melissa Ellis, who left the Kingston polygamist clan and helped
work toward passage of House Bill 214. She said women need
therapy after leaving polygamist relationships but can’t afford
it. ‘They have to feed themselves before their mental health,’
Ellis said….” Update: Governor Herbert signed the bill on March
26, 2019 (see A. Hilliard article in IT 10.2, pp. 12–13, for further
details). (The Standard Examiner, 03/14/19)
Police say lawyer swindled out of $1.5M in psychic scam
“...The [psychic] scam allegedly began more than a year ago,
when the lawyer was charged $1,500 for a ‘chakra clearing,’ the
article reports. She was told ‘her chakras were off balance.’ By
May 2018, she lost hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash
alone, according to the story. After that, the scammers allegedly
persuaded the lawyer to finance a trip to New Orleans for
David Marks and his girlfriend, Rita Stevens, who has not been
charged in the case pay for two BMWs make cash payments
and turn over her credit card to Sherry Marks, according to a
police report cited by the Las Vegas Review-Journal. Using the
name Paula Williams, Sherry Marks allegedly told the lawyer
that her life was in jeopardy and she had to continue cash
payments. If the money stopped flowing, Marks allegedly had
said, all their work would have been done for nothing. The
Las Vegas Review-Journal identified the victim as a workers’
compensation lawyer in California. She also has a home in
Summerlin, Nevada.” (ABA Journal, 05/16/19)
US psychic industry has grown 52% since 2005, report
finds
A Daily Mail report about the psychic industry notes that
• “Industry revenue is expected to grow 0.9% each year
to total $2.3 billion by 2024”
• “The industry’s growth comes as religious beliefs
in the US have become more flexible: more than a
quarter of Americans have left the faith they were
raised in”
• “Some 15% of Americans have consulted psychics or
fortune tellers—and women are twice as likely to visit
one as men, according to Pew Research Center” and
• “The highest concentration of psychics is in Florida,
where 14.4% of the entire industry works, followed
by California (12.5%), New York (7.2%) and Texas
(6.9%)”… (Daily Mail, 03/15/19)
Pope issues law, with penalties, for Vatican City to address
sexual abuse
“Pope Francis has issued a highly anticipated law for Vatican
City officials and diplomats overseas to tackle sexual abuse,
setting up what is intended to be a model for the Roman
Catholic Church worldwide by requiring, for the first time, that
accusations be immediately reported to Vatican prosecutors.
The Vatican characterized the law—and accompanying pastoral
guidelines—as a reflection of the most advanced thinking
on preventing and addressing sexual abuse in the church.
The law, dated March 26, calls on church authorities to listen
immediately to people who say they are victims and to report
any credible allegations to prosecutors. Those who fail to
report could be subjected to financial penalties and jail time.
‘Protection of minors and vulnerable people is an essential
part of the evangelical message that the church and all of its
members are called to spread across the world’…” (The New York
Times, 03/29/19)
How Scientology and the CIA battled 40 years ago
“The tiny article inside The Washington Post on Jan. 13, 1979,
read like something from a cartoonishly sinister spy show:
‘CIA documents released yesterday show the agency once
considered using drugs, shock treatments and even removal
of parts of the brain to “dispose of blown agents, exploited
defectors and defecting trainees.” The CIA wanted to cut out
parts of people’s brains? The Post article says the agency memo
makes it clear that ‘lethal methods were ruled out.’ By then, the
American public had read countless stories about investigations
into Langley’s infamous program code-named ‘MK-Ultra,’ which
carried out mind-control drug experiments in the 1950s and
1960s on U.S. and Canadian citizens. But this small wire story
in The Post seemed to add a new, more menacing allegation in
the saga of the CIA’s once-top-secret efforts. How exactly did
this scoop come to light? Courtesy of a group whose anodyne
name, American Citizens for Honesty in Government,
masked its financial backers: The Church of Scientology.
The religious organization, itself a secretive entity known for
mind-control and spying, would go on to spend the remainder
of 1979 releasing embarrassing CIA documents it obtained
through Freedom of Information Act requests and multiple
lawsuits—a campaign that was part of the church’s war with
the U.S. government. Founded in the early 1950s in Los Angeles
by science fiction writer L. Ron Hubbard, the church for
decades has fought against constant scrutiny from all corners:
the FBI, the media, and more recently, the Internet collective
of hackers known as “Anonymous.” The religion, which wasn’t
given official tax-exempt status by the IRS until 1993, preaches
