SFG: Where is Scientology’s David Miscavige? Opposing lawyers want to know

[China]

Where is Scientology’s David Miscavige? Opposing lawyers want to know

 

The process servers showed up to 10 Church of Scientology properties in Clearwater, Florida, and California with legal documents in hand.

 

They tried 27 times over four months to serve Scientology leader David Miscavige with a federal trafficking lawsuit that names him as a defendant, according to records filed in the case.

 

Security guards, the court filings state, refused to accept documents from the process servers, declined to answer questions and said they did not know where Miscavige lived or worked despite him being the ecclesiastical leader of the organization.

 

The case revolves around allegations from three former Scientologists who say they were trafficked into the church as children and forced to work through adulthood for little or no pay. Valeska Paris and husband and wife Gawain and Laura Baxter, who filed the complaint in April, left the church’s military-style workforce called the Sea Org in 2009 and 2012, respectively.

 

Five church entities named as co-defendants have already been served and filed motions in July to push the lawsuit into internal arbitration, where it would go before a panel of loyal church members. A judge has not yet ruled on the church’s request to divert the case out of the U.S. court system. But as that decision is pending, attorneys for the three former church workers have still been unable to serve Scientology’s secretive and elusive leader.

 

A hearing is scheduled for Jan. 20 in Tampa federal court on the plaintiffs’ motion for a judge to declare Miscavige served and in default due to the “intentional concealment of his location and evasion of service.”

 

“Miscavige cannot be permitted to continue his gamesmanship,” Neil Glazer, an attorney for the plaintiffs, wrote in his Dec. 13 motion requesting the hearing.

 

The inability to serve Miscavige highlights the complex structure of the Scientology organization.

 

Like all members of the Sea Org, Miscavige, 62, has lived and worked exclusively in Scientology-owned buildings since he was 16, according to a declaration filed by Mike Rinder, a former church executive who reported to Miscavige until Rinder defected in 2007.

 

There is no trace of Miscavige’s personal residence in public records or proprietary databases, according to the plaintiffs’ legal team.

 

Even traffic tickets Miscavige received in Pinellas County in 1991 and 1995 list his address as the Church of Scientology International building in Los Angeles, plaintiffs’ attorneys said.

 

In a response filed Tuesday, attorneys for Miscavige alleged his inclusion as a defendant is improper “and part of a litigation strategy to target the leader of the religion for harassment.”

 

Click on the link for the full article

 

They should put out a warrant for him.

[skinsfan4128]

The guy is another cult leader who needs to be put away before he becomes the next Jonestown ****er.

 

Scientology is complete BS anyhow. 

 

HTTR!

[LadySkinsFan]

He's right there on Scientology property in California. Maybe he's with his missing wife who hasn't been seen (obvstentively for more than a decade by anyone who will say anything). 

 

It's definitely a cult and needs to lose that IRS religious status.

[Larry]

7 hours ago, LadySkinsFan said:

It's definitely a cult and needs to lose that IRS religious status.

Could you provide a clear, easy to legislate, difference between the two?  One that's clear enough to justify limiting the freedom of religion clause?  

[Spaceman Spiff]

1 hour ago, Larry said:

Could you provide a clear, easy to legislate, difference between the two?  One that's clear enough to justify limiting the freedom of religion clause?  

C’mon. 
 

I can go to church for my entire life and never put a dollar in the collection plate. I can never donate any money and I can still be a member. I can also dedicate time to outreach projects in the community and never have to spend anything. 
 

There is no “leveling up” when it comes to being a member of a church, especially when it comes to having to spend money in order to reach the next level. It’s why Scientology is so popular with actors and actresses, they can afford to ascend to the next level.  
 

Don’t get me wrong, I have my issues with church and religion, too, I don’t believe many of them should have IRS privileges. But there’s a large difference between your average church (I’m not talking Joel Osteen **** here) and what Scientology is about.  
 

As far as where David Miscarriage is, I hope he’s crawled back under whatever rock he came from. 

[Larry]

3 hours ago, Spaceman Spiff said:

There is no “leveling up” when it comes to being a member of a church, especially when it comes to having to spend money in order to reach the next level. It’s why Scientology is so popular with actors and actresses, they can afford to ascend to the next level.  

Not necessarily on topic. Just a joke. 
 

Supposedly Mark Twain was once approached by a local minister. Seems the town's "everybody knows he's a criminal" had approached the church with an offer of a new roof. The minister felt conflicted. 
 

For one, he suspected that the gangster was attempting to use his donation to but his way into heaven. 
 

And he assumed that if he accepted the donation, which the church surely needed, he would be accepting tainted money. 
 

Twain:  You're darned right it's tainted money. T'aint yours and t'aint mine. 
 

----

 

As to your assertion that Scientology is different because money:  

 

I'll observe that when I was working in a nursing home, maybe half of the TVs that were on, in the early morning, consisted of preachers telling people that if you max out your credit cards and send the church $10,000, then Jesus will pay off your mortgage. 

Edited December 31, 2022 by Larry

[Renegade7]

41 minutes ago, Larry said:

 

As to your assertion that Scientology is different because money:  

 

I'll observe that when I was working in a nursing home, maybe half of the TVs that were on, in the early morning, consisted of preachers telling people that if you max out your credit cards and send the church $10,000, then Jesus will pay off your mortgage. 

 

 

Edited December 31, 2022 by Renegade7

[LadySkinsFan]

8 hours ago, Larry said:

Could you provide a clear, easy to legislate, difference between the two?  One that's clear enough to justify limiting the freedom of religion clause?  

 

That's a hard one since I personally think of all religions as scams. 

 

After watching Leah Remini's documentary, I understand that Scientology is way beyond that. It's a diabolical scam involving child and adult servitude for the purpose of extracting mega amounts of money from its adherents based on a science fiction writer's imagination. It should have never been given IRS exemption.

 

But then I consider all religions science fiction.

[TradeTheBeal!]

6 hours ago, Spaceman Spiff said:

 

Don’t get me wrong, I have my issues with church and religion, too, I don’t believe many of them should have IRS privileges. But there’s a large difference between your average church (I’m not talking Joel Osteen **** here) and what Scientology is about. 

“If I exclude all the wealthy, famous and powerful Christian leaders/churches, then Xtianity has nothing in common with Scientology” ain’t the flex you think it is.  Besides, I’m sure there are plenty of broke-ass Scientologists out there that occasionally crack a chapter of dianetics and never really have the extra money to tithe/level up.

[Larry]

Recalling the meme:  

 

Trumpism is like Scientology, but with worse celebrities. 

[@DCGoldPants]

My folks do timeshare in Aruba every year, near where the Cruise Ships and other boats park. A few years down there I've seen the Scientology "Freewinds" boat docked. I don't know if they have others. I think that's the one from the "going clear" docu on HBO. Think they move it around different islands down there ever few weeks. 

 

 

I doubt Miscavage is on that. It's kind of older and not really modern looking. 

[Spaceman Spiff]

1 hour ago, TradeTheBeal! said:

“If I exclude all the wealthy, famous and powerful Christian leaders/churches, then Xtianity has nothing in common with Scientology” ain’t the flex you think it is.  Besides, I’m sure there are plenty of broke-ass Scientologists out there that occasionally crack a chapter of dianetics and never really have the extra money to tithe/level up.

 

It's a bit odd that you think that I thought that was a flex.  But sure, I'll agree there are plenty of broke-ass Scientologists that crack a chapter of L. Ron's ramblings because you said so and I also don't feel like arguing with TTB on New Years Eve.  

 

5 hours ago, Larry said:

 

 

As to your assertion that Scientology is different because money:  

 

I'll observe that when I was working in a nursing home, maybe half of the TVs that were on, in the early morning, consisted of preachers telling people that if you max out your credit cards and send the church $10,000, then Jesus will pay off your mortgage. 

 

Yeah, I don't believe I really said that, or inferred that and per Renegade's meme, I don't think Jesus ever said that.  You don't have to look far for people who pervert the Bible and it's teachings.

 

I'd agree that preachers on TV (per my original post, I wasn't referring to Joel Osteen types, and reading is fundamental, Larry) are more likely closer to be Scientology in regards to being a money-grab than the -as I said- (and I'll borrow your italics here) average church.  But it's way easier to paint with a broad brush and sweep all of Christianity down the drain as a whole with the Osteen types and other tv preachers from the church in your community that's not trying to do a Wayne's World style cable access TV show. 

 

If you don't like Christianity, that's fine. I've got my issues with it, (moreso the Christian conservative types that think Trump is holy) too.  But to pretend they're all the same is pretty lazy and pretty ignorant. 

 

[Captain Wiggles]

Scientology gave the world Beck David Hansen so it can't be all that bad. 🤪

[CousinsCowgirl84]

6 hours ago, Renegade7 said:

 

 

Jesus is a tool, no doubt.

 

 

Im pretty sure Tom Cruise knows where dude is at.

Edited December 31, 2022 by CousinsCowgirl84

[Jabbyrwock]

1 hour ago, Spaceman Spiff said:

to pretend they're all the same is pretty lazy and pretty ignorant. 

 

[China]

Scientology leader David Miscavige finally considered ‘served’ in labor trafficking lawsuit — after 27 tries

 

After months of trying to serve papers to the famously elusive leader of Scientology, David Miscavige, in a labor trafficking suit, a judge in Tampa, Fla. has ruled that he can be considered served.

 

Tampa federal Magistrate Judge Julie S. Sneed made it clear in a ruling that Miscavige, who has 21 days to respond to the suit, has been “actively concealing his whereabouts or evading service.”

 

Sneed also said in the ruling: “A defendant who beclouds his whereabouts should not be entitled to benefit from the process server’s consequent confusion.”

 

But there’s a hitch: Scientology officials have reportedly often managed to stay out of court over the years by insisting that contracts signed by members of Sea Org, the worker-bee arm of the church, mean they must take any grievances to an internal religious arbitration board.

 

The current case involves three plaintiffs who once belonged to the Sea Org and who allege they were forced into the church as kids and had to work into adulthood for almost no pay. Valeska Paris, along with married couple Gawain and Laura Baxter, filed the complaint last year after quitting Sea Org more than a decade ago.

 

Scientology officials claimed in court documents Paris and the Baxters both signed contracts that preclude them from suing and they instead must take their grievances to the church’s arbitration system, a legal defense they have used before. Scientology included copies of contracts in the court documents. 

 

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