TrevAnon
Big List researcher
SCIENTOLOGY SUED FOR FRAUD OVER REFUND SCHEME, MORE PLAINTIFFS TO COME
Luis Garcia, seen in a recent video by Tiziano Lugli
Luis Garcia, seen in a recent video by Tiziano Lugli
In what appears to be the most serious legal challenge to Scientology in several years, former high-level Scientologists Luis Garcia and his wife Maria del Rocio Burgos Garcia filed a federal lawsuit today in Florida’s Middle District with the help of the prestigious law firm Babbitt Johnson Osborne & Le Clainche, which says it plans to file additional lawsuits by other former church members.
In 1993, when the Internal Revenue Service granted Scientology tax exempt status, the church made certain promises to the government in order to escape a $1 billion tax bill. Among those promises, the church vowed to give members refunds when they requested them.
Now that Scientology is in the grips of crisis and more and more longtime members like the Garcias are walking away from the church, an increasing number of them have asked for refunds — and the church isn’t giving them.
We’ve written about this state of affairs numerous times. Now, the Garcias have filed a lawsuit that accuses church leader David Miscavige of turning Scientology into little more than a fraudulent money-making scam.
“The Church, under the leadership of David Miscavige, has strayed from its founding principles and morphed into a secular enterprise whose primary purpose is taking people’s money,” the complaint says.
The Garcias and their attorneys are about to hold a press conference, and we’ll be listening in telephonically and taking notes. We’ve had time only to read through the complaint once, and we’ll be adding to this story as we learn more.
More at link
http://tonyortega.org/2013/01/23/sc...d-over-refund-scheme-more-plaintiffs-to-come/