Let's Sell These People a Piece of Blue Sky: Hubbard, Dianetics and Scientology (67 page)

The Aznarans had no reservations about the true intent of
Church management, and described their treatment as “brainwashing,” and their
condition as “slave-like.” Further they asserted that the Scientologists had:

Employed the following psychological devices ... to cause
Plaintiffs to involuntarily abandon their identities, spouses and loyalties,
and deprive Plaintiffs of their independent free will ... Threats of torture;
implementation of brainwashing tactics; threats of physical harm for lack of
loyalty ... lengthy interrogations ... sudden involuntary and forcible separation
of spouses from one another for many months, and depriving the spouses of
communication with one another or allowing them to know where the other was
located; willfully and expressly inducing divorce between Plaintiffs ...
deliberately inducing fatigue by physical abuse and deprivation of sleep;
forcing Plaintiffs to be housed in animal quarters; deliberately confining
Plaintiffs to premises under the control of Defendants and under threat of
physical harm without allowing Plaintiffs to leave of their own free will; and
threatening Plaintiffs that failure to submit to the power and control of
Defendants would result in their becoming ‘fair game’.

Vicki was sent on “mission” to Los Angeles in 1981 “to purge
members of Defendants’ organization ... remove assets of Defendant Church of
Scientology of California to overseas trusts where they could not be accessed
by plaintiffs or the government, and set up sham corporate structures to evade
prosecution generally. Richard was sent with Vicki in the capacity of a
security investigator who surveilled members of the organizations associated
with Defendants for the purposes of determining their loyalty and likelihood
that they would testify against Defendants in pending civil and criminal suits,
as well as designated ‘enemies’ of the Church.”

In December 1981, Vicki Aznaran was assigned to Author
Services Inc., a for-profit corporation using Sea Org personnel. She was “commissioned
to reorganize corporate structures and effect sham sales of millions of copies
of
Dianetics
to the corporate Defendants named herein as a vehicle for
transferring assets among them.”

In Spring 1982, Miscavige deprived Richard Aznaran of all
his Team Member shares, and sent him to the Rehabilitation Project Force (RPF)
in Los Angeles. His pay was reduced to $1.25 per week, and he spent 99 days on
the RPF. Meanwhile, Vicki worked directly for Hubbard’s deputy, Ann Broeker.
Meetings between Vicki and Richard were prohibited, so they met
surreptitiously.

The Aznarans allege that the intention in October 1982 (the
time of the San Francisco Mission Holders’ Conference) was “for all Scientology
entities to turn over their profits to ... Author Services, Inc.” When Vicki
expressed disapproval of this, she was ordered to the RPF in Hemet where, “for
approximately 120 days, [she] was forced to participate in the ‘running
program’. The running program required Vicki and other persons subjected to the
control of Defendants to run around an orange telephone pole from 7:00 a.m. to
9:30 p.m. ... with 10 minute rests every one-half hour, and 30 minute breaks
for lunch and dinner.”

In about May, 1983, Vicki was “deemed rehabilitated” and
ordered back to the Religious Technology Center at Gilman. Until Hubbard’s
death, the Aznarans remained at Gilman, when Richard was ordered to Hubbard’s
ranch at Creston working there as a security guard for a year and a half:
“Richard was forced to falsify time cards to falsely indicate that he had been
working 40 hour work weeks, so as to avoid an obligation on the part of
Defendants from paying him overtime ... Richard was forced to sleep in a horse
stable with several ... other indoctrinated employees. During the course of
Richard’s stay at the ranch, Vicki was not told of his whereabouts, nor were
Plaintiffs permitted to correspond with each other.”

Most important for the future of Scientology, the Aznarans
claim that “in or about February of 1987, a schism arose between Defendant
Miscavige and the Broekers, each of whom claimed to possess the ‘upper level
Holy Scriptures’ written by Hubbard.”

Miscavige allegedly saw Vicki’s demands for contact with her
husband as an “expression of allegiance” to the Broekers. Miscavige ordered
Vicki to the RPF at “Happy Valley,” a “secret location bordering the Sobova
Indian Reservation near Gilman ... overseen and controlled by Defendant Norman
Starkey.”

Vicki was “not allowed to go anywhere or do anything without
her guard being present. At night she was imprisoned by having heavy furniture
moved to secure the exit ... Defendants kept, and continue to keep all of her
physical belongings including a horse and two dogs.”

Vicki claimed she “had seen in the past other victims of
Happy Valley be beaten upon attempted escape, and their personal belongings
destroyed ... Vicki and others were made to wear rags taken out of garbage
cans, sleep on the ground, dig ditches.”

Finally, on about April 9, 1987, “Vicki and two other
victims escaped from Happy Valley onto the Sobova Indian Reservation where they
were pursued on motorcycles by guards.” They were rescued by the Indians.

Richard Aznaran meanwhile was urged to divorce his wife.
Instead, that very month they left the Sea Org, though not the Church, and
returned to Dallas, Texas, where they started a private investigation business.

The Aznarans received a “Freeloader Bill,” for Scientology
services they had received whilst in the Sea Org, amounting to $59,048.02. They
say that they did not seek legal assistance until January 1, 1988, because “As
a result of the psychological trauma of indoctrination techniques applied by
Defendants ... Plaintiffs were unable to comprehend their legal rights with
regard to the actions of Defendants.”

Fraud is among their charges: “Defendants ... knew that the
practices of the so-called Church of Scientology ... were not designed to
increase the well-being of any of its victims, but where [sic] made to
coercively persuade each and every follower to dedicate their lives to
Defendants in order for Defendants to increase their wealth derived from an overall
scheme to make money founded on the exploitation of free labor ... Defendants
... required Plaintiffs to participate in crimes against the United States
Government, including the obstruction of justice and efforts to create corporate
structures designed to keep payments from properly being paid to the Internal
Revenue Service ... Plaintiffs were subjected to humiliation, degradation,
physical labor, and imprisonment, all designed to break down their will and
free thinking, and convert them into submissive, frightened and dedicated
followers of Defendants.”

The Aznarans also charge Breach of Contract: “Defendants ...
breached the said agreements [i.e. the provisions of the staff contract] by not
providing any spiritual or psychological services, but rather, providing
indoctrination, psychological coercion, duress and stress, all designed to break
Plaintiffs’ will so that they would remain compliant servants to Defendants for
the remainder of their lives, and to the use of Defendants in furtherance of
illegal conduct and money making schemes.”

Invasion of Privacy is a further charge: “Plaintiffs were
forced to participate in ‘counseling sessions’ in which they were forced to
reveal that [sic] their inner-most private thoughts and feelings.” It was, of
course, represented that these would be held in confidence, but “In April, 1987
... Defendants ... read the private file of Plaintiff Vicki J. Aznaran ...
Defendants ... demanded that Vicki then publicly disclose and give further
details concerning further events they had learned from said file concerning
various other victims of Defendants. Vicki was advised, warned and threatened
that if she did not give further details, Defendants, and each of them, would
‘get it out of you one way or another.’”

The Aznarans claim that between June 1973 and April 1987,
they worked 9,764 hours, of which 4,116 were overtime. The Complaint is a
devastating indictment of the methods and motives of current Scientology
leadership.

In the month the Aznarans filed their Complaint, April 1988,
the truth of their allegations about a rift at the top of Scientology were
confirmed. David Miscavige, by this time both a captain in the Sea Org and the
head of the Religious Technology Center, issued a Flag Order making the issue
clear.
⁷
He asserted that the Broekers had forged Hubbard’s last
published Order, promoting themselves to the command of the Sea Org as “Loyal
Officers.” Miscavige cancelled the new rank, saying that Pat Broeker had simply
been part of Hubbard’s domestic staff. The Broekers were “under standard
justice handling” and were “being dealt with appropriately.” However while
cancelling the supposed forgery, Miscavige made no mention of the rank given to
Hubbard in it, so Hubbard remained an admiral, promoted so it would seem by a
member of his domestic staff.

In June 1988, the Scientologists’ new ship, the
Freewinds
,
took her maiden voyage, with the first public OT 8 students aboard. The
Freewinds
is a 440 foot cruise liner capable of carrying 450 passengers, and is based in
Curaçao, in the Caribbean.
⁸
As yet there is no indication that the
Scientologists will return to their earlier shipboard practices.

At the end of June, the Scientologists filed a Complaint
⁹
against their former attorney, Joseph Yanny, accusing him of “treachery,” and
saying he had “joined forces with confederates to mastermind and prosecute an
action.” The preamble to the Complaint says “what follows is a chronicle of
betrayal, deception, and conspiracy practiced by members of the bar as a
vendetta against a former client, and callous disregard of fiduciary and
ethical obligations.” Yanny responded with a declaration alleging that he had
left the services of the Church because he was asked to participate in an
attempt to blackmail an attorney hostile to the Church.

At the same time, an investigating magistrate in Milan
started making arrests. By September 1988, 76 Scientologists had been committed
for trial charged with offences ranging from fraud to medical malpractice, and
taking in criminal conspiracy to extort money and unlawful detention. The
Scientology drug rehabilitation group, Narconon, came in for particularly
stringent criticism: “Extravagant therapies were applied which yielded no
practical results other than extracting huge sums of money from the families of
young people who wanted to get out of the heroin trap.”
¹⁰

In November, Spanish police raided Scientology organizations
(including Narconons) in Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia, Alicante, Seville, Jerez,
Bilbao, Burgos and Ondaroa. Sixty-nine people were arrested, including the
President of the Church of Scientology International, Heber Jentzch. Eleven
were eventually detained. The arrests followed a nine-month investigation
headed by Judge Honrubia, who described

Scientology as “a multinational organization whose sole aim
is making quick money under the guise of doing good.” The Judge concurred with
the Italian opinion of Narconon, saying that their establishments were dirty,
run by untrained staff and were actually little more than recruitment centers
for Scientology. A Scientology spokesman muttered about Spain’s “fascist past,”
and Jentzch accused Spain of a return to the Inquisition. He and two other
non-residents were bailed for a million dollars the next month, pending trial.
¹¹

N.B. After this chapter was locked in litigation (in 1989)
the Aznarans came to an unknown settlement with the cult. It has been said that
they received $250,000 but the present author has no proof to substantiate this
rumor. Vicki Aznaran has contradicted some of her earlier statements.
Eventually, no trial took place in Spain, though Scientologists have been convicted
in Denmark, Canada, France and Italy since this book was first published in
1990.

1.
   
Scientology the Fundamentals of Thought
, dustcover.

2.
   
The author has been advised that Hubbard left a total of $648 million.
One million of this went to his last wife, Mary Sue Hubbard, and a further
$10,000 per month. Her three surviving children received $100,000. Nibs was
allegedly given $250,000, and Alexis $40,000. $500 million was bequeathed to
the Church of Spiritual Technology, which exists quite simply “to perpetuate
the name L. Ron Hubbard” (Hubbard’s declared aim in his 1939 ‘Skipper’ letter).
The author does not possess documents confirming these amounts.

3.
   
Wollersheim v. Church of Scientology of California, Los Angeles Superior
Court, no. C332827; and in the Court of Appeal of the State of California,
Second Appellate District, Division Seven, Civ. No. B023193.

4.
   
Settlement documents.

5.
   
Complaint, California Superior Court, Los Angeles County, no. CA 001012.

6.
   
District Court, Central District, California, no. CV 88-1786-WDK.

7.
   
“Flag Order 3879, The Sea Org and the Future, Cancelled”, 18 April 1988.

8.
   
Promotional piece, “Creating a safe space for new OT VIII”.

9.
   
Religious Technology Center et al. v. Yanny et al., in California
Superior Court, Los Angeles County, no. C690211.

10.
 
Family
Action Information and Rescue (FAIR) News, autumn 1988.

11.
 
Reconnection
issue 30.

PART nine

“Scientology’s may be the most
debilitating set of rituals of any cult in America.”

—Conway
and Siegelman,
Information Disease
,
Science Digest
, January 1982