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TONY ORTEGA Excerpt: While we’ve seen no evidence that Scientology has been able to climb out of its struggles with recruitment and staffing, at the same time we have seen plenty of evidence that church leader David Miscavige is pushing hard to counter that bad news with major pushes in...

TONY ORTEGA Excerpt: One of the things Leah Remini has done so effectively in her lawsuit against the Church of Scientology is detail how the organization uses a network of social media accounts to smear her and others who dare to speak up about the church’s abuses. But even in Leah’s...

TONY ORTEGA Excerpt: [td] [Peter Mansell, Scientology minion] Earlier, we showed you the sworn declarations of Valeska Paris, and Gawain and Laura Baxter, about the aborted “religious arbitration” they were forced into which took place in January in Clearwater. The three of them are...

A big thank you to Alex Barnes-Ross for sending over the flier that Scientology put out, announcing that next week, another anniversary party will be held for Dianetics at Ruth Eckerd Hall in Clearwater, Florida. Last year, church leader David Miscavige held what we figured was a one-off...

TONY ORTEGA Excerpt: [The pope of Scientology wants his own sacred city] In 1975, the Church of Scientology surreptitiously crept into Clearwater, Florida in order to create what it called its “Flag Land Base” by secretly purchasing the iconic Fort Harrison Hotel. This was after founder L...

TONY ORTEGA Excerpt: We continue to dive into the early history of Scientology’s founder L. Ron Hubbard that the church hides from its members. Last time, as we watched things unfold 75 years ago in 1951, Ron’s second wife Sara Northrup had begun to exact some revenge after his failed...

TONY ORTEGA Excerpt: [Dave at the 2025 IAS gala] Scientology’s micro-managing current leader, David Miscavige, today marks 66 years on the planet. (And so does his twin sister, Denise.) Dave’s father Ron Miscavige, who died in 2021, said that he had introduced his kids to Scientology...

TONY ORTEGA Excerpt: [Dave is working the lines in England and Florida] Things are heating up on both sides of the Atlantic as Scientology leader David Miscavige tries to arm-wrestle a couple of communities that are very important to Scientology’s fortunes, and that each recently rebuffed...

TONY ORTEGA Excerpt: It’s been pretty obvious for several years that Scientology leader David Miscavige was dealing with lagging recruitment and a drop in overall membership, and so he focused on convincing wealthy donors to give more, and to spend that money on buildings. As long as the...

TONY ORTEGA Excerpt: In February, we learned that Nancy Cartwright, the Cardones, and Tom Cummins had made a pilgrimage to Mar-a-Lago and posed for a photo there. We figured it was the latest attempt by Scientology’s bigwigs to curry favor with the Trump administration, something that...

TONY ORTEGA Excerpt: [Mama Shelter and its earlier incarnation, the Hotel Wilcox] You may have seen some news stories recently about the Church of Scientology buying another Hollywood property, this time paying $16 million for the former Mama Shelter hotel and its well known rooftop...

TONY ORTEGA Excerpt: [L. Ron Hubbard and his wife Mary Sue — undone by Snow White] This story was first published at The Underground Bunker on December 14, 2017. We consider it one of our most important stories ever about Scientology, and we decided to find room for it here at our Substack...

TONY ORTEGA Excerpt: How great it was to hear from Going Clear star Hana Whitfield, Scientology’s former “Deputy Commodore” and one of the most interesting former top executives to leave the organization. She was reacting to a flier we posted with Scientology’s announcement that the newest...

How does Scientology hook smart people?

TONY ORTEGA Excerpt: [Valeska, the Atrium, and Scientology attorneys Jeffrey Steinfeld and Charles Harris] Former Scientology Sea Org workers Gawain and Laura Baxter and Valeska Paris, who live in Australia, recently went public in court documents with damning descriptions of what they...

TONY ORTEGA Excerpt: In February, we marked the 75th anniversary of Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard’s bizarre kidnapping of his second wife, Sara Northrup, which ended in Yuma, Arizona. Convinced that Sara was going to have him committed, Hubbard figured he should get the jump on her...

TONY ORTEGA Excerpt: Scientology held yet another grand opening this weekend, this time right on Cleveland Street and Osceola Avenue in downtown Clearwater. Was it a new church? An “Ideal Org”? A thetan rendering plant? It was none of those things. Instead, it was a “showroom” that...

TONY ORTEGA Excerpt: [Joanna and Cesar Vargas, center, surrounded by employees] The New York Post on Thursday published a great investigative expose of Joanna Vargas, a famous facialist to the stars. Writer Kyra Breslin obviously did a ton of work talking to dozens of former Vargas...

[Alex and Zoe at the MP’s office.] Another amazing Alex Barnes-Ross update, and with breaking news… Earlier this week, I brought you an update about my work in Westminster. On Monday, I was invited to attend a screening of a BBC documentary about the Jesus Army cult, hosted by the National...

TONY ORTEGA Excerpt: While Scientology leader David Miscavige’s plans for expansion at the UK headquarters keep running into opposition, we learned this week that he’s going full steam ahead on a large structure going up in South Africa. But what is it? All we know from the photo you see...