Karen#1
Well-known member
Scientology critic obtains documents of church plot against him
Tony Ortega
Aug 24, 2025
tonyortega.substack.com
One of the reasons we’ve enjoyed having former Scientology London staffer Alex Barnes-Ross join our weekly Group Therapy podcast is that he’s been so effective not only raising awareness about Scientology’s abuses in the UK, but also for the way he clearly has David Miscavige and the Office of Special Affairs in a full-on panic.
We know this because Alex is now being targeted by just about every form of Scientology “Fair Game” attack, including articles at Freedom magazine, harangues at the Stand League’s website, a hate page of his own, and of course the usual social media barrage.
Character assassination is how Scientology reacts to legitimate questions about its controversies, and for Alex, right now it’s coming from all sides.
He let us into the details of just one operation that Scientology threw at him recently, and we think it’s a pretty good example of the kind of thing so many former members of this organization face if they dare to speak up about what they’ve seen…
In 2021, my professional achievements
were recognised by the prestigious Chartered Institute of Marketing
where I was given Associate status. I was later upgraded to Member,
which requires a decade of marketing experience and entitles you to use
the post-nominal designation MCIM (Member, Chartered Institute of
Marketing).
[An example of Alex using the initials “MCIM” after his name in 2024.]
I
didn’t realise it at the time, but in March 2023 my Membership lapsed.
In May of this year I received an email from the CIM letting me know
that they had noticed I was still using my post-nominal letters online
and asked whether I would like to renew my membership. I decided not to
pay the annual fee and subsequently remove the letters from my public
social media profiles.
I had an inkling this may be Fair Game related and so I submitted a Subject Access Request…
[And
let us interrupt here for our American readers who may not understand
that Alex is referring to a right that data privacy laws have granted UK
and European residents, that they can request from a company a report
of the information that is being kept by the company about them. Here,
Alex asked the CIM to give to him any documents it was keeping about
him, and the CIM was obliged by UK law to comply. Alex then received a
packet of information which included some emails that had been sent to
the company about him. — T.O.]
….and lo and behold,
Scientology had sent the Institute a Dead Agent pack complete with
screenshots of tweets, blog articles and Linkedin posts where I still
had MCIM after my name.
Scientology’s emails are exactly what
you’d expect.. and it’s clear as day their intention was to launch some
form of investigation, interfere with my professional life and cause
damage to my reputation.
In addition to this Dead Agent pack, I
was also alerted by a number of my contacts on LinkedIn that they too
had been contacted by Freedom Magazine and other Scientology
front-groups seeking comment on my “bigotry” and “hate speech.” It shows
the Office of Special Affairs spend a considerable amount of time and
resource watching my every move both online and in person. And it’s
nothing short of harassment.
But regardless, I will continue to
shine a light on Scientology’s attempts to intimidate critics and former
members into silence.
— Alex Barnes-Ross
Alex shared with us the documents he received in his request. They include the packet submitted by someone at Scientology with examples of Alex’s social media postings that had the letters by his name, as well as an email asking CIM to investigate.
The letter’s language makes it plain that they didn’t want Alex to find out about it.
As Alex explained, Scientology’s attempt to meddle didn’t really cause him any trouble. CIM asked him if he wanted to renew his membership, and he declined.
And as for Scientology’s request that CIM launch an investigation, it responded by saying that it only investigates current members, not former ones like Alex. Whoops.
That hasn’t stopped Scientology from pretending that it has caught Alex in the crime of the century. At a hate website about Barnes-Ross that attacks him for “collaborating” with other former Scientologists, it eventually gets around to the CIM issue, calling it “an example of criminal fraud.”
Scientology must have been frustrated that the CIM itself didn’t see it that way.
As Alex and Claire Headley both explained on today’s Group Therapy episode, being subjected to this kind of treatment has only motivated them both to speak out even more, a lesson that Scientology will never learn.
Alex has even turned the tables on his Fair Game treatment. Like the Headleys and numerous other former Scientologists who decided to speak out, he’s been the subject of videos of former church colleagues denouncing him (which we have characterized in the past as “P.O.W. videos” for the glassy stares and put-up statements). So Alex, always the clever one, responded with P.O.W. videos of his own (see the image at top).
Now that’s creative.
tonyortega.substack.com
Tony Ortega
Aug 24, 2025
Scientology critic obtains documents of church plot against him
One of the reasons we’ve enjoyed having former Scientology London staffer Alex Barnes-Ross join our weekly Group Therapy podcast is that he’s been so effective not only raising awareness about Scientology’s abuses in the UK, but also for the way he clearly has David Miscavige and the Office of...
tonyortega.substack.com
One of the reasons we’ve enjoyed having former Scientology London staffer Alex Barnes-Ross join our weekly Group Therapy podcast is that he’s been so effective not only raising awareness about Scientology’s abuses in the UK, but also for the way he clearly has David Miscavige and the Office of Special Affairs in a full-on panic.
We know this because Alex is now being targeted by just about every form of Scientology “Fair Game” attack, including articles at Freedom magazine, harangues at the Stand League’s website, a hate page of his own, and of course the usual social media barrage.
Character assassination is how Scientology reacts to legitimate questions about its controversies, and for Alex, right now it’s coming from all sides.
He let us into the details of just one operation that Scientology threw at him recently, and we think it’s a pretty good example of the kind of thing so many former members of this organization face if they dare to speak up about what they’ve seen…
In 2021, my professional achievements
were recognised by the prestigious Chartered Institute of Marketing
where I was given Associate status. I was later upgraded to Member,
which requires a decade of marketing experience and entitles you to use
the post-nominal designation MCIM (Member, Chartered Institute of
Marketing).
[An example of Alex using the initials “MCIM” after his name in 2024.]
I
didn’t realise it at the time, but in March 2023 my Membership lapsed.
In May of this year I received an email from the CIM letting me know
that they had noticed I was still using my post-nominal letters online
and asked whether I would like to renew my membership. I decided not to
pay the annual fee and subsequently remove the letters from my public
social media profiles.
I had an inkling this may be Fair Game related and so I submitted a Subject Access Request…
[And
let us interrupt here for our American readers who may not understand
that Alex is referring to a right that data privacy laws have granted UK
and European residents, that they can request from a company a report
of the information that is being kept by the company about them. Here,
Alex asked the CIM to give to him any documents it was keeping about
him, and the CIM was obliged by UK law to comply. Alex then received a
packet of information which included some emails that had been sent to
the company about him. — T.O.]
….and lo and behold,
Scientology had sent the Institute a Dead Agent pack complete with
screenshots of tweets, blog articles and Linkedin posts where I still
had MCIM after my name.
Scientology’s emails are exactly what
you’d expect.. and it’s clear as day their intention was to launch some
form of investigation, interfere with my professional life and cause
damage to my reputation.
In addition to this Dead Agent pack, I
was also alerted by a number of my contacts on LinkedIn that they too
had been contacted by Freedom Magazine and other Scientology
front-groups seeking comment on my “bigotry” and “hate speech.” It shows
the Office of Special Affairs spend a considerable amount of time and
resource watching my every move both online and in person. And it’s
nothing short of harassment.
But regardless, I will continue to
shine a light on Scientology’s attempts to intimidate critics and former
members into silence.
— Alex Barnes-Ross
Alex shared with us the documents he received in his request. They include the packet submitted by someone at Scientology with examples of Alex’s social media postings that had the letters by his name, as well as an email asking CIM to investigate.
The letter’s language makes it plain that they didn’t want Alex to find out about it.
As Alex explained, Scientology’s attempt to meddle didn’t really cause him any trouble. CIM asked him if he wanted to renew his membership, and he declined.
And as for Scientology’s request that CIM launch an investigation, it responded by saying that it only investigates current members, not former ones like Alex. Whoops.
That hasn’t stopped Scientology from pretending that it has caught Alex in the crime of the century. At a hate website about Barnes-Ross that attacks him for “collaborating” with other former Scientologists, it eventually gets around to the CIM issue, calling it “an example of criminal fraud.”
Scientology must have been frustrated that the CIM itself didn’t see it that way.
As Alex and Claire Headley both explained on today’s Group Therapy episode, being subjected to this kind of treatment has only motivated them both to speak out even more, a lesson that Scientology will never learn.
Alex has even turned the tables on his Fair Game treatment. Like the Headleys and numerous other former Scientologists who decided to speak out, he’s been the subject of videos of former church colleagues denouncing him (which we have characterized in the past as “P.O.W. videos” for the glassy stares and put-up statements). So Alex, always the clever one, responded with P.O.W. videos of his own (see the image at top).
Now that’s creative.
Scientology critic obtains documents of church plot against him
One of the reasons we’ve enjoyed having former Scientology London staffer Alex Barnes-Ross join our weekly Group Therapy podcast is that he’s been so effective not only raising awareness about Scientology’s abuses in the UK, but also for the way he clearly has David Miscavige and the Office of...
tonyortega.substack.com
