Scientology accused of child trafficking, forced labour of Australians By Ben Schneiders April 29, 2022 — 2.02am https://www.smh.com.au/national/sci...ed-labour-of-australians-20220427-p5aghi.html Three Australian residents have accused Scientology of child trafficking, covering up multiple sexual assaults, forced labour and other abuses in a significant legal claim lodged in a Florida court overnight. The plaintiffs, Australian Gawain Baxter and residents Laura Baxter and Valeska Paris, are seeking significant “compensatory and punitive damages” against Scientology leader David Miscavige and five Church-related organisations for alleged human trafficking. Valeska Paris is making serious allegations of abuse and child trafficking against Scientology. The three were part of Scientology’s “Sea Org” and “Cadet Org” entities that involved them signing billion-year contracts to provide free or cheap labour to Scientology. The lawsuit alleges that their pay was sometimes withheld or set at a maximum of $US50 per week. They say they endured years of emotional, physical and psychological abuse, in particular while spending more than a decade aboard Scientology’s Freewinds cruise ship in the Caribbean in what the lawsuit described as “a world filled with abuse, violence, intimidation and fear”. One of the plaintiffs alleged they were confined to a hot engine room for days after being accused of “monopolising” the attention of a prominent celebrity who had their birthday on the ship in 2004, and who is believed to be actor Tom Cruise. There is no suggestion Cruise was aware of the plaintiff’s situation. The case, brought by leading US plaintiff law firms, alleges the free labour on the cruise ship allowed Scientology leader Miscavige to “maintain a facade of legitimacy, a luxurious lifestyle … and influence over members including celebrities”. The Freewinds cruise ship docked in the port of Castries, the capital of St Lucia.Credit:AP Scientology was founded by US science fiction writer L. Ron Hubbard in the 1950s and has long attracted celebrities including Elisabeth Moss, John Travolta and Cruise. Some former adherents have accused it of being a dangerous money-focused cult. Scientology has been approached for comment. The 86-page legal claim from US law firms Kohn, Swift & Graf, Preti Flaherty and Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll, details allegations of how children as young as six years old were separated from their parents who relinquished custody to the “Cadet Org” and later “Sea Org”, with family visits limited to once a week. Scientology leader David Miscavige While public members of Scientology can live in their homes, members of “Orgs” work as indentured labour both on sea and on land, the lawsuit alleges. They accumulate large debts from their time in the Orgs, which is then held over them if they ever leave. Gawain Baxter was raised a Scientologist and in 1982, at only a few weeks old, his family moved from Australia to Scientology’s Flag Base in Clearwater Florida. He became a Cadet Org member at six while living in a dormitory with 100 other children. By the age of 10 he saw his parents for only three hours a week and received very little education while labouring five to 10 hours unpaid a day including food preparation, landscaping and garbage removal, he alleges. He says he was regularly verbally and physically abused by adults connected to Scientology and subject as a teenager to explicit questions about his sexual experiences by adult Sea Org leaders. While living on the Freewinds – which never docks in US ports or territorial waters – he had his passport confiscated and worked 16 to 24 hours a day in unsafe working conditions, he alleges. That included repainting pipes, cleaning the ship decks and cleaning fuel tanks without safety equipment. He claims after working with blue asbestos and concrete dust he later coughed up blood. “To this day, there are completely defenceless minors being mistreated by Scientology leadership. Just as I was, they are isolated from family and have no way to protect themselves,” Baxter said in a statement. “Scientology must be held accountable for the human rights abuses and trauma it has inflicted without a shred of remorse.” Baxter and co-plaintiff Laura Baxter, who married, were later able to leave Freewinds after they came up with a plan to get pregnant to escape. They were told to terminate the pregnancy but refused and were later let off the boat after weeks of punishment and isolation, the lawsuit alleges. In 2004 Laura Baxter alleges she was punished and confined to a hot engine room on the ship for three days, only allowed to leave for short periods at a time, after being accused of “monopolising” the attention of a celebrity during their birthday celebrations. Tom Cruise had a party for his 42nd birthday on Freewinds in 2004. The other plaintiff, Valeska Paris, who now lives in Australia, had parents who were Sea Org members and was brought up as a Scientologist. By six years old she was in the Cadet Org and over more than a decade was sexually assaulted on multiple occasions as a minor, she claims. She alleged the physical and sexual abuse was commonplace in the Cadet Org, and she had witnessed an adult Sea Org member masturbate on a boy’s bed. She said she was reprimanded for reporting the behaviour. Paris alleged a senior Sea Org member rubbed his erect penis against her genitals. She said she had to relive her sexual assaults with adult male interrogators and was punished for reporting them and forced, on one occasion, to do the laundry of her alleged abuser. Paris said she was a personal assistant to Miscavige and worked 16-hour days as a 15-year-old and was “sleep-deprived, poorly fed and constantly verbally abused by adult supervisors”. She said she became suicidal and eventually ended up doing forced labour at a Scientology site in Australia and had her passport confiscated. Scientology has been accused of running a “penal colony” at a western Sydney site. “Scientology is a system that is designed to perpetuate fear, and I continue to struggle with the trauma. No person – child or adult – should have to go through the daily abuse and manipulation I faced,” said Paris. The lawsuit describes how Org members have to self-report deviant thoughts and behaviour during repeated interrogations, material that is then later used against them. “Scientology cannot be allowed to continue exploiting the labour of its members and inflicting emotional and physical abuse without facing justice,” said Ted Leopold, a lawyer for the plaintiffs from Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll. A 2021 investigation by The Age and Sydney Morning Herald uncovered some of the most detailed financial information available anywhere in the world on Scientology. It found it had shifted tens of millions of dollars into Australia, which has become an international haven and makes tax-free profits with minimal scrutiny.
Scientology leader evades legal service in Australian trafficking case By Ben Schneiders September 18, 2022 https://www.smh.com.au/national/sci...tralian-trafficking-case-20220916-p5bim7.html Scientology leader David Miscavige has avoided being served with a summons on at least 14 occasions, a US court has been told, as part of a human-trafficking case brought by three Australian residents. The allegations emerged in a Florida civil case brought by Australian Gawain Baxter and residents Laura Baxter and Valeska Paris who have claimed they endured horrendous emotional, physical and psychological abuse while in Scientology. Scientology leader David Miscavige. Miscavige, who has been the leader of Scientology since 1986, was named in the lawsuit along with five Scientology-related organisations. He is the only defendant to not have been served despite a summons being issued against him in late April. The court heard allegations from plaintiff lawyers that Miscavige had deliberately evaded service for months including by ordering security at his house to prevent the summons from being delivered to him. On September 9, the court ordered the allegations were credible enough for Miscavige to instead be served through the office of Florida’s secretary of state. The lawsuit, backed by US class-action law firms, is regarded as one of the most significant in decades against Scientology, considered by some critics as a dangerous, money-focused cult. “David Miscavige knows that, in filing this lawsuit, our clients are reclaiming their power and right to fight for full and complete justice,” plaintiff lawyers Ted Leopold of Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll and Neil Glazer of Kohn Swift said in a joint statement. “After enduring alleged unspeakable mistreatment at his hands, we intend to hold Mr Miscavige and others involved fully responsible.” Church of Scientology International spokeswoman Karin Pouw did not respond to questions about whether Miscavige had deliberately avoided being served. Valeska Paris is making serious allegations of abuse and child trafficking against Scientology. But she said the allegations in the lawsuit were “absurd, ridiculous, scurrilous and blatantly false. The lawsuit is a sham and a scam.” Pouw attacked the credibility of the plaintiffs whom she accused of wanting to “extort a pay day”. Mike Rinder, a former senior executive at Scientology who is now a high-profile critic of the religion, said in a submission to the case that Miscavige had been involved in “extensive and elaborate methods” to evade service stretching back many decades, including in shielding the late founder of the religion, L. Ron Hubbard. “This includes the security guards in all Sea Org facilities being drilled to refuse entry to anyone seeking to serve David Miscavige and to refuse to divulge any information about his whereabouts,” Rinder said. However, Scientology’s Pouw said Rinder was not credible and an “inveterate liar”. The three Australian residents filed their lawsuit in late April, alleging they were abused while part of Scientology’s “Sea Org” and “Cadet Org” entities that involved them signing billion-year contracts to provide free or cheap labour to Scientology. Pay was sometimes withheld or set at a maximum of $US50 ($74) a week, the lawsuit alleges. Much of the alleged abuse occurred on Scientology’s Caribbean cruise ship, the Freewinds, which never enters US waters. It detailed claims of how children as young as six were separated from their parents, who relinquished custody to the Cadet Org and later Sea Org, with family visits limited to once a week. While public members of Scientology can live in their own homes, members of “Orgs” work as indentured labour on sea and land, the lawsuit alleges, accumulating large debts which are then held over them. Lawyers for Scientology have since said the three had signed contracts while members of the Sea Org that required them to arbitrate disputes within the church, not through the legal system. Scientology has successfully used this legal defence on one occasion. The plaintiff lawyers, in new filings, rejected this argument, stating that the arbitration agreements were signed under “severe duress”. Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard “The agreements are void due to the duress under which plaintiffs signed them, which included imprisonment and threats of economic, reputational, and physical harm,” the filing said. “At no point did plaintiffs know what they were signing or have any real choice but to sign the documents presented to them.” Scientology was founded by US science fiction writer L. Ron Hubbard in 1953 and has long attracted celebrities including John Travolta and Tom Cruise, who is close to Miscavige. Part of the legal claim against Scientology includes allegations that Laura Baxter was accused of monopolising the attention of a prominent celebrity – who is not named in the filing but is Tom Cruise – while aboard the Freewinds for his birthday in 2004. She alleges her punishment was to be locked in an “extremely hot” engine room of the Freewinds ship. There is no suggestion Cruise was aware of Baxter’s situation. While living on the Freewinds, Gawain Baxter alleged he had his passport confiscated and worked 16 to 24 hours a day in unsafe conditions. That included repainting pipes, cleaning the ship decks and cleaning fuel tanks without safety gear. He claims after working with blue asbestos and concrete dust, he later coughed up blood. A 2021 investigation by The Age into Scientology’s finances found it had shifted tens of millions of dollars into Australia, and makes tax-free profits with minimal scrutiny.