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Florida prosecutors are trying to find a missing Scientology leader who is listed as a defendant in a federal lawsuit concerning child trafficking. David Miscavige, chairman of the board of the Religious Technology Center, is the leader of the controversial Church of Scientology and the sect’s company Sea Org, according to the Tampa Bay Times. Process servers visited 10 Church of Scientology properties and have made 27 attempts to serve Miscavige, but the church leader has been missing for months, according to the Tampa Bay Times. Plaintiffs Gawain and Laura Baxter and Valeska Paris, former Scientologists, claim in the lawsuit...

Cost people with even a passing interest in Scientology will have heard of David Miscavige. He is the infamous leader of the Church of Scientology, Tom Cruise’s best man at his wedding to Katie Holmes, and husband to Shelly Miscavige. Shelly has been missing for 15 years. When famous suppressed (Scientology’s form of disfellowship) Scientologist Leah Remini left the cult-like religion in 2013, she immediately filed a missing person report. The case was closed within hours. And now, rather publicly, with a further nine years elapsing and no sign of Shelly Miscavige, Leah Remini is shouting about it—and for good...

In the third lawsuit filed against the Church of Scientology and its leader, David Miscavige, in three months, a 25-year-old woman alleges she was repeatedly sexually assaulted as a child in Scientology’s care, including at the church’s Clearwater Academy. On top of the abuse, the lawsuit explains how church officials allegedly knew it was occurring and did nothing to stop it or alert law enforcement, actions rooted in policy written by Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard. When the woman spoke of her alleged abuse after leaving Scientology in 2018, the church deployed a campaign of harassment against her, a tactic...

The action claims the church engaged in human trafficking, child abuse, forced labor, exploitative commercial practices and intimidation campaigns aimed at anyone who spoke out against the church or its leader. A group of lawyers representing a former member of the Church of Scientology who worked directly with its leader David Miscavige has filed a lawsuit alleging the organization is responsible for decades of human trafficking and intimidation, among other abuses. More at Tony Ortega's blog: Church of Scientology and David Miscavige sued for abuse by major legal players "Attorneys representing Jane Doe filed the first of multiple lawsuits to...

The public face of the Church of Scientology is benevolent. For decades the church has enjoyed the razzle-dazzle of its celebrity members and high-profile spokespeople, including Tom Cruise and John Travolta. But beneath the glamour and celebrity is a veil of secrecy, with disturbing cult-like practices and serious allegations of violence, abuse and even claims of holding people prisoner. 60 Minutes travelled to Scientology’s California HQ – the ‘Gold Base’ just outside of LA – where reporter Tara Brown went looking for answers on Shelly Miscavige’s disappearance – but instead, 60 Minutes cameras were met with hostility and an angry...

The Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BFV), Germany’s domestic security agency, is effectively giving up its monitoring of the controversial Scientology organization as part of its ongoing reforms. In doing so, it has upset officials in several of Germany’s states. Scientology is officially recognized as a church in the United States and has the backing of celebrity members such as Tom Cruise and John Travolta. In Germany, however, it is viewed as a business that seeks to present itself as a church. … The agency is currently trying to focus its efforts towards counterespionage in light of...

The percentage of American children from 4 through 17 years of age who have ever been diagnosed with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) increased 42 percent from 2003 to 2011, according to a newly released study by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The study indicated that more than 20 percent of 11- and 14-year-old American boys had been diagnosed with ADHD at some point in their lives, that boys were 125 percent more likely than girls to be diagnosed with the disorder, and that boys were 127 percent more likely than girls to be medicated for it. The study...

He is the reclusive and enigmatic leader of the world's most famous cult who played best man at TomKat's wedding. But perhaps the biggest mystery shrouding Scientology chairman David Miscavige concerns his wife, Shelly, who has not been seen since 2007. Once a leading Scientologist herself, Shelly Miscavige is even credited as the cupid to Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes' doomed alliance. Always by her husband's side, it was her to whom Mr Miscavige turned when a lovelorn Cruise begged for help in finding love following the break down of his second marriage to Nicole Kidman. Believing the role of...

Scientology leader David Miscavige is often cited as Tom Cruise's best friend. He was best man at Cruise's ill-fated marriage to Katie Holmes and once threw the star a huge birthday party. But the numerous references to Miscavige left out one really sketchy detail: his wife, Shelly, hasn't been seen since 2006........ The New Yorker's Lawrence Wright reported that last year Shelley has been missing since 2006 and "her status is unknown." Just before she went missing, she had supposedly filled several job vacancies without her husband's permission. Misbehaving Scientologists have been known to allegedly be locked up in "The...

They advanced to the Church of Scientology's highest spiritual level, to "Operating Thetan VIII," a vaunted realm said to endow extraordinary powers of perception and force of will.(edit)Isene left first, a decision that emboldened Leavitt, who inspired Katz. Such departures are rare among the church's elite group of OT VIIIs, who are held up as role models in Scientology. The three each told the St. Petersburg Times that they had spent decades and hundreds of thousands of dollars to reach the church's spiritual pinnacle. (edit)The three OT VIIIs said they want reform of leadership. They pointed to the revelations...

CLEARWATER, Fla. — The leader of the Church of Scientology struck his subordinates numerous times and set an example for physical violence among the tightly controlled religion's management team, four former high-ranking executives told a newspaper for a story published Sunday. The executives who have since left the organization told The St. Petersburg Times that they witnessed David Miscavige, chairman of the board that oversees the church, hit staff members dozens of times. "It was random and whimsical. It could be the look on your face. Or not answering a question quickly. But it always was a punishment," said Mike...