Meet Jesse Prince
Prince affidavit in FACTnet case
July 27,
1998
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AFFIDAVIT OF JESSE PRINCE
I, Jesse Prince declare as follows:
1. I am over 18 years of age and currently
reside in the state of Minnesota, County of Hennepin. This
declaration is of my own personal
knowledge and if called upon to testify to the facts herein I could
and would be competently able to testify thereto.
2. I am intimately familiar with the
Scientology organization, movement and beliefs because I was in
Scientology for 16 years (1976-92) and served in the highest ranks,
including as the second in command of the Religious Technology
Center (RTC). At that time, my position was "Deputy
Inspector General, External" which meant being in charge of all
activities outside the body of
Scientology. This
included being in charge of all litigation by or against any
Scientology organization, intelligence (spying, covert operations)
brought against perceived or imagined "enemies" (which ranged from
critics to media to the courts), trademark registrations, and the
licensing of trademarks to other Scientology organizations, which
was how we tightly controlled all Scientology corporations while creating
the false impression of "corporate integrity."
3. It is incumbent on
this and every court, as well as the authorities, to realize the
amount of deception, chicanery, lying, manipulation and outright
criminality that Scientology will employ to hide the truth about
their criminal activities. They will spend any amount of money to do
this. I know because I was part of it for years. I received orders
to break the law. I issued orders to break the law. I got
others to break the law, and then I helped to hide these criminal
activities just as they are hiding them now.
4. In fact, this tactic is one of the most
coercive used by the Scientology hierarchy: to involve members in
criminal acts for which they are then liable, which then prevents
the person from speaking out. Even if the member manages to leave or
flee, they will be reluctant to speak to the courts or the
authorities because they were part of criminal activities. Plus the
organization is ready to use Mafia-like tactics to threaten an
ex-member if the hierarchy is afraid of their testimony. If the
ex-member does speak, the organization will claim no knowledge and
blames the individual, calling them a criminal when that person was
doing nothing more than following orders under
duress.
5. Members of
Scientology are induced to confess to acts that, if not outright
criminal, are embarrassing or possibly destructive to the person's
job, marriage or profession, for example, shoplifting, adultery,
masturbation, or drug abuse. The member is urged to write these down
in their own handwriting, under the guise that it is a "religious
confessional" for the member's good. The truth is that these
"confessions" are kept to blackmail and extort the member should
they dare to speak out. The member is also coerced to sign documents
that are self-damaging while protecting the organization, solely in
case the member dares to leave their control and speak the truth. I
know because I watched this done to others, I did it to others and
it was done to me. That is why I espectfully urge this court
to recognize Scientology's tactics and treat them for what they are:
criminal deceit to defraud this court at any cost.
6. For the past five years since I fled
Scientology, I have been silent because it was my intent to create a
new life for myself, away from their obsessive control, and it
required all the energy that I could muster to do that. About two
weeks ago, I finally became curious as to what was happening
within the Scientology world and I used the Internet to look up
Scientology and was stunned to discover former friends
who had also left and the conflicts being waged in the courts. I
contacted one (Stacy Young) who had been a close friend for many
years in the cult who told me what had been happening, with former
members fighting to have the abuses and the
criminality exposed.
7. Because I have
intimate and personal knowledge of issues in this case, she put me
in touch with attorney Dan Leipold and I traveled to his offices in
Santa Ana, California. After speaking with him and others, I
realized that this level of criminal fraud and deceit can no longer
continue without opposition. I could no longer remain silent,
regardless of their terrorism. I offered to tell the court how
Scientology really operates with trademarks, copyrights and the
courts. In fact, I am doing this at the risk of enduring the hate campaign this pseudo-religion
will wage against me, as they have against others, including
judges.
8. Let me begin with some basic information
about my own Scientology history: I first became involved with
Scientology in September 1976, in San Francisco. In late 1976 I
joined the elite Scientology paramilitary organization known as the
Sea Organization, also known as the "Sea Org" or the acronym "SO."
The Sea Organization is the actual nexus that controls the
Scientology empire. Sea Organization personnel are authorized to
take over and control Scientology organizations and to demote
personnel, move bank accounts and run the corporation as if the SO
personnel were employees or representatives of that corporation but
they are not. This is true if the organization was part of the
"Church of Scientology" or one of the secular areas such as
Bridge Publications. This is possible because the only personnel
allowed into executive positions in these organization are
those who are in full agreement that the Sea
Organization is the commanding organization. This weeding out
process guarantees there will be no executives who will resist or
protect their corporate integrity. This is how the Sea Organization
can operate with impunity, and continue to claim that it is merely a
"fraternal organization." The Sea Organization is a "fraternal
organization" the way the Cosa Nostra is.
9. Before I was recruited into the
Religious Technology Center (RTC) in 1982, most of my experience was
with Scientology technical material; the actual codified techniques
used within the organization. This gave me considerable time to
become familiar with the material, most of which was written by
Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard. It was that familiarity that
prompted my promotion to a technical
position at RTC.
10. Physically, I was
transferred to and lived and worked at what is known as "Golden Era
Studios," near Hemet, California. It is also known as "Gold" or
simply "the base." RTC's presence at Gold was fully known to all at
the base, but was kept hidden from all others, to try to make it
appear that Gold was merely a movie/tape production studio when
really the movie/tape production is nothing but a front to mask,
hide and protect the top of Scientology's actual power structure so
they cannot be erved with subpoenas. (The security system is more
befitting a top secret military installation, with its motion
detectors, buried sensors, high-speed
cameras, night cameras, guards on motorcycles, and barbed wire
fences wired to detect anyone touching it etc.)
RTC was at that time the most senior, most
powerful and most influential organization in all of Scientology.
All at RTC were Sea Org members, as are all at the base. But because
of RTC's position, we were the elite at the base.
11. In March 1983, I became the Deputy Inspector General,
External, and a member of the Board of Directors for RTC, as
Treasurer. (The only other board members were Warren McShane as
Secretary and Vicki Aznaran as President, during this time.) At the
time I was appointed a member of the Board of Directors of RTC I was
forced to sign an undated letter of resignation. This is standard
practice with all Scientology board members and is another means by
which the Scientology corporations are controlled while giving the appearance of corporate
integrity.
12. In that capacity for the next few years, I
traveled about the US and outside of the US on behalf of RTC. I
traveled to Germany, Italy, Australia, the United Kingdom, Denmark,
Mexico and Canada, with several trips to some of these countries.
These trips were to put together an infrastructure that would then
interface with RTC for the purpose of trademarks. I became familiar
with the law with regard to each area, interviewed and approved law
firms, and put the personnel in place that would report to RTC and
be our on-the-ground representatives in
dealing with the attorneys etc.
13. When
Hubbard died in 1986, there was a power struggle in Scientology for
the next 18 or so months that resulted in Hubbard's closest and most
powerful aide (Pat Broeker) being removed. The power was taken over
by David Miscavige who purged the organization of anyone who was
friendly with Broeker. In mid-1987, I was removed from my position
and put under armed guard at Happy Valley, a property the
organization owns that is a few miles west of Gold and located deep
in the Soboba Indian Reservation. I assume the undated resignation I
provided on being appointed to the Board was then dated and used to
make it appear that I had resigned, when I had not. After a
few months, it was decided that I would not escape and I was given
various jobs at Gold but kept under watch. My pay was
standard Sea Org pay, $24 per week.
14. I should clarify why I (and
others) tolerated such treatment for so long. The ability to
tolerate such abusive conditions and treatment are one of the most
basic requirements for promotion in the Sea Organization and RTC. We
were selected and promoted because we vowed such loyalty and
demonstrated it daily. Not unlike a military unit, it is the ability
of the Sea Org member to take orders, carry out the assignment and
to tolerate self-degrading conditions that ingratiates them to their
seniors and to the system. That was why I was promoted so highly and
why I then tolerated more. Looking back on it, I cannot believe that
I actually tolerated such denigration and such abuse and actually
deluded myself that it was for my good as well as the good of
others.
15. In late 1991, my wife Monika became pregnant and although we
were elated, she was ordered to abort the child. The reason for the
abortion order is that Sea Org members were not allowed to have
children. The order devastated both my wife and me. Our dedication
as Sea Org members clashed violently with our intentions as parents
and we went through a personal nightmare with me opposing it, to no
avail. She got the abortion and afterwards she was not the same. She
was devastated at the impact of what she did and that was when she
told me she wanted to leave. We fled, with the organization close
behind us, trying to find us. They finally did and
convinced us to return so we could "leave properly."
16. Once they had us again behind the barbwire
and watched by security, my wife was threatened that if we did not
sign certain papers, she would no longer be able to see her father
and her sister, who were both in the Sea Organization.
17. This is another coercive power that the organization wields.
Like a police state, it can order and enforce family members to
alter their relations, and even get them to turn against each other.
Monika and I knew that if the organization said she would be kept
from her father and sister (by control
over them), that she would not again be able to talk to them or see
them, let alone visit. This is called
"disconnection" in Scientology. We
agreed to sign the papers and were able to leave.
18. On July 26, 1998, one of the cult's
attorneys sent a long fax to Dan Leipold that is their first
not-so-veiled threat to me, warning me to be silent. The attorney
included the document they prepared for me and that I signed under
the conditions I just described. I am attaching his letter and the
documents I was forced to sign under duress as my first evidence of
what this criminal cult does to silence
anyone speaking out. (Exhibit 1). It does not surprise me, as it is
a standard tactic, to force a person to create or sign a
self-damaging document to use when
ready.
19. I have also been
privy to the destruction and alteration of documents to protect the
group. On or about April of 1983 I was present at a meeting, which
took place in Los Angeles, California at a Scientology office called
Author Services, Inc. (ASI). ASI presented itself as the "literary
agency" for Hubbard but it was actually the top of the Scientology
empire at that time. All of Scientology
was being directed from ASI in 1982. ASI was where
various Scientology corporations went to receive orders.
20. Present at the meeting was David Miscavige, then the chairman
of the board of ASI, Vicki Aznaran then the Deputy Inspector General
of Religious Technology Center, (RTC) and Lymon Spurlock, who was
"Director of Client Affairs" for ASI. Mr. Miscavige expressed
concern at this meeting that there might possibly be a raid on
Scientology by the IRS. At that time, none of the churches
of Scientology had received tax exempt status.
21. One principle
reason why tax exempt status had not been granted was the IRS's
position that Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard (LRH) was actually
the managing agent of Scientology in complete disregard of the
corporate structure of Scientology. We knew this to be a fact but also knew
that it violated IRS rules and thus had to be hidden.
22. There was concern
that the IRS would obtain the hundreds of daily, weekly and monthly
LRH orders written by Mr. Hubbard and distributed throughout
Scientology. These orders were commonly referred to in Scientology
as "advices" to avoid the appearance that LRH was actually running
Scientology. In fact, LRH was running Scientology. The principle
concern expressed at this meeting was
that the LRH orders or "advices" would be used to name L. Ron
Hubbrd as the managing agent of Scientology.
23.
Because of an already existing fear that an LRH "advice" might fall
into the wrong hands, these orders from him were written in a way
that we could deny it was from him. His name was not on them. He was
never cited in the dispatch except in the third person. There was no
signature and a salutation in reply was never more than "Dear Sir."
The routing at the top referred to him merely as "*," an asterisk.
However if a person (or an agency) got enough of these, there would
be little doubt that we were in touch with Hubbard (via ASI) and he
was telling us and each corporation what to do to make him more
money.
24. David
Miscavige specifically stated that ASI was "already dealing with the
problem", ridding ASI of any documents that would implicate L. Ron
Hubbard as managing agent of Scientology. He stated that under his
directive the LRH orders, or "advices", were being collected and
transferred by truck to a Riverside County recycling plant where the
documents were to be "pulped". This method of destruction was
considered to be better than shredding. I was also given
instructions that I was in charge of purging the remainder of the
Scientology organization of LRH orders. This was to include Church
of Scientology of California (CSC); Church of Scientology International (CSI); and
RTC.
25. Several weeks
after this first meeting I attended a second meeting at the ASI
offices concerning the continuing destruction of Scientology
corporate documentation. In attendance at the second meeting were
David Miscavige, Lymon Spurlock, Vicki Aznaran, Norman Starkey and
Marty Rathburn. At this meeting, David Miscavige for the first time
stated that Scientology had been ordered by a court to produce
various documents concerning a former Scientology member named
Lawrence Wollersheim who had a lawsuit pending in Los Angeles
against the Church of Scientology of California. The court had
ordered Scientology to produce Mr. Wollersheim's entire "preclear"
(PC) file.
26. A "PC " file
is one of several files kept on members. The PC file is the file
that includes all written records of all "confessionals" done by the
member. This means that it includes not only the most self-damaging
material but it also reflects every problem the person might have had with the
organization, including complaints. This PC file grows with the
person's tenure in Scientology.
27. Mr.
Wollersheim's PC file was several thousand pages in length and stood
as high as a six-foot tall man. Initially at this meeting it was
decided that Mr. Wollersheim's PC file would be redacted and culled
of any evidence or documentation which might assist Mr. Wollersheim in his lawsuit against
CSC. There was also concern that the materials known as Clear, OT I,
OT II, OT III and NED for OT's (NOTS) would be open to public inspection
if Mr. Wollersheim's files were produced as ordered. Scientologists
are taught that a person could catch pneumonia and die if that
person is prematurely exposed to these "upper level" materials
without first having taken
many hours of preparatory auditing. Ultimately, approximately 50
pages were produced pursuant to the court order.
Mr. Wollersheim's PC file was culled
based on a direct order from David Miscavige.
28. Later, I was
informed that a second court order was issued to produce Mr.
Wollersheim's entire file. Faced with the prospect of having
to produce the entire file David Miscavige gave orders that the
entire file simply be destroyed by being pulped.
29. Pursuant to
Mr. Miscavige's orders I ordered Rick Aznaran to take Mr.
Wollersheim's PC files to the recycling plant in Riverside to be
pulped. Several hours after I gave the order to have Mr.
Wollersheim's PC files destroyed, Mr. Aznaran returned and confirmed
that the records had been
pulped and even showed me a small bottle of pulped material, saying
"Here's what's left."
30. The material
that David Miscavige ordered destroyed and which Rick Aznaran had
pulped was the same material that the court had ordered produced in
Mr. Wollersheim's Los Angeles court case against CSC.
31. In early 1983
I attended a meeting at Scientology's ASI office in Los Angeles. In
attendance at this meeting were David Miscavige, Lymon Spurlock,
Vicki Aznaran, Patricia Brice and Edith Buchele. The meeting
concerned Scientology copyrights. In particular, David Miscavige stated
that Scientology was "in trouble" concerning the copyright status of
the many published materials of
founder L Ron Hubbard. Concern was expressed that many of Mr.
Hubbard's published materials had become 'public domain"because the
materials had not been registered with the United States Copyright
office for many years. David Miscavige stated that
Scientology had failed to register copyrights for thousands of pages
of Scientology material written by Mr. Hubbard. These
records included the numerous policy letters and
bulletins published by Mr. Hubbard. In particular, Mr. Hubbard
published "Policy Letters" (always published in green ink on white
paper and intended as administrative directives) LRH ED's (Executive
Directives) which are used for various topics, (always
issued as blue ink on white paper) and "Technical Bulletins"
published with red ink on white paper
covering technical aspect of Scientology such as Auditing
techniques, Policy and Ethics.
32. At the same
meeting in early 1983 David Miscavige specifically ordered Patricia
Brice (who at the time was L. Ron Hubbard's personal secretary and
an employee of ASI) to begin the process of mass copyright
registration filings for all of L. Ron Hubbard's materials. This
order was given despite the fact that Mr. Miscavige was already
aware that many of the materials in question were already in the
public domain. Thus, I know from personal knowledge that in mid 1983
Scientology began a massive program to register Mr. Hubbard's material with
the United State's Copyright office.
33. Based on my
many years of reading and studying Scientology directives including
my time as a "Co-Audit Supervisor" and "Inspector General Cramming
Officer" I became intimately familiar with the content, form, manner
of distribution and publication of Scientology works and directives
including the works of L. Ron Hubbard. As a Cramming Officer it was
my job to insure that those who employ
Scientology "tech" properly adhere to the official guidelines
adopted by Scientology.
34. I was
requested by counsel for Mr. Wollersheim to review the exhibits to
BPI's renewed motion for summary judgement. These were contained
in more than 20 banker's boxes.
In reviewing
these boxes of exhibits I selected out documents at random to
inspect. The chart below explains the result of my examination of
certain of the exhibits. In examining the plaintiff's exhibits I
compared the alleged LRH originals submitted by the plaintiff's as
exhibits to some early editions of Scientology compilations which
contains the policy issues in question. I employed a "1st edition"
of the Organization Executive Course, and a "First printing of the
Scientology Technical Bulletins for comparison to what BPI has claimed are the LRH
originals.
35. I have
attached hereto copies of various LRH materials that were published
by Scientology in the early 1970's that prove conclusively that the
copy right notices on BPI's purported "LRH originals" were not
present then, but placed on the "originals" at a later date.
36. The above chart documents my observations
in reviewing the documents that I selected at random to review. The
important points that I believe the Court should note with reference
to these documents are as follows:
1. Exhibits B-1289; 1290;
1291; 1292 and 1293 contain a 1953 copyright notice. However, the
copyright registrations submitted by BPI are for a compilation
published in 1955.
2. Exhibits B4; B-94 and B-215 all
contain copyright notices from the 50's, 60's and 70's that contain
notations to CSI. CSI is the Church of Scientology International,
which did not come into existence until 1981. Therefore, either
BPI's "originals" are not originals as claimed, or the copyright
notices were placed on these documents long after they were
published. (Exhibits 2, 3 and 4 attached
hereto).
3. Exhibits B-59; B-369; and
B-371 contain copyright notices from 1958. However, when these
originals are compared to first printings or first editions of
compilations put out by Scientology in the 1970's, these copyright
notices are not present, indicating that they were placed in the
"originals" subsequent to the compilations being published.
(Exhibits 5-7).
4. Exhibit B-2 is
substantially different from that published as an original in OEC
Vol. II, 1st Ed. 1970. (Exhibit 8 attached hereto).
5. Exhibit B-1287. The FACTNet
copy bears virtually no resemblance to the BPI original.
6. Exhibits B-1288; B-214;
and C-3. The BPI originals contain no copyright notice.
7. Exhibit B-1 shows on its
face it is not an original but "Issue II."
8. Exhibits B-248; B-249; and
B-157 show on their face they were published elsewhere prior to the
claimed original publication.
37. Based on my knowledge gained as a staff member of
Scientology, including my assignment as "Chief Cramming Officer" and
based on my examination of the exhibits submitted by BPI in support
of their renewed motion for summary judgment, it appears that
numerous "originals" submitted by
BPI are not originals at all and that copyright notices were placed
on documents long after publication back-dating them to the date of
publication.
Further declarant sayeth naught.
I declare, under penalty of perjury
under the laws of the United States of America and the State of
California that the foregoing is true
and correct. Executed this
27th day of July, 1998, at Santa Ana, California
JESSE PRINCE
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