GRAHAM E. BERRY, State Bar No. 128503 GORDON J. CALHOUN, State Bar No. 84509 LEWIS, D'AMATO, BRISBOIS & BISGAARD 221 N. Figueroa Street, Suite 1200 Los Angeles, California 90012 Telephone: (213) 250-1800 Attorneys for Defendants UWE GEERTZ, PH.D. UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT CENTRAL DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA CHURCH OF SCIENTOLOGY No. CV 91-6426 HLH (Tx) INTERNATIONAL, DECLARATION OF VICKI AZNARAN Plaintiff, RE: MOTION FOR COSTS VS. Date: APRIL 4, 1994 Time: 10:00 a.m. STEVEN FISHMAN and UWE GEERTZ, Courtroom: 7 Defendants.
1. I, Vicki Aznaran, declare and say: I am over the age of eighteen and a resident of Texas. I have personal knowledge of the matters set forth in this declaration and if called upon to do so, I could and would competently testify thereto.
2. Attached hereto as Exhibit A is a true and correct copy of a declaration I executed July 18, 1990 for use in the case United States of America v. Steven Fishman, Case No. XR-88-0616-DLT.The contents of that declaration (Exhibit A) were true and correct when executed and they remain true and correct as of the date of execution of this declaration. The contents of Exhibit A are expressly incorporated herein and made a part hereof.
In numerous instances I was in the chain of command for approval for such activities. From 1984 to 1987, I held the office of Inspector General one of the highest worldwide offices in the organization and so was privy to the most arcane practices of the group.
4. Between its incorporation in 1982 and 1987 when I left Scientology, I was on the staff of the Religious Technology Center, (RTC). I held the position that is now being held by David Miscavige. Since 1978, I was a high ranking member of the Sea Organization, an elite organization within Scientology. At the time I left Scientology I was highly trained as a technical expert (Class 9 auditor) and an administrator (Data Series evaluator course and organization executive course). To complete the Organization Executive Course, one must study all policy letters written by Hubbard which comprise a-large hardbound volumes.
6. In the early 1980's, Stacy Young was posted in Special Project as the organizing officer. Special Project was headed by David Miscavige. It had about 15 staff members total. Organizing Officer is a high ranking post in any Scientology Organization. It is a member of the executive council. Stacy Young was later posted at various posts in OSA doing work as a PR. ASI was not a large organization, about 15 staff. At the time I was in RTC, ASI was a very high level organization, placed above RTC in the chain of command. The staff of ASI received their orders from L. Ron Hubbard, and his aide who lived with him, Pat Brocker. When I was a staff member of a Scientology mission from 1973 to 1978, I knew of Vaughn Young because he was a very high profile spokesman for Scientology and the Guardian's Office.
9. During the time I held the post of Chairman of the Board of RTC, David Miscavige held the post of Chairman of the Board of ASI. During this time, he maintained control of the executives at the top of Scientology's command channels, Marc Yager, CO CMO Int and head of the Watchdog Committee, Guillaume Lesevre, ED International, Ray Mithoff, Senior C/S International, myself as Inspector General and COB of RTC. Miscavige became head of RTC in March of 1987, at this point he moved Marc Yager and Ray Mithoff from their positions in CSI into RTC. He also moved Mark Rathbun, LRH Legal IC or Special Project L, and Greg Wilhere from their positions in ASI into RTC. I now see from the declarations of Marc Yager and Ray Mithoff, that Miscavige has now placed them back into CSI. This is but one small illustration of his ongoing control over the CSI corporation.
10. Miscavige has, since 1981, been the decision maker over what lawsuits are filed by Scientology and how any lawsuits Scientology is engaged in are to be litigated. He does this without regard to the particular Scientology corporate entity (s) involved in the litigation. Miscavige has never allowed anyone else to make the final decisions concerning such matters. During my tenure as Inspector General of RTC, as well as the head of the 040 mission which took over the US Guardian's Office, as outlined in Miscavige's declaration, I attended many meetings and saw countless orders from Miscavige concerning Scientology's litigation. During all trials, Miscavige receives daily transcripts and issues orders directly to the attorneys, no matter which particular Scientology corporate entity has been chosen to bring the litigation or which entity has been sued. The heads of CSI would never be allowed to independently bring or initiate a lawsuit. During my tenure in RTC, Miscavige received a "legal daily report", of which I received a copy. This report contained summaries of everything that occurred on any of Scientology's lawsuits. Miscavige would issue orders and call meetings concerning these matters on a regular basis. Litigation is very costly and can result in severely adverse PR. Therefore, Miscavige was never willing for the decisions concerning it to be turned over to anyone else.
As a practicing Scientologist and in-house Scientology lawyer, Kendrick Moxon's first duty is to protect Miscavige and Scientology. This duty is paramount to any duty he might otherwise owe the Court or the law.
13. Scientology was created by L. Ron Hubbard in the 1950's. The policies and beliefs of Scientology were established by L. Ron Hubbard. L. Ron Hubbard created the Guardian's office based on his beliefs and ideals. The Guardian's Office was headed by his wife, Mary Sue Hubbard. During the late 1960's and the 1970's, many, many crimes were committed internationally by the Guardian's Office. Hubbard was well aware of the Guardian's Office activities and this is apparent from the reams of paper containing his various orders to the Guardian's Office.
The policies and beliefs and ideals that established Scientology and the Guardian's Office are still in place today, just as they were in the 1950's, 1960's, 1970's and 1980's. These have not changed as it is against the very heart of Scientology to change or alter any of Hubbard's teachings and belief. The activities of the Guardian's Office have not disappeared any more than Scientology's "enemies" have. These activities are carried on by the staff of the Office of Special Affairs ("OSA") and their hired private investigators who ostensibly work for Scientology lawyers, and are thus protected by the attorney work product privilege.
Scientology learned the hard way to keep its criminal activities at arm's length. An example of this is private investigator, Eugene Ingram, who was hired by Miscavige, to get the evidence on adverse attorney, Michael Flynn, for supposedly forging a check on L. R. Hubbard's account. Ingram paid money to Ala Tamimi, a criminal in jail, for a statement saying he was hired to forge the check by Michael Flynn. I was then informed by Mark Rathbun, then Miscavige's legal executive in ASI, that Ingram bribed Tamimi in order to get Michael Flynn charged criminally. After this incident failed, I learned that Ingram was spending quite some time living in Mexico in order to avoid the authorities investigating the matter.
In 1981, I witnessed him hitting John Axel, a Sea Org member in the mouth in 1982. Miscavige had two other tall male staff members to back him up when he hit John Axel. This despite the fact that John Axel is a fairly small and very mild-mannered individual. Miscavige also does such things as set up photos of staff members who have fallen into disregard and use them as targets for pistol shooting.
I witnessed him doing this with the Golden Era Musicians, Of which Fernando Gamboa was one of his targets.
Earl Cooley, Esq. and others convinced the San Luis Obispo coroner not to do an autopsy on Hubbard's body which was cremated approximately 24 hours after death. Miscavige then announced to the Scientology world that Hubbard had "dropped the body" and would continue his work elsewhere. Scientologists believe that upon death the person drops the body, picks up another body and continues to serve Scientology. This is how the billion year Sea Organization employment contract is performed.
16. I was aware just before Hubbard's death, that certain IRS indictments were about to be handed down against Hubbard. Miscavige reportedly said that "the only way to stop it now is if the old man [Hubbard] dies."
17. I was one of the small group summoned to the Hubbard ranch after he died. Vaughn Young and David Miscavige were also summoned to the ranch.
When Miscavige was told of this, he responded that time off was "bullshit" and Rinder did not need time off, he just needed to work as his stats ("statistics") were down. Besides the baby would get another body and there was nothing to be so upset about.
There are references to "Scientology" and "the church" in these two paragraphs. I have also been advised by Graham E. Berry, Esq., that the Church of Scientology International alleges that the words "Scientology" and "the Church" were "of and concerning" Church of Scientology International ("CSI"). This allegation is absurd and false. CSI is a management church only. It has no members. In essence, it is a trademark/copyright licensing vehicle and a financial conduit. Moreover, the corporations of Scientology are a carefully contrived sham and shell structure intended to confuse and divert litigants, the courts and the I.R.S. Indeed, Mission Corporate category sort out ("MCCS"), of which the MCCS tapes were a part, (see the Zolin case) was part of the creation of this corporate shell game.
21. Accordingly, it is absurd to allege that the words "Scientology" and "the church", as used in the relevant sections of the Time Magazine article, refer to anything other than Scientology or the Church generally and/or generically. Certainly, they are not of and concerning CSI.
23. This practice or policy is sometimes referred to as the policy of "fair game." In the jargon of Scientology, a person who is declared is understood to be a suppressive person ("SP") . This means that the person is "fair game." The fair game policy was issued in the 1960s. It was never canceled. A document was issued for public relations reasons that purportedly canceled "fair game"; however, that document stated that it did not change the manner of handling persons declared "SP." In reality, the purported cancellation of fair game is at most a matter of semantics. Enemies of Scientology are treated as fair game.
24. Because of my position and the regular reports that came across my desk I know that throughout my presidency of RTC, fair game actions against enemies were commonplace. In addition to the litigation tactics described below, fair game activities included burglaries, assaults, disruptions of enemies' businesses, spying, harassive investigations, abuse of confidential communications in parishioner files and so on. I specifically recall seeing one report regarding attacks against Bent Corydon after Scientology became aware that he was writing a book against Hubbard.
26. As President of RTC and a Sea Organization member, I attended meetings concerning the numerous legal actions involving Scientology organizations. During this time period, I had personal access to all legal documents having to do with RTC. I received a report every day on my computer that included a synopsis of each on-going legal case involving Scientology. I received, or so I was told, copies of every major motion filed in cases involving Scientology was on the "approval lines" for legal documents dealing with RTC.
During this time period, I had the option of attending legal meetings, although some were mandatory. I attended many litigation meetings and became generally aware of Scientology's dirty tricks and legal maneuvers. On specifics, I frequently deferred to in-house and outside counsel; however, at least in theory, I was the head of RTC and had access to any business or litigation "secrets" of Scientology.
27. It is the stated policy and practice of Scientology to use the legal system to abuse and harass its enemies. This crude, fundamental directive of Scientology is no secret. The policy is to do anything and everything possible to harass the opposing litigant without regard to whether any particular motion or maneuver is appropriate or warranted by the facts of applicable law. That policy was followed in every legal case I was involved with or learned about while a member of the Sea Organization. The management of Scientology consistently expressed and demonstrated a complete disdain for the court system, viewing it as nothing more than a method to harass enemies. Some examples of this are set forth below.
During the course of that litigation I was ordered to go through Armstrong's folders and destroy or conceal anything that might support Armstrong's claim against Scientology. This practice is known within Scientology as "culling PC folders" and is a common litigation tactic employed by Scientology.
29. During other-litigation in Los Angeles known to me as the Wollersheim case, I was told that the judge had ordered the production of Wollersheim's folders. As ordered, I "culled" these files. In other words, I removed contents that might have been damaging to Scientology or might have supported Wollersheim's claims against Scientology. For example, I removed evidence of events involving his family, the anguish this caused him, evidence of disconnection from family and evidence of fair game.
30. I was involved in numerous meetings concerning what is known to me as the Christofferson case in Portland, Oregon. This case was tried twice. In the first case, a Scientology witness by the name of Martin Samuels was coached and drilled for hours on how to lie convincingly or avoid telling the truth. Before or during the second trial, he admitted to this course of conduct. In this litigation, a Scientologist by the name of Joan Shriver produced responsive documents that may have been incriminating. This was a serious breach of policy for which she was punished. These documents were ordered produced on such a short notice that apparently files were not thoroughly "culled". In another case, an attorney was severely criticized and almost fired for failing to properly coach and feed the desired answers to Heber Jentzsch. Mr. Jentzsch was, for public relations reasons, the purported head of the Church of Scientology International. During his deposition, Mr. Jentzsch was unable to answer fundamental questions concerning the management of Church of Scientology International.
31. While involved in Scientology I became aware of various operations directed against an author who had written a negative book about Scientology. The author, Paulette Cooper, was subjected to various forms of harassment. One operation included an attempt to frame her. A false bomb threat was written on her stationery. Ms. Cooper was subjected to an investigation and was not cleared until an FBI raid resulted in the seizure of Scientology documents that exposed the operation as a frame-up. There was at least one other operation directed against Ms. Cooper. The substance of it was to plant a boyfriend to reinforce and play upon her suicidal tendencies in the hopes that she would commit suicide.
32. In 1976 and 1977, the then Mayor of Clearwater, Florida, Gabe Cazares, was involved with litigation against Scientology. Arrangements were made to have an attorney by the name of Merrit Vanniere, a Scientologist, represent Mr. Cazares and sabotage his case. This plot was also exposed by documents obtained in an FBI raid of a Scientology facility. Also, in response to Mr. Cazares' litigation against Scientology, an attempt was made to implicate Mr. Cazares in a staged hit and run accident.
33. In later 1979 and early 1980, there was a massive document destruction program undertaken to destroy any evidence showing that L. Ron Hubbard ("LRH") controlled Scientology. I participated in this activity in Clearwater, Florida and am informed that there was also intensive document destruction at facilities in Gilman Hot Springs, California. From at least that point onward there was a continuous effort to hide or destroy any evidence of Hubbard's control. For example, during an IRS investigation in 1984 and 1985, while in bed with pneumonia, I was ordered out of bed by Norman Starkey, who told me that they had received a tip from a Los Angeles police officer advising them of a pending IRS raid in Los Angeles.
Mr. Starkey ordered me to go to a computer facility and insure that all information on the computers in Los Angeles that might show Hubbard's involvement and control of Scientology's money was destroyed except for one copy of each document. These copies were to be saved on computer disks which were to be hidden in secure storage places. At the time I was also instructed to destroy anything that would show the control of Mr. Starkey or Mr. Miscavige over Scientology.
A. I believe Mr. Fishman's assertions that he was a member since 1979 and that he was actively involved as he states. This belief is based on my experience that only a committed member of long standing would know the details of the inner workings of the group; Mr. Fishman has such knowledge. Awareness of certain confidential projects could be achieved only by a member who was trusted by the hierarchy; Mr. Fishman had such awareness. Involvement in a group that thrives on secrecy and excludes most members from participation in high level projects means that any member who exceeds a certain level of involvement enjoys the trust of the leadership such trust would be earned only by extended membership. Mr. Fishman apparently enjoyed that trust. His accounts of meetings with high level officials and his knowledge of the operations and functions of the hierarchy are so detailed and accurate that they couldn't have been gained except through direct personal experience.
B. Refutation by Scientology officials of Mr. Fishman's membership prior to February 8, 1986 and their disclaimer of his involvement and their lack of any records pertaining to such membership is perfectly consistent with their standard procedure in protecting themselves. As noted above, I was personally involved in the destruction of records when it suited their purpose. Scientology propounds the belief that any action whatever taken to protect the organization is justified, as the group takes precedence over the individual. Any member performing criminal acts for the benefit of the group was kept at arm's length; if apprehended, the member was disavowed by Scientology. This procedure was used even on the wife of the founder of Scientology. Given the serious potential threat that Mr. Fishman's defense posed to the group, I find Mr. Fishman's account of certain members of Scientology's involvement in the plan to fabricate the threats against Mr. Fishman and his counsel and to thereby undermine Mr. Fishman's credibility and render him useless as a witness against Scientology is consistent with their modus operandi.
I declare under penalty of perjury under the laws of the United States of America that the foregoing is true and correct.
Executed this 7th day of March, 1994 at Dallas, Tx.