an
OPEN LETTER to anyone who asks about
THE MERIT of "HIGH RETURN
INVESTMENTS"
(OR UNSECURED LOANS)
run by scientologists
Promises of untold riches arising from small to medium investments
abound amongst Scientologists
Blinded by the lure of lavish returns and the problems resulting
from the need to raise the hundreds of thousands (sometimes millions)
of dollars demanded by the Church, every year more people fall prey to
schemes that would make any banker or professional investor hair stand
on end.
In fact a large number of "ex-scientologists" became so as the direct
result of their disenchantment when they realized that their
gullibility had purposely been nurtured for years in order to incourage
them to make large investments or loans when they actually were nothing
but complex stratagems to funnel millions into the Church coffers.
Anyone honest and with verificable experience in Investing will tell
people that the greater the potential for return the greater the risk
and the odds that one will loose everything rather than make a small
fortune. It if were not true, the numbers of millionaires in America
would not be in the thousands, but rather in the millions.
I do not know for a fact that the promises of any specific individual
someone is referring me to actually fall under that category, but based
on my experience in life and an extensive one with Investing, I would
advise anyone extreme caution before embarking on any schemes promising
extremely high returns, especially when no verifiable track of success
can be provided.
When returns or promises fail to materialize, it is typical to see a
series of stalling messages given to investors or lenders. Because
taking legal action by a Scientologist against another, (even when
fraud or crimes are involved) is subject to shunning by wife, children
and business partners as well as subject to public expulsion,
persecution and will be officially condemned by curses of eternal
damnation (Scientologese jargon actual means the same) authors of scams
are typically given free rein to operate within the Church as
long as they contribute to the filling of Church coffers (War chest in
their own words) until the day where they eventually create a legal
problem of large magnitude or get Scientology banned in their own
country. At that time the church will inevitably plead its innocence
and vigorously place itself on the long list of their victim, quietly
disregarding the fact it profited obscene amounts of money from them.
I have personally met thousands of individuals on both sides of the
fence in and out of the Church of Scientology.
As long as Scientology's name was kept out of the newspapers or
legislators agenda, the Church would turn the cold shoulder to the
hundreds of desperate pleas by those who claimed they had been fleeced
and had now become destitute, since they were now obviously useless to
them. (downstat in Scientology jargon)
Over my two decades at Flag (the highest center in Scientology, located
in Clearwater, Florida), I was called to obtain the written (and
therefore entirely actionable) confessions of the perpetrators (and
more unpleasantly, provide counselling to address the upset and
despondency from its victims) for dozens upon dozens of scams,
swindles, pyramid or ponzi schemes and other empty promises and
fraudulent loans.
For years I wrote reports on the perpetrators of such scams. Nothing
came out of it, except for my being listed as a "trouble maker" and
eventually marked for "orderly disposal".
Some of the victims of those schemes became dangerously despondent and
found themselves destitute. In extreme cases, suicides or murderous
rages were the final result.
One of the most touching stories documenting such abuses to be posted
on the Internet is "Albert Jaquier,
diary of a dying scientologist". I personally knew Albert very well.
Based on my first hand experience with Albert, I can state that his
story as compelling as it was is merely the tip of a monstruous and
most pernicious iceberg. I know first hand dozens of stories equally
devastating (see the link for a more detailed account)
I feel no compunction to withold any of this data, because in each case
prior to the the travesty of a confessional that I was ordered to
give on behalf of the Church of Scientology each parishioner was told
prior to it that "This is not auditing (Scientology word for
counselling) and that everything revealed would be written up in
triplicate and forwarded to a number of lay people and to the Church
Intelligence agency, where privacy concerns are officially acknowledged
as entirely irrelevant by long standing policy.
In every case, I was under the obligation to write a full and detailed
report of the transgressions revealed to me by the parishioners, as
well as any hearsay involving others, so that the Church could use it
for its own lay purposes. When I eventually objected that covertly
using Confession as a double standard to extort blackmail materials
from its parishioners and publicly revealing their details was morally
objectionable, I found myself threatened by expulsion and blackmail. I
eventually felt utter contempt for a Church acting that way, especially
in the light that it has always insisted in the court and legal system
that all such confessions are "priest-penitent
privileged" and has the folders containing such "confessions" so
stamped. A number of disenchanted Scientology celebrities are currently
being kept at bay through the "intelligence" so gathered through such
chicanery. Without doubt the same fate awaits any current Church
celebrity should they one day decide to defect.
It is my view that the amount of money that was lost by well meaning
individuals through questionable schemes between 1980 and 1992 (the
years I worked for the Church) to be well in excess of 100 millions
American dollars.
In most cases the sole beneficiaries were the Church of Scientology and
International Association of Scientologists, who blissfully received
the millions of dollars funelled through the amoral schemes.
In the worst cases suicides were even directly linked when such schemes
failed. In 1992 Scientology was almost banned in France as a result.The
story of people I personally know who found themselves facing shattered
lives, financial ruin and who left Scientology as a result could fill
up a very large book. I also know equally well the unholy story and
details of those who defrauded them.
Best Regards
Pierre Ethier
