Word: hubbards
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...Hubbard's absence, Scientology is deeply riven by bitter disputes. A dozen or so of Hubbard's youngest followers, who have spent much of their lives in the cult's bizarre world, have seized control of the organization. Claiming to be "on Source" with Hubbard, and to be acting under his direction, they are also trying to gain control of the church's assets, estimated to be more than $280 million. About 75 senior leaders have been purged by the young zealots in a coup that has shaken the 29-year-old church...
Fighting these activists for Scientology's riches is Hubbard's estranged son, Ronald DeWolf, 48, who changed his name in 1972 in an effort, he says, to escape harassment by Scientologists...
...also charges that his father used "criminal means" to acquire "wealth, fame and power." In another California court, Scientology is seeking to recover three cartons containing about 5,000 Scientology documents. The papers were placed under court protection by Gerry Armstrong, 36, who was authorized in January 1980 by Hubbard to gather papers for a laudatory biography. Armstrong found documents so damaging to the cult's credibility that he quit the church in disgust. He vows to use the papers to prove his charges, made in a sworn statement for a court case in Florida, that "Mr. Hubbard...
...taxes and penalties for later years. At least 22 civil suits have been filed against the church by former members who claimed to have been swindled, harassed and even kidnaped. A court in Australia has revoked Scientology's status as a religion, and one in France has convicted Hubbard, in absentia, of fraud...
...mounting troubles of the church were dramatized on Jan. 7 when Hubbard's attractive third wife Mary Sue, 51, was sentenced to four years in prison by a federal judge in Washington. Once the church's second most powerful official, Mrs. Hubbard was the last of eleven Scientology members who were convicted for their roles in bugging and burglarizing the Washington offices of the IRS, the Federal Trade Commission, the Drug Enforcement Administration and the Justice, Treasury and Labor departments. These break-ins were part of a vast spying operation, created by Hubbard and directed by his wife...