Journalist and author Tony Ortega has written a new expose on the Church of Scientology and discusses what he uncovered about the extensive surveillance, investigations and lawsuits employed by the church to retaliate against detractors of the religion.
Ortega explains the case of Monique Rathbun - who was married to a high-level Scientology executive and is now suing the church for harassment and spying.
Rathbun’s case is similar to that in the ’70s of Paulette Cooper, who Ortega reveals in his upcoming book, The Unbreakable Miss Lovely: How the Church of Scientology tried to destroy Paulette Cooper. “I knew her story had a lot of twists and turns, and was very dramatic and has never been told in full before,” Ortega said about Cooper.
“They were under constant surveillance, just like Paulette. They were being photographed, they were being followed, they’re relatives were accosted with information about them – all the classic stuff.”
He said what’s really fascinating about the case is that Scientology orchestrated it all - at one point wanting to get the leader of the church out of the lawsuit, “So the church itself filed documents saying, ‘Yeah, we did all these things. So in 2014, Scientology is admitting the same kind of intense, expensive, high-powered surveillance and harassment campaign, but they were doing it against Paulette in 1972.
Watch the full episode to hear from from Ortega about his forthcoming book and to learn more details about how the length church officials allegedly went in an effort to retaliate against Cooper.
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