In writing a 365-page book targeting the Church of Scientology,
Lawrence Wright sought out a tiny group of disgruntled ex-members
led by this man:
expelled from the Church for financial misconduct, deception,
ineptitude and violence.
Nearly all of Wright's sources
were dismissed from the Church for similar offenses,
including: embezzlement, financial wrongdoing, sexual misconduct,
physical abuse and severe violations of Church doctrine.
Yet these are the individuals Lawrence Wright uses to impugn the
character of the Church and its leader,
a man responsible for a worldwide religion
and its unprecedented expansion…
…and under whose stewardship,
the Church’s social betterment programs have become
the largest non-governmental anti-drug and
human rights campaigns on Earth.
But in writing his "so called" expose on Scientology,
Lawrence Wright’s sources were far from credible and Wright knew it.
Their allegations so far-fetched that a federal judge and an appeals court
dismissed them as baseless.
Lawrence Wright ignored that.
And when the Church provided thousands of pages of evidence
documenting the falsehood of those claims -–
Lawrence Wright continued to present the allegations as fact.
When asked in a journalist forum,
“Do you believe that journalism can lead to truth?”,
Wright had this to say:
"Truth is one of those subjective terms
that are pointless to get too tied up about."
Wright's book was released in January 2013
but failed to generate reader interest.
Still, it found itself immediately steeped in controversy
about the veracity of its claims.
So much so that the book’s publisher would not release it in Britain,
Ireland, Canada or Australia because of their libel laws.
The chances of losing a lawsuit were simply too great.
Now, documentary filmmaker Alex Gibney has taken Lawrence Wright’s
book at its word without question or examination:
“I utterly trusted Larry. I wasn’t looking for holes in his story.”
Over the two years Gibney quietly worked on his documentary,
he never once contacted the Church, visited a Church
or spoke to any of its members.
His documentary was in the can before he even mentioned it to them.
And to this day, Gibney refuses to reveal his allegations to the Church.
Let’s take a closer look at Wright and Gibney's sources:
Meet Graham Berry…
…A small-time California lawyer
who filed dozens of frivolous lawsuits and claims against the Church...
As he told the court,
“My agenda basically is to bite Scientology in the butt
and to cause it as much grief as possible.”
The declarations Berry submitted contained so many
wild and unfounded conspiracy theories
that he was repeatedly reprimanded from the bench.
Here’s what one judge said:
“[I] am not going to let you submit reams and reams of declarations
with totally insupportable allegations.”
Court documents show Berry’s tactics include
paying sums totaling $17,000 for a known Church attacker
to sign an affidavit containing false allegations against the Church.
And forging testimony by writing another eleven pages
into a witness’ court declaration without her knowledge…
...that’s perjury.
Here’s what she told the court after she found out,
“I gave no authorization for my declaration to be changed
after I sent the signed copy of it to Mr. Berry…”
Becoming more and more unbalanced Berry left his job and hung out his own shingle
to fabricate a series of bizarre conspiracy lawsuits against the Church.
In one of them suing the Church and its leader,
Graham Berry went so far as to name the Director of the IRS,
the National Security Advisor, the Secretaries of State, Treasury and Commerce,
and the President of the United States as co-defendants.
After that suit was thrown out he changed a few words and refilled an amended suit…
…Then another…
…Then another.
Over the years not only has Berry suffered defeat after defeat,
the court ordered him to pay the Church more than $100,000 in sanctions.
In 1999 the court finally labeled Graham Berry a “vexatious litigant”
for his relentless abuse of the legal system
and forbade him from ever filing another lawsuit
without court approval with these words,
“If there is such a thing on God’s green earth as a vexatious litigant,
you sir, sadly are it.”
And when the California State bar suspended his license three years later
Berry threw himself at the mercy of the court
citing depression and alcoholism…
But the plea for leniency backfired and he was ordered into psychiatric treatment
at his own expense.
A further investigation into Berry’s private life
goes well beyond the troubles he reported to the bar.
It reveals allegations of pedophilia, perversion
and predatory sexual behavior.
One young man stating in court documents,
“Berry said that in exchange for representing me
I would have to have sex with him four times…”
Lawrence Wright is fully aware that Graham Berry’s documented character
and bizarre court actions make his credibility virtually worthless.
That’s why Wright leaves the name “Graham Berry” out of his book entirely
and just refers to him as “an attorney”.
Graham Berry is also the legal counsel and highly vocal supporter of this man
and the small group of anti-Scientologists
Lawrence Wright uses to malign the Church.
Even though his name is not mentioned, Graham Berry and his deceptions
are spread throughout Lawrence Wright’s book as fact.
For instance, Berry represents this self confessed perjurer
who tells a fictitious story about being a Scientologist,
forced to comply with a bank robbery in order to get a debt paid to the Church.
But Gary Scarff not only never was a Scientologist,
there was no debt and there never was such a robbery.
He later recanted the story under oath as a complete fabrication.
But it appears on this page of Lawrence Wright’s book as a fact.
Remember those fraudulent allegations Graham Berry paid $17,000 for?
They’re right here. Also presented by Lawrence Wright as fact.
And that’s just a few of the discredited claims and accusations
connected to Graham Berry throughout Lawrence Wright’s book.
And Wright, Alex Gibney and head of HBO documentaries
and family programming, Sheila Nivens, know all about it.
But their audience doesn’t know and won’t know.
In future segments,
we’re going to show you more of Lawrence Wright’s “sources"...
Remember this guy – the ringleader of that tiny group Lawrence Wright
befriended and used to tell false stories about his former religion?
“Shut the fuck up. I’m tellin’ you something right now…”
He was dismissed and expelled from the Church for criminal activities --
that's criminal, as in felony.
His résumé also includes episodes of shoving, kicking,
punching and extreme violence.
And a honeymoon night spent in jail.
But Lawrence Wright doesn’t reveal any of that,
or any other sordid detail about this man.
You’ll also meet those this man calls his "posse":
Such as the guy he nearly killed, who he now calls his "best good buddy".
This guy deserted his children and ruthlessly attacked his estranged wife…
…the thief who used to ride shotgun with the ringleader on his punching sprees.
Admitted accomplices in a scheme to suborn perjury –
getting others to lie under oath.
And another Lawrence Wright source, the "lady" expelled from the Church
for having sexual relations with someone she was ministering to,
a violation of professional conduct in any church. You'll meet her, too.
…the paid tabloid source and his wife, whose frivolous lawsuits
were repeatedly thrown out of Federal Court
and the couple ordered to pay the Church $40,000.
... and the writer who took advantage of his Scientology connections to
take $5 million for writing scripts he never completed.
Lawrence Wright and Alex Gibney could have shown you
the truth about Scientology.
For this is Scientology today:
A rapidly expanding religion with new churches opening, by the month,
throughout the world...
But instead of showing you this,
Wright and Gibney have chosen to give you this man...
Shut the fuck up…
And his tiny group of followers.
That’s right – this guy is the leader of all Lawrence Wright's "sources."
They are interconnected, each of them corroborating the other’s
false stories and lies, some for big bucks.
All of them handpicked to populate the story
Lawrence Wright and Alex Gibney want to sell.
Lawrence Wright, Alex Gibney
and executive producer Sheila Nevins know full well who these people really are.
But you won’t see that on HBO.
Shut the fuck up…