OSA Press Release (March 21, 1985)

Source  “PR Newswire”
Author  Brian Anderson
Date  March 21st, 1985¹
 
LOS  ANGELES,  March  21/PRN  –  In  a  surprise  move,  in  federal  court  here  today,
attorney John Peterson – representing the Church of Scientology of California – filed a
sworn affidavit by former Scientology attacker and litigant Paulette Cooper, exposing her
former lawyer, Michael Flynn, the church said.

The  document  revealed  for  the  first  time  a  billion-dollar  plot  of  extortion  and  perjury
aimed at the Church of Scientology.

Ms.  Cooper,  in  a  reversal  of  her  previous  antagonistic  posture  against  the  church,
reportedly revealed the motives and methods behind her former attorney Flynn’s assault
on the religion of Scientology.

Peterson  said  Flynn’s  campaign  of  soliciting  suits  against  the  church  has  reached  a
staggering total demand of more than $1 billion.

Ms. Cooper stated in her affidavit that Flynn knew that the founder of Scientology, L.
Ron Hubbard, did not control the church and that Flynn had personally told her “by 1979,
Mr. Hubbard had severed his ties with the church.”

She  further  revealed  that  Flynn,  by  his  own  statements  to  her,  admitted  “his  whole
strategy was based upon conducting an attack against Scientology founder Hubbard by
naming Hubbard as a defendant in my lawsuits … he believed that Mr. Hubbard would
never appear in any of the lawsuits in which he was named.”

Flynn further told her “the litigation would be quickly terminated … either by obtaining a
default judgment against Mr. Hubbard, or by having the Church of Scientology settle the
litigation in order to protect Mr. Hubbard.”

Ms.  Cooper,  until  now  Flynn’s  star  witness  and  ally  in  nearly  all  of  what  the  church
called  Flynn’s  “spurious”  legal  actions  against  the  Scientologists,  said  in  her  sworn
affidavit:

“My attorney (Flynn) filed in my lawsuits sworn statements alleging that Mr. Hubbard
was in control of Scientology activities.” In what the church termed a devastating blow to the extortion plot, she said, “I never had
any real evidence or reason to believe that Mr. Hubbard was in control of the activities of
the Church of Scientology.”

Ms. Cooper concluded her affidavit by categorically stating:

“It is clear to me, on the basis of my conversation with Mr. Flynn on this subject, that the
allegations concerning Mr. Hubbard’s control over day-to-day Scientology activities had
no basis in fact, but were being made solely for strategic purposes in pursuit of a default
judgment.”

Peterson,  counsel  for  the  Church  of  Scientology,  stated:  “This  defection  of  Paulette
Cooper from the camp of Michael Flynn brings with it a complete exposure of the sordid
and extortive aims of Flynn and his unfounded attacks on Scientology’s founder, L. Ron
Hubbard.”

In  his  declaration,  he  detailed  “the  pattern  of  harassive,  abusive  and  illegal  conduct
instigated and executed against the churches of Scientology by … Flynn and a number of
co-conspirators. These persons have operated on their own and in unison as a front group
called Flynn Associates Management Corp. (FAMCO).”

Peterson said that key elements in this pattern of illegal conduct included:

“ … conspiracy in the form of a money-making scheme in which Flynn, via FAMCO,
promised investors up to a 400 percent ‘quick’ return on their investment in exchange for
buying shares to support massive litigation against the Church of Scientology”;

“  …  collaboration  with  and  funding  of  agents  and  operatives  using  brutal  psychiatric
‘depersonalizing’  techniques  in  an  attempt  to  sway  members  of  the  Church  of
Scientology away from their religion and channel them into suits against the religion of
Scientology”;

“  …  abuse  of  the  judicial  process  by  inundating  the  courts  with  massive  filings  of
frivolous, unfounded and duplicative lawsuits”;

“ … the planned usage of lies and inflammatory statements in order to manipulate the
media and government and thus influence pending litigation”; and

“ … the use of libel, forgery and other criminal means in order to negatively influence
pending litigation.

The following is the full text of the sworn affidavit by Paulette Cooper filed today in U.S.
District  Court  in  Los  Angeles  as  part  of  a  libel  suit  brought  against  Boston  lawyer
Michael Flynn by the Church of Scientology of California:

Affidavit of Paulette Cooper
(State of New York, County of New York)

Paulette Cooper, being first duly sworn according to law, deposes and says:

– I am Paulette Cooper, a resident of the City of New York, State of New York.

–  I  have  a  long  history  of  conflict  with  the  Church  of  Scientology,  and  I  have  been
involved in substantial litigation against the church between 1971 and earlier this year.
All litigation between the church and me has been settled and terminated.

– In 1978, one such lawsuit commenced between me and the Church of Scientology in the
United States District Court for the Central District of California sitting in Los Angeles,
Church of Scientology of California Inc. v. Paulette Cooper, Case No. 78-2053-RMT.

While the church claimed that I had breached a prior settlement agreement with it, the
principle focus of the lawsuit soon became my counterclaim for personal injuries against
the church. I was represented in that case by Attorney John McNicholas.

During the year 1980, Boston Attorney Michael J. Flynn convinced me that he should file
on  my  behalf  a  lawsuit  in  Boston,  Mass.,  against  Scientology,  alleging  some  of  the
matters that were the subject of my lawsuit pending in Los Angeles.

I retained Attorney Flynn to file such a lawsuit in my behalf in the United States District
Court  for  the  District  of  Massachusetts,  captioned  Paulette  Cooper  v.  Church  of
Scientology of Boston, et al., Civil Action No. 81-681-MC.

– I allowed Mr. Flynn to file the Boston case, and replaced my counsel in Los Angeles
with an attorney selected by Mr. Flynn because Mr. Flynn explained to me that he had
devised a strategy for quickly and easily winning my litigation against Scientology and
collecting money on a judgment.

He  explained  that  his  whole  strategy  was  based  upon  conducting  an  attack  against
Scientology  founder  L.  Ron  Hubbard  by  naming  Mr.  Hubbard  as  a  defendant  in  my
lawsuits. Mr. Flynn said that he believed that Mr. Hubbard would never appear in any of
the lawsuits in which he was named, for any one of a number of possible reasons.

Mr. Flynn told me that it was his belief that by approximately 1979, Mr. Hubbard had
severed  his  ties  with  the  church.  The  litigation,  said  Mr.  Flynn,  would  be  quickly
terminated, either by obtaining a default judgment against Mr. Hubbard, or by having the
Church of Scientology settle the litigation in order to protect Mr. Hubbard.

– In pursuit of this strategy of winning by seeking default judgments, my attorney filed in
my lawsuits sworn statements alleging that Mr. Hubbard was in control of Scientology’s
activities, and that he directed a campaign against me.

However, I never had any real evidence or reason (other than the word of my lawyers) to
believe that Mr. Hubbard was in control of the activities of the Church of Scientology,
and my attorneys never presented me with any evidence that such was the case.

It is clear to me, on the basis of my conversation with Mr. Flynn on this subject, that the
allegations concerning Mr. Hubbard’s control over day-to-day Scientology activities had
no basis in fact, but were being made solely for strategic reasons in pursuit of a default
judgment.

Paulette Cooper

Sworn to before me this 4th day of March, 1985. Alda N. Boyrie, Notary Public

Contact – Brian Anderson, 213-662-8095 or 213-666-3424, or John Peterson, 213-659-
9965, both of the Church of Scientology.

Notes