France:Scientology Fraud Conviction 2012,2009,1978

[Anonymous]

ABC: French Court Upholds Scientology Fraud Conviction
A French appeals court on Thursday upheld the Church of Scientology's 2009 fraud conviction on charges it pressured members into paying large sums for questionable remedies.

The case began with a legal complaint by a young woman who said she took out loans and spent the equivalent of €21,000 ($28,000) on books, courses and "purification packages" after being recruited in 1998. When she sought reimbursement and to leave the group, its leadership refused to allow either. She was among three eventual plaintiffs.

Karin Pouw, a spokeswoman for the church in Los Angeles, denounced Thursday's decision, calling it a "miscarriage of justice."

She said the group would appeal the decision to the Court of Cassation and plans to bring a complaint to the European Court of Human Rights. Another complaint in pending with a U.N. special rapporteur.

During the appeals process, the prosecution had asked for the church to be fined at least €1 million ($1.3 million) and its bookstore €500,000. But the appeals court on Thursday instead ordered the same fines as the trial court, €400,000 ($530,000) for the church and €200,000 for its bookstore.

Five members of the church who were convicted in the first trial were ordered to pay fines ranging from €10,000 to €30,000. Four of them were also given suspended sentences between 18 months and two years.

In the original trial, prosecutors had tried to get the group disbanded in France, but the court declined even to take the lesser step of shutting down its operations, saying that French Scientologists would have continued their activities anyway.

Pouw said Thursday that the church was continuing its missions without any restrictions.

"The environment in the court was so prejudicial that defense attorneys walked out of the proceedings in protest, refusing as a matter of conscience to participate in proceedings that had degenerated into a charade," she said by phone.

While Scientology is recognized as a religion in the U.S., Sweden and Spain, it is not considered one under French law.

Founded in 1954 by science fiction writer L. Ron Hubbard, the church teaches that technology can expand the mind and help solve problems. It claims 10 million members around the world, including celebrity devotees Tom Cruise and John Travolta.

Belgium and Germany have been criticized by the U.S. State Department for labeling Scientology as a cult or sect and enacting laws to restrict its operations. France also considers Scientology a sect.

[Anonymous]

infinitecomplacency: The Appeal Court Judgment
The Court of Appeal in Paris confirmed the convictions of the two Scientology organisations for organised fraud; and of five Scientologists appealing convictions for organised fraud and the illegal practice of pharmacy.

The Association Spirituelle de l’Eglise de Scientologie CC (ASES), the Celebrity Centre, was convicted of organised fraud.

It was fined 400,000 euros and ordered to pay for the details of the conviction to be published in several major French newpapers: Le Monde, Le Figaro, Libération, Le Parisien and Ouest France.

Scientology’s network of bookshops Scientologie Espace Librarie (SEL) was also convicted of organised fraud.

It was fined 200,000 euros and ordered to pay for the publication of the conviction in the same newspapers.

The convictions and fines were thus the same as those handed down after the original trial.

The following sentences for the individual defendants were the same as handed down by the lower court:

• Alain Rosenberg, the managing director of the Celebrity Centre, was convicted of organised fraud and of complicity in the illegal exercise of pharmacy. He received a two-year suspended prison sentence and a 30,000-euro fine;
  
• Didier Michaux, the bookshop’s star salesman, was convicted of organised fraud. He received an 18-month suspended sentence and a 20,000-euro fine;
  
• Jean-François Valli, the other bookshop salesman, who also did work for the Celebrity Centre, was convicted of organised fraud. He received an 18-months suspended sentence and a 10,000-euro fine.
  

But the court increased the sentence against two of the defendants:

• Sabine Jacquart, the then president of the Celebrity Centre, was convicted on appeal of organised fraud and of complicity in the illegal exercise of pharmacy. She received a two-year suspended sentence and a 30,000-euro fine. (She was originally sentenced to a 10-month suspended sentence and a 5,000-euro fine.);
  
• Aline Fabre, who supervised the Purification Rundown at the Celebrity Centre, was convicted on appeal of the illegal exercise of pharmacy. Her fine was increased from 2,000 euros in the original sentence to 10,000 euros.
  

Fabre, Jacquart, Rosenberg (and Anne-Marie Pasturel, who was not represented during the appeal trial) were each ordered to pay the National Order of Pharmacists 5,000 euros in compensation. [more]

[Anonymous]

FEB 22, 1978 LRon Hubbard Convicted of Fraud In France

Ron L [sic] Hubbard, the American born founder of the Church of Scientology, who turned Saint Hill Manor, East Grinstead, into the world headquarters of the movement, was sentenced in his absence to four years in prison and fined 35,000 Francs for fraud by the Paris Criminal Court last week.

PDF Copies: Mirror1 Mirror2

[Anonymous]

Translation of a French article posted on Feb. 2, 2012:
"Les jours de la Scientologie sont comptés", selon le président de la Miviludes
Scientology's days are numbered in France says MIVILUDES president

Georges Fenech, president of MIVILUDES (Interministerial Mission of Vigilance and Combat against Sectarian Abuses), believes that "going forward, Scientology's days are numbered in France." In a statement to AFP on Thursday, Mr. Fenech qualified as "historic" the decision rendered Thursday morning by the Paris court of appeal, which "clearly condemned Scientology's fraud." The court confirmed the respective fines of 400,000 and 200,000 euros that were imposed on Scientology's two Parisian entities, the Celebrity Centre and the SEL bookstore. The Paris court of appeal also confirmed or increased the sentences handed down in 2009 to five Scientologists. "In France," Mr. Fenech added, "We can can consider that Scientology, which is a church only in name, has its days numbered. In the event of a subsequent conviction, it will almost automatically incur dissolution."

[functionunknown]

via WWP: Scientology: Two cases still under investigation in Belgium
Translation of a French article posted on Feb. 3, 2012 on Belgian magazine Le Vif/L'Express: Scientologie: deux affaires toujours en cours d'instruction en Belgique

February 3, 2012
The Church of Scientology, whose conviction for organized fraud was confirmed on appeal by a court in France on Thursday, is also the subject of two judicial cases in Belgium concerning charges of fraud. Both of these cases, which should soon be merged into one, are still under investigation.

In the first case, the Church of Scientology is charged with fraud and with being a criminal organization. The case began in 1997 and, ten years later, the federal prosecutor's office requested a criminal trial against twelve individuals and two entities, one of which is the European Office of the Church of Scientology International. All of the accused denied the charges. In May 2009, the defense for several of the accused asked the Council Chamber for additional investigations. This request, which was approved in part, was reviewed on appeal in November 2009 by the Indictment Division. "The case is still under investigation," confirms Xavier Magnée, a lawyer for several of the defendants in this matter. The federal prosecutor has already written the indictment, but officially, the case remains under investigation. The prosecutor's office is, in fact, awaiting the imminent conclusion of the investigation into a second, more recent case, in order to combine them for a possible criminal trial. In this second case, the Church of Scientology based in Uccle was indicted in April 2008 on charges of forgery and fraud. The investigation concerns dubious employment contracts and was launched following information received from Actiris, the Brussels regional employment office.

The European Office of the Church of Scientology did not wish to comment on developments in the two Belgian cases under investigation. In Paris, the Church of Scientology criticized the Thursday verdict, describing it as "flawed and unfair", and said it would "immediately" take the case to the Court of Cassation. However, this verdict is not expected to modify the organization's activities in Belgium. The European Office of the Church of Scientology International told the Belga News Agency that, "Whatever happens in France, we will not change anything in our humanitarian activities in Belgium."

[functionunknown]

Feb 2, 2012 14:41:00 GMT Anonymous said:

FEB 22, 1978 LRon Hubbard Convicted of Fraud In France

Ron L [sic] Hubbard, the American born founder of the Church of Scientology, who turned Saint Hill Manor, East Grinstead, into the world headquarters of the movement, was sentenced in his absence to four years in prison and fined 35,000 Francs for fraud by the Paris Criminal Court last week.

Two more newspaper clippings and an article by Lilly von Marcab.
Topic: Corporate scams and rackets
Scientology's Hubbard Convicted of Fraud in France, 1978

After a seven-year public inquiry and a lengthy trial, the Paris Tribunal found four top Scientologists, including Hubbard, guilty of making fraudulent claims that physical cures and professional success could be achieved through Scientology. Hubbard, who did not attend the trial, and had already fled the country, was sentenced to four years imprisonment.

The judge concluded that the facts and statements by the witnesses were "ample proof" of the veracity of the charge.

Quoting Hubbard's own words, the judge found that Scientology made false promises with the sole aim of "increasing the financial revenue." [more]

Feb 15 1978 LA TIMES / TIMES LONDON
Scientology Chief Sentenced by Paris Court