Steven Fishman

Steven Fishman
Steven Fishman
Born 1957 (age 53–54)

Steven Fishman is an American former Scientologist whose inclusion of Scientology's secret Operating Thetan levels in a court filing led to the first public confirmation by the Church of Scientology of its doctrines regarding Xenu and the Wall of Fire.

Contents

Fraud scheme

The origins of Fishman's dispute with the Church of Scientology lay in a fraud scheme he conducted from 1983 to 1988. Fishman joined dozens of class action lawsuits by presenting stock purchase confirmations he had stolen from his employer and forged. In this manner he made approximately one million dollars, as much as 30 percent of which he spent on Scientology materials and services.[1] Fishman was arrested in July 1988 and charged with several counts of fraud. The FBI also investigated the possibility of church involvement in the scheme.[2]

Fishman's attorney, Marc Nurik, had planned to use an insanity defense, offering false memory syndrome theorist Richard Ofshe and psychologist Margaret Singer as expert witnesses.[3] Fishman sat for a seven-part videotaped interview with Ofshe and Nurik. In the interview, he discussed in detail various aspects of Scientology doctrine, his own Scientology involvement, and the church's response to his arrest. Fishman claimed that church staff had ordered him to murder his psychologist, Uwe Geertz, who had knowledge of his Scientology involvement, and then to commit suicide.[1]

At the same time, according to Fishman, he participated in a conspiracy with church staff to deflect accusations of church involvement, by submitting fake documents and making false statements to his defense team.[4] For these acts he was further charged with obstruction of justice. The court ultimately blocked Nurik's defense strategy by rejecting both expert witnesses, based on the testimony of opposing expert Dick Anthony.[3] Fishman pleaded guilty to one count of mail fraud and one count of obstruction, and the court sentenced him on July 20, 1990 to five years imprisonment in the Butner Federal Correctional Institution. Fishman later claimed that the church hired Scientologist inmate Luis Martinez to kill him in prison.[5] He was paroled in mid-1993.

According to Anthony, who had opposed Ofshe and Singer, Fishman's criminal case was one of several in which they had attempted to introduce their ideas of coercive persuasion by religious groups. The court's admissibility ruling came as a setback to American critics of cults. Ofshe and Singer sued Anthony unsuccessfully, claiming that he mischaracterized the basis of their theories in this and other cases.[3]

Libel case

In 1991, while Fishman was still incarcerated, Time magazine published a highly critical cover story on Scientology by Richard Behar. The story mentioned Fishman's fraud conviction and the alleged plot to eliminate him and Geertz.[1] The church responded by filing libel lawsuits against Time Warner, Behar, and Fishman and Geertz jointly.

In support of his contention that he had been brainwashed and ordered to murder Geertz, Fishman attached a series of documents to a motion to reconsider venue. This filing has since become known as the Fishman Affidavit. It included purported Scientology documents describing obstructionist tactics to use in the event of an arrest, as well as versions of Operating Thetan levels I through VII and purported excerpts of OT VIII. Fishman's filing placed the advanced materials on record at the district court, available for viewing by the general public. Despite an unsuccessful church motion to seal the court record and efforts to keep the court files continuously checked out, former Scientologist Arnaldo Lerma obtained the affidavit and posted it on the internet, after which it spread uncontrollably. In the process of suing Lerma for copyright infringement, the church confirmed that the copies of levels I through VII were accurate.

A federal district court summarily dismissed the church's claims against Time Warner and Behar, finding that they had not acted with actual malice insofar as the church was concerned. The church dropped its claims against Fishman and Geertz after Geertz's legal team served subpoenas upon Scientologist celebrities Kelly Preston, Juliette Lewis and Isaac Hayes.[6] The court record in the Fishman case remained open to the public.

Wollersheim litigation

Fishman submitted a declaration on behalf of Lawrence Wollersheim in 1993, claiming firsthand knowledge of tactics the church had used to interfere with Wollersheim's lawsuit against the church. These alleged tactics included drowning the trial judge's dog and making harassing phone calls to Wollersheim at night.[7]

Notes

  1. ^ a b c Behar, Richard (1991-05-06). "The Thriving Cult of Greed and Power". Time. http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,972865,00.html. Retrieved 2008-05-18. 
  2. ^ Dondero, Robert L. Declaration of Assistant US Attorney Robert L. Dondero. US v. Fishman. N. D. Calif. CR-88-0616. Retrieved on 2008-05-18.
  3. ^ a b c Anthony, Dick (2004). Richardson, James (ed.). ed. Regulating Religion. Reno: University of Nevada. 
  4. ^ Fishman, Steven (1996-09-18). "My History With the Cult". http://www.xs4all.nl/~fishman/history.html. Retrieved 2008-05-17. 
  5. ^ Pietersma, Jeroen (December 1995). "Never Defend, Always Attack". N@T. http://www.xs4all.nl/~felipe/cos/translate.html. Retrieved 2008-05-18. 
  6. ^ Ortega, Tony (1999-12-23). "Double Crossed". Phoenix New Times. http://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/1999-12-23/news/double-crossed/. Retrieved 2008-05-17. 
  7. ^ Appeal. Church of Scientology of California v. Lawrence Wollersheim. 42 Cal.App.4th 628 / 49 Cal.Rptr.2d 620. Retrieved on 2008-05-18

Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Нужно сделать НИР?

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Fishman — may refer to: * Fishman (wrestler), the stage name of luchador José Nájera * Fishman (Bloodlust Software Universe), a species in the Bloodlust Software Universe * Fishman (The Legend of Zelda), a character in the Zelda video game The Wind Waker * …   Wikipedia

  • Fishman Affidavit — The Fishman Affidavit is a set of court documents submitted by ex Scientologist Steven Fishman in 1993 in the federal case, Church of Scientology International v. Fishman and Geertz (Case No. CV 91 6426 (HLH (Tx) U.S. District Court for the… …   Wikipedia

  • Steven H. Fishman — was a Liberal Party candidate in the 2007 Ontario general election, for the Simcoe Grey electoral district of Central Ontario.He lives in Wasaga Beach which is part of the Simcoe Grey Federal and Provincial riding area. He was born on July 13th,… …   Wikipedia

  • Michael Fishman — Born Michael Fishman October 22, 1981 (1981 10 22) (age 30) Los Angeles, California, U.S. Occupation Actor Years active 1988–2001, 2005–present …   Wikipedia

  • Michael Fishman — (gebürtiger Name: Michael Desmond Quatil; * 22. Oktober 1981 in Long Beach, Kalifornien) ist ein US amerikanischer Filmschauspieler. Kurzbiografie Fishman wuchs als zweites von drei Kindern des Ehepaares Eric Quatil und Denatu Guotayla Quatil… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Jesus in Scientology — Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard described Scientology as the Western Anglicized continuance of many earlier forms of wisdom , and cites the teachings of Jesus Christ among belief systems of those earlier forms .cite book | last =Rhodes | first …   Wikipedia

  • Christianity and other religions — Part of a series on Christianity   …   Wikipedia

  • Scientology — Infobox Organization size = 120px caption = The Scientology Symbol is composed of the letter S that stands for Scientology and the ARC and KRC triangles, two important concepts in Scientology name = Scientology formation = 1953 type = Religious / …   Wikipedia

  • Саентология — Эта статья является предметом процедуры посредничества. В настоящее время вокруг статьи происходит сложный конфликт участников, из за чего начата процедура посредничества. Просьба вносить свои правки в соответствии с принятыми решениями… …   Википедия

  • Brainwashing — (also known as thought reform or as re education) consists of any effort aimed at instilling certain attitudes and beliefs in a person beliefs sometimes unwelcome or in conflict with the person s prior beliefs and knowledge, [For a medical (as… …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”