Michael Kovac
Distinguished Scientology whistleblower Mike Rinder informed a New York jury Friday how the Million Greenback Child author emerged as one of many Church of Scientology’s top-three public enemies following his public defection in 2009.
Rinder testified Friday on the trial of director Paul Haggis, who’s on trial for allegedly sexually assaulting a publicist in 2013.
The Crash author—and fellow former Scientologist—who’s accused of raping and forcing oral intercourse on ex-publicist Haleigh Breest at his New York SoHo loft following a film premiere in 2013, has long-accused the church of fabricating the accusations in retaliation for publicly renouncing the controversial faith in 2009.
Rinder, 67, took the stand inside a New York State Supreme Courtroom shortly earlier than 4 p.m. Friday and fielded quite a lot of questions from Haggis’ authorized workforce about his immersion into—and “escape”—from Scientology, in addition to a spread of controversial practices the church allegedly employs.
Rinder, who turned a Scientologist on the age of 5, and was a church member for 35 years, served as one of many high lieutenants to church chief David Miscavige, till his public exit in 2007. He served as Scientology’s worldwide spokesperson, head of its Workplace of Particular Affairs, and sat on the Board of Administrators of Church of Scientology Worldwide from its inception in 1983 till his departure in 2007. Rinder has since gone on to accomplice with fellow former Scientologist Leah Remini on the Emmy-winning A&E sequence Leah Remini: Scientology and the Aftermath. The pair are at present co-producing the podcast Scientology: Honest Sport.
Haggis’ counsel questioned Rinder about varied Scientology insurance policies, together with “disconnection,”“auditing,” “suppressive individuals,” “crops” and “Honest Sport”—the doctrine conceived by Scientology founder and science fiction author, L. Ron Hubbard, which dictates members retaliate by no matter means needed towards enemies or critics of the church.
“Who would the Honest Sport ways be aimed toward?” Haggis’ lawyer, Seth Zuckerman requested.
“Anybody that was perceived as an enemy. In Scientology—the Scientology world—an enemy is somebody who's doing insane issues that Scientology believes hinders their capability to save lots of all of mankind. In order that may very well be somebody who leaves and speaks to the media, it may very well be a reporter, it may very well be the IRS, there was a whole lot of enemies in Scientology,” Rinder mentioned.
“By way of suppressive individuals, does Scientology have an inventory or rating of its greatest enemies?” Zuckerman requested Rinder.
“Informally,” Rinder acknowledged.
“And the casual enemies that you simply’re conscious of, the place do you [stand]?”
“Primary or quantity two,” Rinder mentioned.
“Who else is within the top-three?” Zuckerman adopted up?
“Leah Remini and Paul Haggis,” Rinder acknowledged.
Rinder, testified he was concerned with “lots of” of Honest Sport missions, by which he together with different clergy members stalked, harassed, and intimidated “suppressive individuals” and different enemies of the church.
“It's a coverage that was written by L. Ron Hubbard within the mid-sixties relating to the enemies of Scientology the place he mentioned they might be injured, have their property taken, lied, tricked, sued with no penalty for any Scientologist that engaged in these issues.”
Mike Rinder, proper, is seen leaving courtroom with Paul Haggis, heart.
Dorian Geiger
Rinder additionally described on the witness stand how his total household “disconnected” from him after he left the church roughly 15 years in the past.
“It’s referred to as disconnection,” Rinder defined. “My spouse and kids, my mom, my brother, my sister—everyone that I’d ever recognized, I turned useless to them.”
Rinder testified he routinely used “crops,” or spies to affect and manipulate the church’s critics—whereas concurrently divulging how he, too, was routinely spied on, slandered and bodily attacked by clergy members after leaving the faith.
Following a 2007 incident, the place seven Scientology members allegedly attacked him in a car parking zone, Rinder informed the courtroom that the church concocted an organized marketing campaign to smear him as a “spouse beater.” Rinder mentioned the church additionally ordered his daughter, who continues to be a Scientologist, to talk out about her father at #MeToo protests.
“We’re liars, we’re thieves, we’re criminals, we’re spouse beaters, no matter,” Rinder mentioned.
Rinder testified that he knew Haggis as a star determine contained in the Church who had achieved OT VII—or Working Thetan—standing, the best tier doable inside the faith, noting the Church’s obsession with recruiting Hollywood stars.
“[Haggis] was a star,” Rinder mentioned. “Celebrities have nice standing inside Scientology, they're handled as essential individuals to get—[and] acquire credibility—for Scientology, to get new individuals to be interested in it and are available in.”
Paul Haggis, who gained Oscars for Finest Image and Finest Unique Screenplay for the film Crash.
Toni Anne Barson Archive
Rinder, who mentioned he considers Haggis a pal, additionally recalled the second he discovered the Canadian screenwriter publicly cut up with the church in 2009.
“I used to be happy that he had seen the sunshine as I had seen the sunshine and I used to be additionally significantly happy that he had the braveness of his convictions and that he spoke up about it,” Rinder mentioned.
Two years later, Rinder mentioned he felt “very completely satisfied” after studying The New Yorker’s groundbreaking 2011 expose, “The Apostate,” by Lawrence Wright, which dived into the Canadian screenwriter’s departure from the church.
“I used to be very completely satisfied that the larger image and the larger story that Paul was searching for to inform had been informed by Larry Wright,” Rinder informed the jury. “That was a primary. It was essentially the most in-depth, in depth interview-driven article that had ever been.”
Haggis’ legal professionals additionally confirmed the jury parts of The New Yorker article, by which Haggis predicted the church would one way or the other search revenge towards him, apparently suggesting Breest’s accusations have been a manifestation of hypothesis.
“These individuals have lengthy reminiscences,” Haggis informed Wright in 2011. “My wager is that, inside two years, you’re going to learn one thing about me in a scandal that appears prefer it has nothing to do with the church.”
Karin Pouw, a spokesperson for the Church of Scientology, slammed Rinder after his testimony, telling The Each day Beast he was a “liar.”
“For the previous 15 years, Rinder has distorted and manipulated the reality for anybody prepared to pay him. He helps himself by orchestrating the harassment of his former church and its members by false police experiences, incendiary propaganda and fraudulent testimony and media tales contradicted by details, public paperwork and his personal previous statements. As to Haggis, he has been penning false tales in regards to the church for a decade in an effort to cowl up no matter dangerous deeds he's engaged in, and as we speak flew in Mike Rinder, an inveterate liar and paid witness, to be his co-conspirator,” Pouw mentioned.
Rinder declined to touch upon the case as he left courtroom Friday afternoon.
“No, I’m not going to make any feedback, sorry buddy,” Rinder informed The Each day Beast earlier than moving into an elevator.
Rinder and Remini beforehand spoke out in protection of Haggis.
“We count on the following ‘revelations’ about Paul Haggis on this marketing campaign to destroy him to be primarily based on info culled from his Scientology recordsdata within the type of extra ‘nameless’ accusers, hiding behind a lawyer who won't ever must disclose who's paying their invoice,” they mentioned in a assertion.
Remini, together with actress Susan Sarandon, are additionally rumored to probably testify at trial. Haggis is predicted to take the stand subsequent week, his legal professionals mentioned.
In September, Hon. Choose Sabrina Kraus dominated Haggis may argue that the Church of Scientology was behind the case. Haggis’ attorneys have argued the Church manufactured the allegations—and was bankrolling—the case towards him.
Throughout her opening statements final week, Priya Chaudhry, one other lawyer representing Haggis, described the Church of Scientology as a “world-famous legal group.”
“We don’t must affirmatively show that Scientology is behind this as a result of we don’t have the burden of proof right here,” Chaudhry informed the jury final week. “However as you will note, the circumstantial proof of Scientology’s involvement right here can be highly effective.”
Haggis has long-maintained the incident involving Breest was consensual.
Breest’s legal professionals, in the meantime, who assert that Haggis pressured Breest to carry out oral intercourse on him earlier than raping her in 2013, honed in on Rinder’s assertion in courtroom that he “is aware of nothing,” of the incident, portray him as an unreliable witness who spent many years mendacity on behalf of the Church of Scientology.
“Have you ever ever requested [Haggis] what occurred that night time?” Ilann Maazel, Breest’s lawyer, requested Rinder throughout cross-examination.
“No,” Rinder replied.
Breest’s workforce have characterised Haggis’ authorized technique involving Scientology as “nonsense.”
“[It’s] pathetic, absurd, ridiculous, embarrassing,” Breest’s lawyer Ilann Maazel informed The Each day Beast exterior courtroom on Friday afternoon. “This complete Scientology thought is an effort to distract the jury from the precise case, the precise proof. This isn't a case about Scientology. This can be a case about what Paul Haggis did to Haleigh Breest.”
The Church of Scientology has additionally denied accusations relating to their involvement within the case.
“The Church has nothing to do with the claims towards Haggis nor does it have any relation to the attorneys behind the case of the accusers,” Karin Pouw, a spokesperson for the Church, informed The Each day Beast in an announcement. “The Church has nothing to do with the claims towards Haggis nor does it have any relation to his accusers.”
Trial proceedings are anticipated to renew Monday morning.