From: Dallas News
San Patricio County has become the unlikely setting for a lawsuit that accuses the Church of Scientology of spending millions of dollars over the past 24 years to spy on one man.
Scientology leader David Miscavige allegedly paid two private investigators about $500,000 each year since 1988 — a total of about $10 million to $12 million — to keep a close watch on Pat Broeker, a man who was Miscavige’s former rival for control of the church, according to the investigators’ attorney.
Those payments ended earlier this year, and now the two investigators, Paul Marrick and Greg Arnold, are suing Scientology for allegedly breaking promises that their jobs were permanent.
The church did not respond to a request for comment. The church is based in Los Angeles and Clearwater, Fla. It claims membership of millions, but former executives who had access to enrollment documents say the actual number is around 40,000.
Miscavige became Chairman of the Board of the Religious Technology Center, the effective head of the Church of Scientology, at age 26. Responsible for the organization receiving a religious tax exemption from the IRS in 1993.
Pat Broeker and his then wife Anne, were the last two intimate companions of L. Ron Hubbard in the months and year prior to his death. Some high-ranking, former-members of Scientology have said that L. Ron Hubbard wrote a memo in which he specified that Pat and Anne Broeker should succeed him as the heads of Church following his death in Flag Order 3879, 19 January 1986, “The Sea Org and the Future”, promoting himself to Admiral and appointing them as First and Second Loyal Officers. Later, however, Miscavige said that the memo was a forgery, and assumed the leadership position himself.
