The Church is not exactly known for its reliable statistics, often claiming to be the “fastest growing religion on planet Earth” and offering vastly exaggerated figures, at one point even claiming it had ten million followers. But using a combination of statistics leaked by inside sources, information published in internal propaganda materials and reports from members of the public who regularly send us in updates on how busy their local Org is, we feel confident in our estimate that today, there are only about 15,000 Scientologists in the world. 

How did we get to that figure? Well let’s start with Scientology’s own reported (and often inflated) numbers. 

During their application for charity status in the United Kingdom in 1999, the church claimed to have 200,000 adherents across England and Wales however when it came around to the national census two years later only 1,781 individuals recorded their religion as ‘Scientologist.’  Although it is a criminal offence to fail to complete the decennial census, 2001 was the first time the public were asked to record their religion and to this day it remains an optional question. This means there may of course be a small proportion of Scientologists who chose not to declare their faith, but the difference between their claimed membership figures and the census data is staggering at a ratio of 112 followers claimed for every 1 who declared it on the census that year.

When they opened a new ‘Ideal Org’ in London in 2006, Scientology spokesperson Janet Laveau told the press Scientology had “10 million followers” worldwide, of which 123,000 were in the UK. No comment was made on what happened to the 73,000 people who had apparently left over the preceding 7 years if the number they gave in 1999 was to be believed.  Confusingly, just the following day Ms. Laveau also told The London Evening Standard “We have 118,000 members in the UK, almost half of whom live in London.” Did the church lose 3,000 of its followers overnight or are these numbers just pulled out of thin air when put on the spot by a journalist? 

The 2011 census did suggest Scientology had seen a sizeable growth in followers since 2001 with 2,418 people describing themselves as Scientologists, representing an increase of 36%. However, the numbers still fail to match up with those given in press releases by an order of magnitude. 

Speaking with the London Evening Standard in 2017, a Scientology representative denounced the census data as misleading and claimed the church has “over a hundred thousand UK residents” on their magazine mailing list though did not mention anybody who visits a church is added to the list, regardless of whether they consider themselves to be a Scientologist, and members of the public have spoken previously about struggling to have their address removed years later. The statement continued, “many Scientologists are also Muslims and Christians […] so the census figure does not tell you very much.”

Looking further afield, in a statement to the Tampa Bay Times in June 2012 international spokesperson Karin Pouw claimed Scientology had seen “unprecedented growth” in recent years and had “doubled in size”. Mike Rinder, who served in the same role at the church before leaving in 2007, shared this insightful infographic produced by Jefferson Hawkins that highlights the discrepancy between Scientology’s figures and those which could be verified by independent sources. 

Even the number of attendees Scientology claims to attract to its annual events do not appear to match up with reality. In both 2024 and 2025, Scientology published articles on their website claiming 6,500 people went to their new year’s celebration event at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles, despite the venue’s capacity being 6,300.

Similarly, in an article about an event celebrating the birthday of their founder L. Ron Hubbard earlier this year Scientology claimed to have drawn a crowd of “5,000 Scientologists from 74 countries.” The capacity of Ruth Eckerd Hall in Clearwater, where the event took place, is just 2,180 and after analysing photos of the audience, we spotted rows of empty seats and indicators to suggest the images had been doctored to artificially make the crowd look bigger.

Journalist Tony Ortega, who writes at The Underground Bunker and has been reporting on Scientology for over 30 years, says “our usual rule of thumb is to divide any figure Scientology published by seven” and using that formula, the numbers start to look a little more realistic. 

Take, for instance, UK spokesperson Graeme Wilson who told The Independent there were 15,000 “active participants” in the United Kingdom in 2013. Divide that by 7 and you get 2,142., which aligns almost perfectly with the 2011 census figure from two years prior. 2021’s census data, however paints a different story with the number of Scientologists falling by 24% to just 1,844. By contrast, the number of people identifying as Satanists grew from 1,893 to 5,054 over the same period and equates to three times the number of Scientologists. The number of Druids also rose from 4,189 to 6,574.

Of the 58 religions separately categorised by the Office for National Statistics (ONS), Scientology actually represented the greatest decline in number of followers between 2011 and 2021. But what other data can we look at to gain a sense of how many Scientologists there are in the world? We contacted the Pew Research Center in the United States, who run the American Religious Identification Survey and in 2008 established there were 25,000 Scientologists in the US. When asked for an updated figure, they told us “unfortunately, there is no data on Scientologists in the Religious Landscape Study due to the extremely small size of that group.”

So we’ll have to look elsewhere. There is a Facebook group specifically for Scientologists which currently has 21.4k members. However, back in 2019 on his blog, Mike Rinder pointed out this is not an accurate figure as some Scientologists (such as Sea Org staff and those not on social media) won’t be in the group; and being a member does not mean you are actively enrolled in services at a Church of Scientology. He suggested there was evidence a “significant percentage” are click farm followers and the group also likely includes Scientology critics and journalists using false credentials.

It might be worth noting, however, that the group has only gained 2,000 new members since Mike published his article seven years ago, which doesn’t align with what one might expect from the ‘fastest growing religion on planet earth’.

There’s also the magazines Scientology puts out every few months listing Scientologists who have donated to their membership body, the IAS. We’ve been keeping a track of the number of different names and since 2016, there have only been 2,223 individual donors named in their publications. 708 of them are couples who donated together and 168 are families of varying sizes. Even if we liberally assume the average family consists of 4 people, that still gives us less than 4,000 Scientologists worldwide. It must, however, be considered the list of names published by the Church only feature people who have progressed to their next donation tier and the minimum listed donation is $1,000. It’s entirely possible there are many people who have been making regular, small donations over the last 10 years but haven’t contributed enough to change status. Nonetheless, it’s an interesting data point to take into account.

Next, there are service completions which are occasionally published by individual Orgs in their own local magazines. Not every Church produces one, however the latest editions offer a snapshot into how many people are on services at different locations. An edition of Advance! UK, which is produced by Scientology’s UK headquarters, Saint Hill, was distributed last year and it lists just 155 individuals as having completed services since the prior issue.

In 2024, we saw AOLA (Advanced Org Los Angeles) publish 193 individuals’ names in their completions list; the Advanced Org for Europe, located in Denmark listed 194 individuals and ASHO (American Saint Hill Org) led the way with 606 different names appearing on their list. The Church of Scientology in London also published a rare completions list in September 2025, which named just 40 people. This of course doesn’t give us a number for Scientology worldwide, but it’s 1,148 active Scientologists and a useful gauge on how busy the Advanced Orgs are, which are supposed to act as continental hubs with city-level churches like London feeding them parishioners as they progress onto the confidential ‘OT’ materials. 

There’s also the reports we receive from Scientologists currently under the radar and members of the public who visit their local Org from time to time and let us know how many people they saw in the course rooms. In May 2026, we had an inside source tell us there were only 25 staff, with several essential executive posts unfilled at the Org in Las Vegas. Our source said their weekly turnover was about $2,000. 

In January we found out the Hubbard Academy of Independence (HAPI), Scientology’s branch in Edinburgh, has about 103 people showing up intermittently but only 43 attended the screening of their most recent international event. And in February, we were sent a list of all the current staff members in London, which consisted of just 57 people.

Our inside source there told us the course rooms are empty, and during a peak study time towards the end of the day there were only 30 or so names in the daily guest book, which you are required to sign on arrival. This paints a dire picture for the state of Scientology internationally. London Org has always been one of the busiest ‘Ideal Orgs’ internationally and as Mike Rinder explained on his blog, “outside the US, the United Kingdom is the most established area for Scientology in the world. LRH personally ran London Org. Personally opened a PE in Dublin. Made his home at St Hill.”

We were also given insight into the current Birthday Game standings – a competition played between Orgs where points are awarded based on their weekly statistics. Although the numbers do not give us any insight into how many Scientologists are receiving services at each Org, it gives us a general idea of which Orgs are busy and which ones aren’t. In the UK, London was top of the leaderboard with 2,618 points and Plymouth sat last with just 588 when we were sent the figures before the game reset back in March. The difference between the number of points awarded to the Orgs in first place and those in last across each continent is telling, with most areas having just one or two Orgs scoring points in the thousands and the majority of smaller Orgs in 8th place or below generally having 300-600 points or less.

Yes, there will of course be busier Orgs than London, but if the number of active Scientologists regularly doing services there has shrunk to just 30-40 people and they are still maintaining their position in the top 10-15 of the worldwide Birthday Game rankings, it tends to suggest the vast majority of Orgs are also facing dire straits. 

Let’s not forget the UK is also home to the annual IAS event, which celebrates the anniversary of Scientology’s official membership body (the International Association of Scientologists) and sees thousands of followers travel from across the world to hear reclusive leader David Miscavige update them on the latest ‘expansion’ news. Since its founding in 1984 there hasn’t been a single IAS event at which Captain Miscavige reported a decline – or even stagnation – in Scientology’s global statistics.

According to Scientology’s website, there are 69 ‘Ideal Orgs’ around the world and 267 smaller Orgs or Missions. There are 6 Advanced Orgs, and of course Flag which makes a total of 343 churches of Scientology internationally. Though, bear in mind the majority of Missions and smaller Orgs often take the form of a weekly get together in somebody’s living room to practice auditing rather than being a fully fledged, permanent and nicely renovated building. Sunderland for instance, had just three staff members when we visited in 2023 and the course room was only open for a few hours a day and even then, we were told, only if someone shows up to study.

If we’re generous and assume most non-Ideal Orgs and Missions have an average of 5 staff members and 10 public, that gives us 4,005 Scientologists. Based on London and Las Vegas’ statistics it seems right to estimate each Ideal Org has between 20 and 50 staff and about the same in terms of active public. That’s 2,680. 

The Advanced Orgs tend to be much better staffed, with our last report from Saint Hill telling us there were about 250 Sea Org staff there (including the Continental Liaison Office, CLO and Continental Management Office, CMO), though only about 100 public regularly receiving services. The AO standings that were published earlier this week on The Underground Bunker seems to corroborate just how quiet the AOs are. Since May 2024, only 593 people have started OT V.. worldwide! That’s an average of just 5 a week, split across 6 AOs.

Until recently, the AO in South Africa was the busiest in the world but even then, public would never have trouble finding a parking spot – and they have 310 of them. If we base our estimates on each of the 6 AOs having a generous 250 staff and 200 active public that gives us another 2,700. And then there’s international management and Sea Org executives not otherwise counted, which again, if we’re generous isn’t likely to be more than another 1,000 worldwide.

Add those numbers up and we arrive at 10,385 Scientologists. Now, there’s Flag – Scientology’s ‘Mecca’ in Clearwater, Florida. Over recent years we have seen Captain Miscavige begin to consolidate power at Flag and tighten his grip on the local town with land and property acquisitions. Only last weekend, work began on the construction of a new 3,500 seat auditorium that will one day be the home of Scientology’s annual events. Social media is filled with posts from Scientologists buying apartment blocks and housing developments to rent out to fellow Scientologists. In their application for tax exemption with the IRS back in 1991, the church claimed to have “approximately 750 staff” at Flag, though we understand it may be nearer to the 1,000 mark these days. Based on our estimates, there are likely somewhere between 2,000 and 3,000 public Scientologists living in and around Clearwater, which brings us to a grand total of just 14,385 Scientologists worldwide… and that’s being generous. 

The church claims 9,523 Scientologists live in the Tampa Bay area and even if we accept this as an accurate figure instead of using our estimate, we arrive almost bang on the 20,000 mark. But based on the insight we have garnered from insiders, reports and leaked internal documents we would place the global population of Scientologists somewhere in the 15,000 region.

But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t care about Scientology’s global influence. There might not be many left, but their manipulative tactics, coercive control techniques and what ex-members describe as widespread abuse remain in full force… and the organisation continues to turn over hundreds of millions of dollars a year, with several billion in the bank. So let’s take a brief look at how Scientology compares to other religions when you look at things from a financial perspective?

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints reported an annual UK turnover of £87.8 million in their latest accounts, filed with the Charity Commission. Between 2011 and 2021, the number of Mormons in the UK grew by 15%. Assuming growth has continued at the same rate (7.5% in the last 5 years), we can estimate there are roughly 166,500 Mormons in the UK today. Using these figures, we can calculate the average donation per capita (per parishioner) works out to be £2,195.

Despite Scientology’s decline between the 2011 and 2021 census, in the interests of fairness if we assume their following has also grown at the same rate as the LDS Church we can estimate there are around 1,982 Scientologists in the UK as of today. Scientology reported annual revenues of £20.5 million in their latest accounts, which means on average, a Scientologist will donate £10,345 a year to the Church.

According to their most recent membership roll data, the Church of England claims to have just over 1 million regular worshippers and their latest accounts show an annual income from parishioner donations of £521 million. The average annual donation per follower is therefore just £521. This means that for the average person, being a Scientologist costs just under 20x more than being a Christian.

Although some religious groups enforce tithing, this is typically set at 10% of your income or less. Most churches in the UK, however, operate on a voluntary donation basis and ask parishioners to donate only when they can afford it. Taking part in acts of worship or a religious service typically doesn’t cost anything and as such, they are granted charity status and can claim tax relief on the donations they receive.

Scientology on the other hand is often described as a ‘pay-to-play’ religion and followers are required to pay by the hour for their main practices of training and auditing (‘spiritual counselling’). In their 1999 report detailing the reasons for refusing Scientology tax exemption, the Charity Commission noted “The Commissioners considered that a further distinguishing characteristic from established religions is that Scientology’s normal practices require prepayment in the form of requested donations for participation in its central practices of auditing and training. Although organised donations are a feature of some religions, it was not clear that such donations extended to access to the core or central religious practices of such religions.”

The model appears to be working though as Scientology ranks number one when compared against other religious groups in the UK, based on the amount of wealth extracted per parishioner. The Mormons and the Church of England may generate more revenue annually, but Scientology would surpass them by an order of magnitude if it had a similar number of followers.  If they adopted Scientology’s financial model, with their current membership figures the LDS Church would rake in an extra £1.62 billion a year. The Church of England would generate £10.43 billion.

So Scientology may no longer have a substantial following and it may lack charity status, but it has developed a uniquely effective method of extracting extraordinary amounts of wealth from the members it does have left. According to the ONS, the average UK salary as of May 2026 was £38,948. This suggests on average, after tax Scientologists are giving a third of their total annual earnings to the church in return for religious services.. and that’s before taking into account the annual $500 membership fee due to the International Association of Scientologists (IAS) and donations made towards social betterment programs and David Miscavige’s ‘Ideal Org’ real estate scheme.

Is Scientology expanding? No.. it’s shrinking at a rate of knots, and it’s clear to see for anyone who walks through the doors at any one of their city-level churches. But is it going away? No. The followers that remain are mostly hardcore believers and while Miscavige is able to continue tapping the wealthiest handful of Scientologists for multi-million dollar donations, he can keep up the façade that his church is growing by purchasing, renovating and – in Clearwater’s case even erecting – brand new buildings as evidence. As long as everybody just stays in Clearwater and never ventures out to Orgs like Sunderland… they’ll never know. And it seems like Miscavige is hoping they won’t.

The post How many Scientologists are there in the world, really? first appeared on Scientology Business News - lawsuits, financial records and shell companies.

Over the weekend Scientologists descended upon Clearwater, Florida for a ceremony to mark the groundbreaking of a controversial new 3,500 seat auditorium dedicated to their founder, L. Ron Hubbard. The proposed facility has been fiercely opposed by local residents, with over 7,000 people signing a petition urging the City Council not to sell a public street to the Church, which it claimed was needed in order to make way for the development. Instead of selling the parcel of land for the original $1.4 million offered, the Council instead gave it away for free, paving the way for works to begin on what will eventually become the future home of Scientology’s frequent large international events.

At present Scientology hosts three major gatherings each year, hosted by reclusive leader Captain David Miscavige: a new year’s event typically held at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles, California; the L. Ron Hubbard birthday celebration in March, which takes place at the Ruth Eckerd Hall in Clearwater, Florida; and the International Association of Scientologists (IAS) anniversary event in October, at their UK headquarters near East Grinstead, Sussex. According to promotional materials published by the church all of these major events will move to the new purpose-built hall in Florida once it is completed, despite the church also recently securing permission to redevelop huge swathes of their Saint Hill compound in England – including the creation of a new mega car park and the erection of three mammoth event structures in order to facilitate the IAS event.

Speaking at a Mid-Sussex District Council Planning Committee meeting, Councillor John Dabell voiced concerns about the development being situated in a protected Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB, now known as a National Landscape). “One way or another they have continued, in my opinion, to find a way to do what they want.”

Similarly in Clearwater, Scientology has been engaging in what local residents describe as a ‘plan to take over the city’ with former Vice Mayor Mark Bunker telling us last year “Since 2017, the current leader of Scientology, David Miscavige, started a secret plan to to buy up all the available property downtown and just sit on it and leave it empty for what, 8 years now, thwarting any attempts that we have made as a city to revive the downtown.” He warned: “We’re going to do what we want to do, that’s their attitude. You can’t stop us.”

With the City Council finally caving in to Scientology’s demands, an official groundbreaking ceremony was held last weekend to mark the start of the construction phase for their new L. Ron Hubbard Hall. We carefully analysed the photos taken of the event which were uploaded to the church’s website and once again, found evidence that suggests they have been heavily doctored.

First up, it’s a floating leg seemingly standing without being attached to a body. Look closely and you will notice it appears to match the colour, shape and crease marks of the right leg of the man standing beside it, who is wearing a light shirt and a navy suit jacket. Closer inspection of the man’s legs and it becomes apparent they have been badly cropped and he is missing the lower half of his right leg. This suggests Scientology have moved his body slightly to the right and forgotten to tidy up the evidence. Why might they have done this? We have two theories: either they were trying to hide a celebrity or hoping to close the gap between him and the person to his left in order to reduce the appearance of empty space – a common trick used when trying to make an audience appear larger than it actually was.

Next, we found two more examples of bad cropping, resulting in one audience member losing a hand, and another gaining an elbow. In the image on the left, which is blurry because we had o zoom in to notice it, a gentleman is seen clapping.. however his left hand has been abruptly cut off and replaced with what appears to be the marks of a clone tool, commonly used to repeat background textures in Photoshop.

On the right, we can see a floating elbow seemingly not attached to a body. Both arms of the lady wearing the red dress are visible, and there isn’t enough space between her and the man in the blue suit for it to belong to somebody standing between them. How very strange.

In this photo, the entire front row of the audience appears to have been digitally removed, with blue splodges – again, reminiscent of the Photoshop Clone Tool – overlapping the back and sides of people’s heads. On the right, the man in a light blue suit also appears to have extraordinarily long fingers on his right hand, but no finger tips on his left.

The repeating blue pattern, which doesn’t quite match up with the texture of the fabric covering the front of the stage in front tends to suggest a sample area has been selected, and then used to paint a repeating pattern to remove the entire front row of the audience. This effect is something that can only be achieved through photo editing software and shares a striking resemblance to Scientology’s attempts to remove Tom Cruise and John Travolta from the front row of another event held earlier this year.

Now this one is just strange. A lady in the crowd stood out to us initially due to her disproportionate size, compared to her neighbouring attendees. But look again, and you may notice the lady in the white top is facing the wrong way. Wider angled photos show this portion of the audience was sandwiched between the main stage and a separate area filled with dirt which was used for the ceremonial first shovel part of the event. The people seen in the bottom right corner are standing on the second stage holding shovels, with some members of the audience facing that way. Others are facing the opposite direction towards the big screen on the main stage, which was showing a live feed of the event.. However this unusually tall lady is standing at a 90 degree angle to everybody else.

But zoom in, and it only gets weirder. Although we can just about make out what appears to be a backwards-facing white baseball cap it appears to float behind her face rather than on top of her head.. and we have never seen anybody with a face quite that shape. Her eyes appear to be wonky, while her mouth seems disproportionally large.. and simply in the wrong place. This could be attributed to camera distortion due to the wide angled lens being used, however typically we would only expect to see this effect around the edges of the wider photo and it would equally distort the faces of everybody in the area, rather than just one individual in the centre of the crowd.. so we’re not quite sure what’s happened here.

Scientologists who had donated at least $1 million towards the LRH Hall project (known as Legion of Honor members) were given golden shovels and invited to step forward and participate in the ceremonial turning of the first earth. According to Scientology’s press release there were over 100 such people at the event, however their photos make it hard to verify due to yet more hallmarks of digital manipulation. On the left, a hand can be seen holding one of the shovels in the air however its handle appears to be missing. Similarly, the shovel behind appears to have been edited.

On the right, Scientology’s biggest donor Trish Duggan can be seen standing in front of a darkened glass pane separating her from the audience behind. If you look closely at the glass, it is semi-transparent on one side, but completely black on the other. To us, it looks like an attempt has been made to remove somebody who was standing in front of the right side of the glass, which has been painted over with a black paint brush in photo-editing software.

There’s more to examine in this picture, but first lets take a look at some other peculiarities spotted in other parts of the same photo.

The top image shows the wider photo, marked with 1, 2, and 3. Photo 1 shows David Miscavige, Scientology’s reclusive leader who led the celebration. However, he appears to have been added in digitally. It’s possible he was standing there when the photo was taken, but this looks to us like a composite of two photos.. Maybe he was blinking? We can tell by his shadow. If you look carefully, the outside of his body has a halo which follows his trouser line almost perfectly and extends along the edge of his jacket. This is something we would expect to see when somebody has been cut out of another image using a lasso tool and pasted on top of another image. Similarly in some places his shadow appears to be inverted, with dark areas on the ground in places where there is no obstruction to cause a shadow.. and unnatural patches of light where there should be a shadow.

The man standing to Miscavige’s right (2) also appears to have been Photoshopped into this image. Not only is he missing a shadow entirely, zoom into his feet and they appear to have been badly cropped with half of his left shoe cut off in a perfectly straight line with the end of his toes missing. This individual also has a halo around his body, which suggests it has been digitally superimposed.

Moving to photo 3, the arrows marked (A) point out where shadows are missing from behind Trish Duggan and the half-shoe man. For comparison, point (B) appears to be a genuine shadow and matches the shade, darkness and texture we see behind the other attendees.

At the arrow marked (C), the gentleman’s arm disappears into the crowd. We ran a closer pixel-level analysis of this portion of the image and it appears to lose transparency, becoming see-through directly above the darkened glass panel we pointed out earlier. This is consistent with what we might see from an inexperienced photo editor attempting to use a clone stamp or background removal tool to remove an object – or person – from an image with a complicated background.

Considering its position in relation to the glass panel, we believe a Scientology celebrity – perhaps Tom Cruise or John Travolta – was standing next to Trish Duggan and has been digitally removed in order to avoid the inevitable press coverage it would generate, as we saw last time photos leaked of them attending a Scientology event.

Scientology claims 7,000 people were there to hear Miscavige declare victory over Clearwater and announce the next phase of the long-awaited L. Ron Hubbard Hall project, which is understood to have already generated in excess of $142.5 million in donations for the church.

It does appear a sizeable crowd was present on the day, however the photos published by the church show clear signs of digital manipulation, and so cannot be trusted as a genuine or accurate depiction of real life events. Clearwater is home to Scientology’s ‘Mecca’, known as the Flag Land Base and is often cited along with Los Angeles as the two cities with the highest concentration of Scientologists on the planet. But we agree with The Underground Bunker‘s method of calculating the true attendance figures: “Our usual rule of thumb is to divide any figure Scientology published by seven, which would mean a crowd closer to 1,000.”

The only question we have is why don’t they publish the honest, real photos.. or at. the very least, do a better job at editing them?

The post Floating limbs without bodies: more bad Scientology photoshopping first appeared on Scientology Business News - lawsuits, financial records and shell companies.

“I don’t advertise in the UK,” he said. However, transparency data available through the Meta Ad Library and Google Ads Transparency Centre shows that several of his companies including Cardone Enterprises and Cardone Training Technologies, as well as his main page simply named ‘Grant Cardone’ have run over 300 ads targeting users in UK this year alone.

The ads appear across Google services and Meta’s social media apps such as Facebook and Instagram. After denying running ads in the UK, Cardone continued “Does one of my coaches advertise in the UK? I have coaches in 1330 countries.”

However, transparency data reveals his Meta ad account is managed by just 14 people, thirteen of whom are based in the United States and one in the United Arab Emirates.

Grant Cardone Training Technologies Inc, trading as ‘Grant Cardone’ fell foul of the UK’s Advertising Standards Authority in October 2025, after it found ads the company had run on social media were misleading. The complaint stated:

A paid-for Facebook post, dated May 21 2025 for 10X Business Live, an online business event by businessman Grant Cardone, included a video with a man who stated, “You’ve probably seen this guy all over your feed claiming he built a $5.5 million business in 90 days with no money, no social media and no name. Now, I understand this might sound unbelievable, but there’s a deeper story here […] He claims that all you need to grow a business in 2024 is the 7-Step Formula. It all makes perfect sense after listening to his viewpoint”. The video then featured Grant Cardone who stated, “[…] I said give me 90 days and I’ll build $1,000,000 business. Well in truth I’ve built a $5,5000,000 business with no money, couldn’t use my contacts, took on a new identity, that faked everybody out, and built a $5,5000,000 business in 90 days. And I’m telling you, you can do this too. I did this to prove to people that you don’t need time, you don’t need money and you don’t need a name, but you do need a strategy […] What I want to do today is I want to give you the strategy. It’s taken me 45 years to figure this out. Nobody gave this to me, I want to share this with you and some of you are going to do nothing with it, cost you nothing by the way, some of you will do nothing with it and some of you will turn this into millions, tens of millions. Maybe somebody will see this, use this and become a billionaire because of it. I’m doing this right now for free. I will not keep it for free for long […] This will be the last time you see it for free and I want to share it with you for free. Exactly what you could do to get from poverty to financial freedom, to get from making excuses about time and money to having all the time and money that you want. It’s possible…”. 
 
The caption stated, “Grant Cardone’s 7-Step Formula for Scaling In Any Economic Condition. Grant’s new training reveals the exact system he used to grow from $2 million to over $700 million  a formula that works regardless of market conditions. As someone who follows Grant, you know his business has thrived through multiple economic cycles. Register now for this $5,000 value training – completely FREE when you secure your seat today. Without these principles your business remains vulnerable to economic shifts and market volatility – while others who implement this system continue scaling regardless of conditions. Click the “Learn more” button below and secure your FREE seat now”. 

Advertising Standards Authority

In response to the complaint, the company said the Discovery Channel documented Grant Cardone’s successes and could be viewed on the TV show “Undercover Billionaire: Season 2”. According to the ASA, they said in the ad, Grant was just sharing his experience on that show and how he achieved the challenge, and for those who would like to know what he did, they could do so for free on the training. They also clarified that they had removed the ad. 

The ASA upheld the complaint, ruling:

The CAP Code stated that marketing communications must not materially mislead or be likely to do so. 
 
The ad claimed that Grant Cardone built a $5,5000,000 business with no money in 90 days and that users who undertook the training would have the opportunity to learn the strategy that enabled him to achieve those profits. 
 
We acknowledged the advertiser’s comment that Mr Cardone was sharing his experience from the TV show “Undercover Billionaire: Season 2” and that if the audience would like to know what he did to achieve those earnings they could undertake the training. However, we considered that the audience were likely to interpret the claims, “Well in truth I’ve built a $5,5000,000 business with no money, couldn’t use my contacts […] in 90 days. And I’m telling you, you can do this too”, “[…] you don’t need time, you don’t need money and you don’t need a name, but you do need a strategy […]” and that it “[…] works regardless of market conditions”  to mean that they could learn how to achieve the same earnings and lifestyle as described in the ad by following Grant Cardone’s 7-Step Formula regardless of their experience level and personal circumstances. However, we understood that was unlikely to be the case and had not received information from the advertiser to demonstrate otherwise. 
 
Because the ad implied the results were typical, and we understood that was not likely to be the case, we concluded that the ad was misleading. 
 
The ad breached CAP Code (Edition 12) rules 3.1 (Misleading Advertising) and 3.11 (Exaggeration). 

Advertising Standards Authority

Mr. Cardone recently shared the 14-hour deposition he was subjected to as part of ongoing litigation in the United States after a class action lawsuit was filed alleging he and his company Cardone Capital “made false or misleading statements and omitted important information” in connection to public offerings offered by their investment funds.

A website set up by law firm Gibbs Mura states:

According to a recently filed lawsuit, Cardone Capital and Grant Cardone targeted “everyday investors,” through social media. These solicitations were allegedly misleading to many investors. For example, the lawsuit complaint states that Grant Cardone assured investors through these solicitations that their investments would pay high monthly distributions and would return to investors at least two to three times their investment. He gave specific examples, as stated in the lawsuit complaint:

• Investing $100,000 would pay $500 in distributions monthly
• Investing $200,000 in the fund would result in a $660,000 “position” in the fund
• Investing $200,000 would allow investors to early $12,000-$15,000 in distributions a year
• The property investors invest in would triple in value in 5 to 7 years

However, according to the lawsuit, the actual distributions have been much less than these stated amounts. Further, the complaint states that Cardone had no reasonable basis for estimating investors’ distributions or the value of the property to be so high. As a result, these statements have been deemed false and misleading.

In the deposition, Mr. Cardone refused to answer questions relating to complaints made by his employees that allege their rights were violated by being asked to complete Scientology courses. He claimed the line of questioning was “irrelevant” and “offensive” and that his company does “not solicit funds in the UK” or advertise there. He continued, “Call the Courts and tell them I don’t want to answer questions about some bullshit UK claim that has nothing to do with me.”

Cardone Capital and Mr. Cardone deny the allegations.

The ASA’s ruling against Grant Cardone is the latest in several rulings made against Scientology-related companies. In 2021, Ben’s Gutters was found to be misleading the public with a flyer presenting the business as a local company despite operating nationally and in 2016, the regulator banned a television ad run by the Church after it was found to contain false statistics about the number of people helped by its social betterment programs.

The post Grant Cardone lies about UK advertising activities in deposition after falling foul of regulator first appeared on Scientology Business News - lawsuits, financial records and shell companies.

The controversial church’s Criminon front group, which it claims is a secular prison reform program has expanded its reach and is now delivering ‘educational courses’ based on the works of Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard in 89 prisons throughout the UK. Although Scientology was denied tax exemption 1999, Criminon is a Gift-Aid registered charity that has been operating since 2003 and is now present in almost 70% of British prisons, including those housing the most dangerous ‘Category A’ offenders.

The program has also received funding from a number of well-established non-profits, including two Royal charities under the patronage of King Charles III. Philanthropic organisations linked to Cadbury’s, Typhoo Tea and heritage clothing label Barbour have also donated to Criminon, though it is understood its ties to Scientology were not known at the time of the grants being made.

Criminon has been described by former members of the church as “nothing but a PR activity run by dedicated Scientologists”, while the charity itself says its courses “equip prisoners with the life skills they need to stay on the straight and narrow.” It added their ties to Scientology are “well known to everyone we work with” and “only a bigot” would find fault with its relationship with the cult.

An investigation by Scientology Business has revealed that 1,513 inmates are currently enrolled on Criminon courses in the UK, with 120 ‘mentors’ teaching the program in 89 prisons across the country. Their latest accounts, published at the end of June, includes testimonials from graduates out of HMP Frankland, HMP Northumberland, HMP Bure, HMP Channings Wood, HMP Stafford, HMP Lindholme, HMP Dovegate, HMP Thameside and others.

One inmate is quoted as saying “Doing this course has helped massively with my confidence and self-esteem it has also helped me see things in a different light help me to understand and put things into action for my own personal development.”

Former Scientologist Pete Griffiths, who ran a Scientology Mission in Kendall, Cumbria in the 1990s, described Criminon as a “front group” and described how he was asked by church executives to infiltrate HMP Haverigg with the program. “Ultimately, my brief was to go in and try and persuade them that we had the best thing since sliced bread,” he explained. “What was the purpose to this? Like all the front groups, every single one of them, the purpose was to make people into Scientologists.”

“Scientology wants to be recognised and accepted in society. That’s the only reason these groups exist – to make Scientology respectable,” he said. “The fact that they [Criminon] have charity status is the disturbing thing, because under no circumstances are they a charity. They only exist to make more Scientologists.’

The courses being offered by Criminon are identical to the introductory ‘life improvement courses’ available at any Church of Scientology, though appear to have been repackaged to appeal to prisoners. They include ‘Learning How to Learn’, ‘Personal Integrity’ and ‘Successful Parenting Skills’. In the context of its prison reform program, Scientology claims the courses are “secular”, though when delivered within the setting of a Church of Scientology they are “religious scripture”.

Some of the courses, including ‘The Learning Skills Course’ and ‘The Restoring Self-Respect Course’ have been accredited by LASER Learning Awards and allow inmates to demonstrate continued personal growth and development during their time behind bars, which is taken into consideration when determining applications for early release.

One course titled ‘Understanding and Overcoming Addiction’ is based entirely on L. Ron Hubbard’s quack teachings about drugs and encourages prisoners to use vitamin therapy and saunas to combat their addictions. In the course pack, obtained by Scientology Business, Criminon teaches “the effects of medical and psychiatric drugs, whether painkillers, tranquilisers or antidepressants are just as terrible” as street drugs like cocaine and heroin. By taking prescription medicines, the courses says prisoners are “made stupid, blank forgetful, unreal and irresponsible” and even “become a threat or danger to friends and the people around them.”

It continues, “The drug rehabilitation technology developed by Mr Hubbard has been able to get rid of the major damage in people who have been on drugs. This is an exact technology which gets a person off drugs without pain. It handles their physical and mental effects and helps them get back in control of their lives. Nothing else can do this with certainty.”

There is no scientific evidence to support these claims and in fact, several people have died as a result of Scientology’s controversial drug rehabilitation program, which is offered without medical supervision at its Narconon centres across the world. In 2024, The Guardian found the Narconon program had left vulnerable people “traumatised” and triggered an investigation by the Charity Commission.

A Criminon spokesperson said that in severe addiction cases, it does advise people to consult doctors and that “Criminon provides an effective course in this area that should be supported and promoted, not maliciously attacked.” Though it declined to comment on the contents of the courses themselves.

According to its annual accounts filed with the Charity Commission, Criminon has received funding from the Royal Society of St George (RSSG) and the Mountbatten Memorial Trust, of which the monarch is patron. In a statement, an RSSG spokesperson said that it had made small donations to a charity a few years ago, but that “at the time we were not made aware of any connection to any religious or other body. No further support has been given or is planned.”

The Mountbatten Memorial Trust said it would “not knowingly make any donation to the Church of Scientology.”

Journalist Tony Ortega, who has been reporting on Scientology for 31 years, said the Criminon program and Scientology are “very much entwined” and that anybody donating to Criminon is unwittingly funding Scientology’s activities. He said the charity “can only operate under licensing from Scientology’s Association for Better Living and Education (ABLE), and ABLE is only staffed by Scientology Sea Org members who have signed one-billion-year Scientology contracts.”

“Anyone who says a branch of Criminon is “independent” of Scientology is deluding themselves,” he continued.

In a statement, a Scientology representative said “The Church of Scientology has proudly supported Criminon charities around the world for decades and features them at the top of the home page of the Scientology website.”

The Charity Commission said that no concerns have been raised about Criminon, but it added: “Anyone with any evidence to support concerns should share that with us, so that we can assess it, and determine whether there is a role for us as regulator.”

A Prison Service spokesperson said: “Criminon is one of many charities operating within the prison estate and we keep their activities under constant review to ensure they operate within our rules.”

The post Scientology is being taught in 70% of UK prisons, investigation reveals first appeared on Scientology Business News - lawsuits, financial records and shell companies.

Since September 2024, Highways have been embroiled in a lengthy back-and-forth between angry locals and the controversial church over an extensive hedge planted on public land opposite the entrance to Scientology’s UK headquarters. The 130ft hedge and a concealed fence were believed to have been placed by the church along Saint Hill Road near East Grinstead, Sussex as a means to minimise space available for protestors to stand. Government officials declared them “unauthorised structures” and ordered their removal. Wooden sleepers placed along the road were also considered a danger to motorists, should they become dislodged.

After multiple deadline extensions and Scientology claiming the removal order amounted to “religious discrimination”, the hedge and concealed fence were eventually removed in June 2025. However, the Church subsequently applied for – and were granted – a Planting Licence, which allowed them to place a new hedge in exactly the same spot.

The Planting Licence came with conditions, requiring the hedge to consist of no more than 35 individual trees with limits on the species and how close they could be placed to the highway so as to ensure there was sufficient space for pedestrians to seek refuge from oncoming traffic. However, in true keeping with their reputation for doing what they want, Scientology planted 105 trees and dug several large holes in front of the bush making it unsafe for pedestrians – or protestors – to use.

Despite demands from the Highways department, the Church continued to promise it would resolve issues along the verge, only for follow-up inspections to find no changes had been made. Scientology did finally remove the excess plants in December 2025, however they were simply dumped along with other garden waste behind the hedge while the holes they had dug in the pedestrian refuge remained in place.

Now, Highways have stepped in to resolve problems at the site but despite the issues arising from Scientology’s non-compliance with the conditions of their Planting Licence, the taxpayer are expected to foot the bill.

Here’s the timeline of events, as reported here on Scientology Business:

September 19th 2024: West Sussex Highways inspection finds 130ft of hedge, concealed fencing and wooden sleepers placed opposite the entrance to Scientology’s UK headquarters near East Grinstead, Sussex. Scientology are informed they would be able to apply for a Planting Licence, but only after the existing unauthorised structures are removed.

September 24th 2024: The Underground Bunker breaks the story: Highways order Scientology to remove the unauthorised structures within 28 days, with a possible 14 day extension should they not hear back from the Church.

October 1st 2024:
Scientology representative argues the structures were “put there on the specific recommendation of Inspector Paul Scott of Sussex Police more than 10 years ago, and was inspected and approved by West Sussex Highways at that time,” however the Police do not have the authority to approve placing permanent obstructions along a public right of way. After being pushed by the Council Scientology were unable to provide any evidence of the Highways department giving authorisation.

October 15th 2024: Scientology apply for a licence to erect temporary hoarding along the highway in order to obstruct protestors ahead of forthcoming IAS gathering.

October 17th 2024: Highways reject the application, citing safety concerns.

October 23rd 2024: Scientology’s UK spokesperson threatens Highways, describing their order to remove the structures as “discrimination” and warning officials to “be very careful.”

November 4th 2024: Extension granted for removal expires.

January 15th 2025: Highways arboriculturist raises a ticket for the structures to be removed. Meanwhile, Scientology challenges property boundaries and file an official complaint with the Council.

January 27th 2025:
Highways informs Scientology Business the complaint had been rejected, however Scientology have the opportunity to escalate it to the Local Government Ombudsman. Removal works put on hold until the outcome of the complaint is finalised.

June 3rd 2025: Janet Laveau emails Highways stating “removal is in progress. It should be completed in the next 24 hours or so.”

June 6th 2025: Highways inspector visits the site and reports that although some of the structures had been removed, work still needed to be done in order to restore the verge to its native state.

June 13th 2025: Highways chase Scientology asking for an update and two weeks later they threaten to reconsider the granting of a Planting Licence if the stumps and fence posts were not removed by 23rd July

July 7th 2025: Scientology tells Highways “everything has been removed” 

July 8th 2025: Highways inspection takes place, with a report being sent the following day noting several tree stumps still had not been removed.

July 30th 2025: Scientology writes to Highways saying “all of the roots have been extracted and disposed of now.” 

August 1st 2025: Highways once again inspect the site

August 7th 2025: Highways send another inspector after a local resident complained the verge had been left in a state of disrepair. Highways then confirms the roots, stumps and other unauthorised obstructions had been removed and that they will proceed with Scientology’s application for a planting licence.

September 10th 2025: Internal email obtained through the Freedom of Information Act shows Highways officials discussing special circumstances being adopted regarding the planting licence: “It is usually only for trees and for the Parish or District, but this is a special for the Church of Scientology and for trees to form a hedge, which is not within the norm of the Licence, but this has been adapted.”

September 18th 2025: With their October IAS event date looming, Scientology applies pressure on the council to hurry up with the granting of the licence “as their supplier has lead times to adhere to” and Highways subsequently ask for the application to be expedited.

September 24th 2025: Planting Licence for up to 35 individual trees is issued by West Sussex Highways

October 23rd 2025: Scientology plant new hedge, consisting of 71 plants. This later rises to 105 ahead of the IAS event.

Since October, Highways have engaged in continuous dialogue with residents and the Church regarding the additional plants. Eventually, Scientology removed them but simply dumped them behind the hedge and left several holes were still left along the verge. Several inspections have taken place over the last nine months with Area Highways Manager Andy Tuck finally stepping in to resolve the problem earlier today.

In a statement, Mr. Tuck told us “I can confirm that today I attended the site together with a Senior Highways Steward and a Highways Steward. During our visit, we removed the holly bushes that had previously been taken out and placed behind the remaining hedge.”

“In addition, we inspected the verge and filled the holes that were unfortunately left following the removal of some of the holly bushes, which had been undertaken at the request of WSCC.”

When questioned on whether the taxpayer would be footing the bill, or if Highways were seeking to recover the associated costs from Scientology, he said “During the course of my inspection, I identified that the holly bushes had been removed from the verge and that there were associated holes present. In the interest of operational efficiency and effective use of resources, I made the decision to address both matters at the same time by removing the remaining vegetation and undertaking the necessary filling of the holes that had been left by their removal.”

“This approach enabled the issue to be resolved promptly on site, rather than continuing with a protracted email exchange with different parties, which would not have represented the most efficient use of my time or public resources.”

“As part of my role, I am required to make informed decisions on how matters such as this can be brought to a practical and timely resolution.”

One local resident told us, “This is absolutely ridiculous, I am so angry. If I did that I’d get a bill. Why are we paying for this is what I’d like an answer to from Highways.”

Responding to comments on social media from locals, County Councillor Jacquie Russell said “During the course of their inspection today, [Highways] identified that the holly bushes that they had previously requested be removed from the verge, had been removed from their planting spot but not cleared away with the holes they were planted in remaining unfilled. It was therefore decided that in the interests of public safety, operational efficiency and effective use of resources, to address both matters at the same time by removing the remaining vegetation and undertaking the necessary filling of the holes that had been left unfilled.”

“Given this is a pedestrian refuge and public land upon which a hedge should never have been planted in the first place, Highways considered it more important to mitigate risk of injury by removing that risk, resolving the issue whilst on site, rather than continuing with a protracted email exchange with different parties, which would not have represented the most efficient use of officer time or public resources.”

The post Hedgegate: Taxpayer foots the bill for Scientology Highways non-compliance at UK headquarters first appeared on Scientology Business News - lawsuits, financial records and shell companies.

The application, which was submitted in September last year, sought to build a mega car park for over 680 vehicles and build permanent infrastructure to support the annual temporary erection of three mammoth marquees used to host the annual gathering of Scientology’s membership body, the IAS. The event brings considerable disruption to the local town, with residents complaining annually about the “chaos” caused by thousands of vehicles – including Tom Cruise’s helicopter – arriving at the site in order to hear reclusive leader David Miscavige speak.

In total, Scientology was seeking permission to redevelop 5.07 hectares, or over half a million square feet of land at their Saint Hill compound. The plans revolve around a single three day event, of which only one day is open to the public, and which Scientology officials admit is not a religious event but a money-making exercise. Supporting their application, the controversial Church supplied a report claiming the IAS event brings more benefit to the UK economy than the Eurovision Song Contest, though it relied heavily on unverified statistics provided by the church and assumed multiplier effects that exaggerated the event’s impact.

Today, elected officials at Mid-Sussex District Council voted to approve the redevelopment eight in favour vs one against and two abstentions.

The project is the latest in a string of developments over the years on the site of Saint Hill Manor, a Grade-II listed building. Since acquiring the site in 1959, Scientology has built a large faux castle, coach park, cafeteria and made alterations to existing buildings leading critics to raise concerns about overdevelopment in a protected National Landscape (formerly known as an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty).

Speaking against the application, Councillor John Dabell said “Originally, I understand they wanted to build a big unit at what is called Saint Hill and they were denied permission and therefore, they found out you could build a castle anywhere you like, so they built a castle. There have been various things going forward over a period of time where, bearing in mind this is an area of natural beauty which is protected land, and one way or another they have continued, in my opinion, to find a way to do what they want on it. I have concerns for this.”

“They’re talking about using this for 84 days a year […] for quite a large part of the time, that marquee is going to be there and my concern is that it will eventually become something else. There’s always been something like that, that’s actually stretched usage within this part of the land.”

The event has been taking place at Saint Hill for many years without the required permits, with Mid-Sussex District Council issuing a Planning Contravention Notice in 2023. Instead of focusing on the impact of the event taking place in an unauthorised manner in illegal structures erected annually without permission, the Planning Committee today seemed to view the application as an improvement of existing facilities.

A statement from former Scientologist Alexander Barnes-Ross was read out at the meeting by the Council’s lawyer, which said:

This application seeks to make permanent alterations to over 5 hectares of unspoiled, protected rural countryside. Although the proposal seeks to embed a plastic geocell grid into the ground, giving the car park area the appearance of a field for the majority of the year, planning policy states the protection of the National Landscape goes beyond purely visual impact. This will result in a fundamental change to the use of the land, and the Council’s own report acknowledges the harm and damage this will do to the local area and nearby heritage buildings.

However, perhaps more concerning are the number of inaccuracies and falsehoods presented by the applicant, and seemingly endorsed by Officers in their report. At a Premises Licence Review hearing just a few months ago, Scientology’s lawyers admitted in this very chamber that the IAS event – which this application seeks to provide infrastructure for – is not religious in nature, and does not involve any acts of worship. It is a fundraising, money-making event for an overseas entity that extracts huge amounts of wealth from the local economy. The applicant’s, and the officers’ agreement that Saint Hill has religious significance for Scientologists and that this should be given extra weight in terms of demonstrating a public benefit are not only misleading, but demonstrably false. The IAS event, as per the applicant’s legal representatives and indeed the reports submitted as part of their application, is not open to the public apart from one day a year and although there are reassurances the carpark could be used by the local sports club, there is no evidence to suggest such an agreement would last indefinitely.

Similarly, the applicant and indeed the officers’ report suggests that due to the so-called religious significance of the site, no alternative venues have been deemed appropriate for this event… and yet the applicant’s own reports detail how over the years, 25% of these annual IAS events have indeed taken place elsewhere. The Church recently secured permission to build a huge events venue at their worldwide headquarters in Florida, where this IAS event will eventually move to – meaning this development will result in permanent alterations to a protected AONB, yet only see temporary use until their new venue opens in the US.

Finally, it is important for Councillors to note the economic impact assessment is based on figures provided by the applicant themselves and cannot be substantiated. There has been no independent assessment conducted by the Council, or indeed any verification that the figures provided are accurate. The suggestion this event carries a greater benefit to the UK economy than Eurovision is laughable at best. Although a number of attendees visit from overseas, the majority of them stay in hotels owned by Scientologists, who in turn donate their profits back to the Church. There is no mention of the fact last year Scientology’s biggest donor was awarded for donating $360 million. This event creates a closed loop economy and in fact, extracts wealth from the area.

Any reasonable person would consider a 5 hectare development to be ‘major’, and it simply does not serve the public interest. I therefore urge Councillors to reject this proposal.

Statement from former Scientologist Alex Barnes-Ross, in opposition to Scientology’s proposed development at their UK headquarters

The Council’s report noted the plans would result in harm to an area of protected countryside, and deal damage to the setting of listed heritage buildings in the vicinity, but Councillors voted to approve the plans regardless.

Now Scientology have been given the green light, we expect a full permission notice to be issued in the coming days which will lay out any limiting conditions attached to the development and a timescale for construction work to begin.

The post Redevelopment plans approved at Scientology’s UK headquarters first appeared on Scientology Business News - lawsuits, financial records and shell companies.

The independent school in Forest Row, Sussex has previously denied ties to the controversial church, whose UK headquarters is located just two miles away at Saint Hill, however a leaked email sent by a Scientology executive last week appears to confirm the school has agreed to host children enrolled on church courses over the summer period.

“This summer, Greenfields will accommodate students ages 11 to 17 at their facility so that they can be on course at Saint Hill,” the email states. Staff at the school “will look after them just like they do when they are at Greenfields boarding school, and during the week are under the supervision of Saint Hill Supervisors,” it continues.

Children can “stay as many weeks as they want during the summer holidays” and when not studying at Saint Hill, the school will organise outings, “fun things” and opportunities to “make new friends,” it says. School facilities including a tennis court and basketball court will also be made available to the students and “there is a lounge for movie nights, board games and table football. There are also quiet rooms for reading, etc.”

Students participating in the program will “study at Saint Hill Monday to Friday, and will be transported to and from Saint Hill and Greenfields using a Greenfields van” and weekend activities are to be organised by the school. “Saint Hill is paid for any Scientology services, the Refectory for meals throughout the week, and Greenfields provides meals on the weekend, accommodation, transport and outings,” it explains.

Photos we published from inside the school earlier this year reveal the boarding facilities are relatively modern with both single and bunk beds seen in shared dormitories. One room featured a framed photograph commemorating a visit made by celebrity Scientologist actor John Travolta in 1993, while pictures illustrating the school’s history had been edited to remove former teacher Mark Kent, who was jailed for child sex offences while working at the school.

Greenfields was founded in 1981 by senior Scientologist Margaret Hodkin, whose son Peter now represents the church as their UK solicitor. Although a separate legal entity, the school operates as part of Scientology’s ‘Applied Scholastics’ network and uses an educational model developed by L. Ron Hubbard known as ‘Study Technology’. In a statement to the London Evening Standard Greenfields described itself as “completely non-denominational” welcoming “children of all faiths,” though it is understood the majority of its students belong to Scientologist families. The school’s website makes no mention of Scientology.

Despite denying ties, Greenfields was advertised as providing “fully set up child care facilities” during last year’s gathering of Scientology’s membership body, the International Association of Scientologists (IAS) at Saint Hill. Now, a new email leaked to us over the weekend seems to support the suggestion Greenfields has a close and ongoing partnership with the Church, detailing an arrangement where children studying at Saint Hill over the summer will be housed and transported to the secluded Scientology compound by the school.

You can read the email in full below:

In order to facilitate the young generation coming to Saint Hill to study this summer, the following has been organized with Greenfields School: 

This summer, Greenfields will accommodate students ages 11 to 17 at their facility so that they can be on course at Saint Hill. Students will sleep in the Greenfields dormitory and use the Greenfields facilities. They will eat at Greenfields on the weekends.

They will study at Saint Hill, Monday to Friday, and will be transported to and from Saint Hill and Greenfields using a Greenfields van. 

On the weekends, they will go on organized outings together, to do fun things, get outside and make new friends.

They will eat at Saint Hill during the week days (Refectory will need to be paid for their meals) and study on any course or do any service Monday to Friday. They could do SRD, Student Hat, Basics or the new Children’s Courses courses, etc.

Greenfields staff will look after them just like they do when they are at Greenfields boarding school, and during the week are under the supervision of Saint Hill Supervisors.

Saint Hill is paid for any Scientology services, the Refectory for meals throughout the week, and Greenfields provides meals on the weekend, accommodation, transport and outings!

Greenfields will charge a fee per week for this service. They can stay as many weeks as they want during the summer holidays. 

Greenfields facilities include the following: tennis court, basketball court, lounge/games room, sports pitch, full boarding facilities, showers/bathrooms and private storage spaces. Rooms are shared between 2 and 8 children depending on the age and size of the room. Girls and boys sleep in opposite sides of the facility and come together in the communal areas. There is good wifi access. There is a kitchen where they can keep their own groceries and make their own additional snacks as need be if they wish.

There is a lounge for movie nights, board games and table football. There are also quiet rooms for reading, etc.

For any questions Greenfields related, contact Kerry Enright: [REDACTED]

For any questions Saint Hill services related, contact any Saint Hill Registrar or myself, Lavinia Dyer, Saint Hill D of T: [REDACTED]

Let’s get the word out to all parents with kids in this age bracket, and get them all scheduled to come here this summer. People book their plans months in advance, so they need to be booked to come to Saint Hill this summer, NOW! 

(If they would want to do the Purif this summer or study also on the weekend as well, this can be arrange.)

Leaked email sent to Scientologists from an executive at Saint Hill

Scientology recently announced a series of new courses aimed at children it calls ‘The Golden Age for the Next Generation’. The campaign targets Scientologist parents, encouraging them to introduce their kids to Scientology principles and get them started on the ‘Bridge to Total Freedom.’ The training camp taking place at Saint Hill this summer is understood to be part of the church’s efforts to recruit children, with facilities provided by Greenfields offering a childcare solution for working parents during the summer holidays.

The arrangement also comes at a financially challenging time for the fee-paying school, after it lost the ability to sponsor overseas student visas in 2024. In a statement, a UK Visas & Immigration spokesperson told us “if an institution is found to not meet the standards required of a Sponsor, compliance action will be taken, up to and including revocation where appropriate.” Data published on the gov.uk website suggests overseas students accounted for up to two thirds of the school’s annual income.

In the same year, an inspection by the Independent Schools Inspectorate (ISI) flagged several concerns about the school’s safeguarding and administration practices. Although these concerns were addressed ahead of a subsequent inspection in December 2024, it is understood Greenfields had lost a quarter of its students by the start of the following academic year, leading to the school seeking financial support from parents.

A spokesperson for East Sussex County Council told us: “Following the report from the ISI,  the Local Authority followed up these concerns with the school and were satisfied that all appropriate actions were being taken to address the safeguarding concerns.  The ISI confirmed this view in their follow up visit in December 2024.

“As with all educational establishments, the school is responsible for reducing any risks with regards to preventing and responding to extremism and radicalisation. The Local Authority’s training offer and guidance documents support schools in fulfilling these duties.”

In a landmark 1986 High Court case, Mr. Justice Latey said “it is plain that the Church exercises a strong influence if not indeed control” over Greenfields School, explaining “Scientology as such is not taught as a subject. But all the ambience [sic] is of Scientology” and noted “the School pays money annually to Scientology.”

He warned “The objective of Scientology is to capture the child and its mind.”

Forty years after Latey’s ruling the church continues to place emphasis on engaging younger generations through its renewed youth programs, while Greenfields School remains part of the infrastructure supporting those activities.. largely away from the public spotlight and seemingly free from government scrutiny.

The post Greenfields School to host young Scientologists studying at Saint Hill this summer first appeared on Scientology Business News - lawsuits, financial records and shell companies.

The project, which will see more than half a million square feet (5.07 hectares) of protected countryside land within an Area of Outstanding Beauty converted into event facilities, has been the centre of almost 11 months of controversy within the rural Sussex community. Essentially, Scientology are seeking permission to build a giant new car park on the site of their existing UK headquarters, as well as permanent features such as a toilet block, generator facility and concrete pads to facilitate the annual erection of three mammoth marquees used as a venue for the annual gathering of the International Association of Scientologists (IAS).

The event takes place over a three-day weekend once a year, of which only the Sunday evening is open to the public. However, according to Scientology the event contributes more to the UK economy than the Eurovision Song Contest.

Now, ahead of the Planning Committee voting on the application next week, Mid-Sussex District Council officers have produced a report recommending approval despite concerns around the event’s impact on the community and the proposed development’s impact on the environment.

In its report, the Council notes “While the proposal is not related to the purposes of agriculture, the intended use does support extended cultural/community activities associated with the permitted religious use of Saint Hill Manor,” despite lawyers for the Church arguing at a Premises Licence review hearing earlier this year that the IAS event does not involve any acts of worship and is, in fact, a fundraising event for their membership body.

The report does, however, admit that Scientology’s proposals “will result in harm” to the locality, and warns “while there is no objection in principle to the proposals, should it be found that it fails to maintain, or enhance, the quality of the rural landscape then the proposal would be contrary to policy DP12” of the Mid-Sussex District Plan.

It continues, “there are a number of designated and non-designated heritage assets that have been identified in the vicinity of the site, whose settings would be adversely impacted as a result of the proposal.”

Elected officials are set to vote on the proposal next Thursday. You can read the Council’s report below:

The post Scientology mega car park recommended for approval, despite environmental and local residents’ concerns first appeared on Scientology Business News - lawsuits, financial records and shell companies.

The controversial church does not hold tax-exempt status in the United Kingdom after the Charity Commission ruled it “does not benefit the public” in 1999. Instead, it funnels operations through an Australian-registered non-profit named Church of Scientology Religious Education College, Inc. (COSRECI). Although its registered address is listed with the Australian Charities and Not-for-Profits Commission (ACNC) as 225 Pulteney St, Adelaide, SA, 5000, Australia, COSRECI is considered an overseas entity that does business exclusively in the UK. Its ACNC filings account for Scientology’s entire UK operation including its headquarters at Saint Hill and city-level churches such as London, Birmingham and Manchester. Due to its lack of charity status, COSRECI is liable for Corporation Tax on its profits.

In their latest accounts for the year ending 31st December 2025, filed with the ACNC today, COSRECI has more than tripled its expenditure on ‘legal and professional fees’ over the last five years from $614,821 AUD ($423,691 USD or £319,550 GBP) in 2021 to $1,934,033 AUD ($1.33 million USD or £1 million GBP) in 2025.

The church has also continued its practice of borrowing money from Scientology entities in the United States, with total debt owed to related parties almost doubling from $57.7 million AUD ($39.7 million USD or £30 million GBP) in 2018 to a staggering $111.3 million AUD ($76.7 million USD or £57.9 million GBP) in 2025.

Scientology’s UK income has somewhat flatlined over the same period, with reported annual figures ranging between $23.7 million AUD and $46.3 million AUD and an average annual turnover of $32.3 million AUD ($22.2 million USD or £16.8 million GBP).

Plotted on a comparative graph, Scientology’s financial model appears to be unsustainable with debts increasing year-on-year, and money spent on legal fees growing exponentially despite no significant increase in annual turnover. On the loans from other church entities, their latest accounts state “The trustees consider the going concern basis to be appropriate for the preparation of these financial statements. Most current liabilities are amounts owed to other Scientology organisations, with whom there has always been mutual cooperation and who are unlikely to seek repayment to the detriment of other creditors.”

“Church of Scientology Religious Education College, Inc maintain[s] significant cash balances with the bank and the trustees are confident that [COSRECI] will be able to pay debts when they fall due”

The accounts show $42.3 million AUD falls due to Church of Scientology International and $17.46 million AUD to Church of Scientology Flag Service Organization within the next year. COSRECI claims to have $46.4 million AUD ($31.9 million USD or £24.1 million GBP) in unrestricted funds available either in cash or at the bank.

During the year, COSRECI received donations of $4,960 (2024: $67,716), purchased books and other literature to a value of
$1,354,425 (2024: $1,160,482), and was charged $3,162,265 (2024: $2,926,255) for ecclesiastical management services and courses. Church of Scientology International also paid $792,577 (2024: $342) in respect to building and leasehold improvements and $59,373 (2024:V $23,256) in respect of furniture and equipment additions, in addition payments of $59,373 (2024: $23,322) were held on account for future building improvements. At the year end, $135,626,325 (2024: $133,002,158) was due to Church of Scientology International and its subsidiaries

Church of Scientology UK Financial Report 2025 (Source: ACNC)

The financial report also provides further insight into the nature of COSRECI’s debts, with amounts due to several Scientology entities in the United States including the ‘Mother Church’ Church of Scientology International (CSI), Scientology International Reserves Trust (SIRT) and their headquarters in Clearwater Florida known as Flag.

Some debts relate to amounts owed for services provided to COSRECI, for example fees charged by Flag for the recent ‘Golden Age of Administration’ which saw dozens of executives shipped off to Florida for training on the ‘Flag Executive Briefing Course’. However the majority of debt arises from loans from Scientology organisations higher up in the church’s international management structure.

The total amount owed by Scientology’s UK branch to its US counterparts is almost three times its annual turnover.

At the year-end there were loans outstanding from Church of Scientology International of $66,773,749 (2024: $64,820,934)
and is included in note 8 under “Loans from related organisations. The loan is to be repaid over a period of five years, unless
the term is extended by agreement. Interest of $2,243,237 (2024: $2,246,354) was charged in the year.

At the year-end there was a loan outstanding from Scientology International Reserves Trust of $14,781,341 (2024:
$14,319,614) and this is shown in Note 8 under “Loans from related organisations”. The loan is to be repaid over a period of
five years, unless the term is extended by agreement. Interest is chargeable at 5% p.a.

Church of Scientology Flag Service Organisation was charged $Nil (2024: charged $28,221) for courses provided to
COSRECI. At the year end, $17,465,887 (2024: $18,117,012) was due to Church of Scientology Flag Service Organisation
and this amount is included in Note 7. The amount had increased (2024: decreased) in the period by interest charged of
$Nil (2024: $Nil) and was reduced in the period by repayments of $Nil (2024: $Nil) and exchange differences of $590,489
(2024: $148,760)

In addition, COSRECI received donations from other churches amounting to $2,209,231 (2024: $5,766,590)

Church of Scientology UK Financial Report 2025 (Source: ACNC)

COSRECI itself has also loaned money to its European counterparts, with $1.25 million AUD owed by the Church of Scientology and Community Centre of Dublin and $171,218 due from the Church of Scientology of Germany as of 31st December 2025.

The filing also appears to confirm Manchester is being prioritised as the next UK ‘Ideal Org’, stating “as at the balance sheet date, Church of Scientology Religious Education College Inc had committed to further expenditure in respect of ongoing property improvement works at its Manchester premises.” Renovation works began on the Grade-II listed Old Essence Distillery building in Trafford last year, which Scientology acquired in 2007 for a reported £3.6 million. This followed pressure applied by the local Council to “arrest the decline” of the property, which had fallen into a state of disrepair due to being sat vacant for so long. Scaffolding has now been erected around the building and works have begun on the interior, but due to asbestos being found throughout the building, a number of new planning applications have been made in order to account for its removal.

The amount reported as ‘committed expenditure’ on the refurbishment works was listed as $1,694,003 AUD ($1.17 million USD or £879,848 GBP) in COSRECI’s 2024 accounts. However, a leaked document sent to parishioners last year suggests Scientology has raked in over £37 million in donations for the project.

Along with its annual accounts Scientology has also reported steady growth in the number of volunteers it has working for the organisation in the UK, rising from 1,300 in 2024 to 1,400 in 2025. Expenditure on staff allowances however fell from $3,690,738 AUD in 2024 to $3,663,334 AUD in 2025. If Scientology’s figures are to be believed, this means the average staff wage fell from $54 AUD ($37 USD or £28 GBP) a week in 2024 to $50 AUD ($34 USD or £26 GBP) last year.

Meanwhile COSRECI’s reported six “key management personnel” received a pay rise from an average of $136 AUD ($93 USD or £70 GBP) per week in 2024 to $143 AUD ($98 USD or £74 GBP) in 2025. In contrast, for a standard 37.5-hour work week the UK minimum wage equates to a weekly gross pay of £457.88 ($881 AUD or $607 USD).

The amount of money Scientology spends on legal fees each year has also seen a marked increase in recent years, almost quadrupling from $556,969 AUD ($383,668 USD or £289,328 GBP) in 2022 to $1.93 million AUD ($1.33 million USD or £1 million GBP) in 2025.

This coincides with a growing UK protest movement and increased government scrutiny after Scientology leader Captain David Miscavige revived their annual IAS event, which takes place annually at their Saint Hill compound near East Grinstead, Sussex. After an extended break due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the event returned in 2022 and was met by the largest UK protest since the Anonymous movement 15 years prior.

Since then, local residents and government officials have raised concerns about the “disruption” and “chaos” the gathering brings to the local area. In 2023, Mid-Sussex District Council issued a Planning Contravention Notice, ordering the church to apply for planning permission in order to erect three mammoth marquees used to host the event and in 2024 Scientology launched a bid to ban protesting which subsequently failed after the Council declared the demonstrations to be “by and large peaceful and good natured”.

The Church was also faced with an application to review their Premises Licence in late 2025 and appointed barrister Cain Ormondroyd to represent them at a hearing earlier this year, however due to their financial year ending 31st December 2025, these costs are not expected to appear in Scientology’s accounts until next year.

In a policy letter dated 9th March 1972, founder L. Ron Hubbard laid out Scientology’s governing financial policy. He wrote: “make money, make more money, make other people produce so as to make money.”

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The group of ex-Scientologists presented a petition, co-signed by the Michael J. Rinder Aftermath Foundation along with a dossier of dozens of first-hand survivor testimonies documenting decades of abuse, coercive control, financial exploitation, child safeguarding failures, and forced labour that have occurred within the Church in the United Kingdom.

The handover took place at the door of 10 Downing Street, where the group posed for photographs with the petition.

The petition urges the Government to take decisive action, including llaunching a public inquiry into high-control groups in the UK; strengthening safeguarding laws to recognise spiritual and ritual abuse; closing gaps in legislation that allow coercive control outside domestic settings (Serious Crime Act 2015); and introducing mandatory reporting requirements for abuse within religious organisations, as proposed by the All Party Parliamentary Group on Safeguarding in Faith Communities.

The petition draws on historic findings, including the 1971 Foster Report, which described Scientology as “socially harmful,” as well as testimonies from former members. “This is not about belief — it’s about abuse, exploitation, and the failure of safeguarding systems to protect vulnerable people, especially children,” said Alexander Barnes-Ross, who has been leading protests against Scientology’s abusive practices in the UK for the last three years.

“For too long, we have been ignored – the media often too afraid to even call us survivors. The Government has previously recognised the harms of this organisation, the Charity Commission ruled it “does not benefit the public” and yet it continues to operate unchanged and free of scrutiny to this day. We are bringing our experiences directly to the Government’s door and asking them to act in order to right the wrongs of the past and prevent further harm.”

The accompanying testimonies describe patterns of alleged abuse spanning decades, including excessive working hours for little or no pay, pressure to sever contact with family members, failure to report crimes to authorities and exploitation of minors within organisational structures. The testimonies demonstrate a systemic issue that has spanned decades, with one account from the 1970s and another as recently as this year.

The petition includes dozens of detailed survivor accounts from former Scientologists in the UK and internationally. The campaign is supported by advocacy organisations such as the Michael J. Ridner Aftermath Foundation, which assists individuals leaving Scientology.

The action follows similar international scrutiny, including recent inquiries into high- control groups in Australia.

Although its buildings are designated places of worship, the Church of Scientology was rejected by the Charity Commission in 1999. In 1986, High Court Judge Mr. Justice Latey ruled Scientology was “corrupt, sinister and dangerous”.

Alex Barnes-Ross has been a prolific campaigner for greater awareness of Scientology’s harmful practices in the United Kingdom, speaking out on Youtube under the name ‘Apostate Alex’ and through online site scientologybusiness.com. In response, Scientology have orchestrated a prolific campaign of harassment and attempted to ban peaceful protests outside its UK headquarters.

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