Tom Cruise named in Scientology racketeering lawsuit

Tom Cruise has been named in a $250 million lawsuit against Scientology. The lawsuit was filed by an ex-Scientologist Peter Letterese. who filed using the RICO (Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations) statutes, calling the church a ‘crime syndicate,’ and asking that they be broken up. The papers filed in Florida on July 15 alleges that members of the church harassed him after he left, reports the New York Daily News.
The lawsuit says Scientology head David Miscavage is ‘aided and abetted by the actions of Tom Cruise, his right-hand man for foreign and domestic promotion, as well as for foreign and domestic lobbying. Letterese alleges Cruise, an open Scientologist, promotes the church using his celebrity:
‘He has assisted the syndicate in acquiring funds and (made) his own donations of money believed to be in the multiple tens of millions of dollars.’
Letterese, who has long been critical of the church, claims a Scientologist phoned his lawyer at home, and told his lawyer’s wife he was her husband’s homosexual lover in an alleged attempt to smear him.
However investigator Paul Barresi, who has worked for Cruise in the past and brought the legal papers to the attention of the New York Daily News, said: ‘Letterese is just using a celebrity name to get attention.’
Karin Pouw, a spokeswoman for the Church of Scientology, said: ‘This is a frivolous suit based on falsehoods.’