Nearly six months after actor Danny Masterson was convicted of sexually assaulting two fellow members of the Church of Scientology, lawyers for his victims filed a document that contained a stunning new allegation against the faith.

Submitted in a downtown Los Angeles court as part of a years-old civil lawsuit against Scientology, the document referenced a purported effort by the church to “derail” the criminal proceedings against Masterson.

“Defendants and their agents engaged in a campaign of harassment and intimidation directed at one of the prosecutors assigned to Defendant Masterson’s trial,” the declaration from civil attorney Simon Leen read. “That prosecutor’s home and car windows were broken, the prosecutor’s home electronics were tampered with, and Defendants’ agents surveilled the prosecutor.”

  • [email protected]
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    8 months ago

    The US has Scientology, Japan has the moonies, South Korea has just straight up cults. Are there any other examples of religions with asymmetrically vast and subtle clandestine power over a country?

      • Bonehead@kbin.social
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        8 months ago

        She is a minor cult leader with a tiny following who targets idiots with not a lot of money to begin with and convinces them to not pay their hydro and phone bills so they can give it to her instead. She is literally just a Canadian SovCit with delusions of grandeur. She’s no where near the level of Scientology or LDS.

        • corsicanguppy@lemmy.ca
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          8 months ago

          So for us quaint Canadians she’s pretty scandalous. I’m surprised we haven’t blockaded the place with zambonies by now, or something with moose.

    • Son_of_dad@lemmy.world
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      8 months ago

      The assassination of Shinzo Abe must have been the most successful assassination ever. In North America the assassin would have been called crazy, insane, non sensical, etc. And their reasoning for the assassination ignored. In Japan they did a full investigation and essentially said the killer was right to be angry, and they blamed it on the moonies, which will hopefully help to bring the end of that cult

      • Mossy Feathers (She/They)@pawb.social
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        8 months ago

        I find that case insane. Like, the fact that they actually stopped, listened, and spent time thinking about whether his motive had merit is mind-boggling when compared to just about every other major country. I don’t think it’s just north america that would have disregarded him for being “insane”, I think most of the world would have done so.

        I know they’re not perfect and have their own issues, but Japan just seems like they’re on a totally different level from everyone else.