December 27, 2023
On the very same day Danny Masterson was transferred from Los Angeles Men’s Central Jail to California’s North Kern State Prison (NKSP), a motion to file a Second Amended Complaint was submitted to the Court by the plaintiffs in Bixler v. Scientology, David Miscavige, et. al. in the Los Angeles Superior Court on December 27, 2023. Boies, Schiller, Flexner LLP represents the plaintiffs.
The Second Amended Complaint (SAC) adds Civil RICO. Scroll down to read the SAC.
Definitions posted on various law firm websites offer the basic outline of a Civil RICO in California. In our view, the decades-long consistent and demonstrable conduct of the Church of Scientology and its syndicate members including the Office of Special Affairs, David Miscavige, the Sea Org, and a long list of other agents serve to establish the elements of RICO:
To pursue a civil RICO claim in California, the claimant must establish the following elements:
- An enterprise existed.
- The activities of the enterprise affected interstate commerce.
- The defendants were employed by or associated with the organization.
- That the defendants participated in a pattern of racketeering activities which poses a threat of ongoing criminal activity.
- The defendants committed at least two racketeering acts while participating in the operations of the enterprise.
“Enterprise” is defined in an expansive manner for purposes of RICO claims. It can include any partnership, corporation, association, union, other legal entity, or any group of individuals associated with one another.
Again, as stated above, racketeering activity can include a long list of state and federal crimes, which include violent crimes such as murder but also non-violent crimes such as mail fraud or wire fraud. The racketeering activities must be related to one another, such that they “amount to or pose a threat of continued criminal activity.” This might include the acts having similar purposes, results, participants, victims, or methods of commission. In proving that the racketeering acts were continuous, those pursuing RICO claims must show that the acts are part of a long-term association that exists for criminal purposes, that they are a regular way of conducting the defendant’s ongoing legitimate business, or that they are a regular way of conducting or participating in an ongoing and legitimate enterprise.
To be charged with a RICO claim, a defendant need not necessarily have known about every aspect of the enterprise-wide conspiracy. Instead, all that must be shown is that: 1) the defendant agreed to participate in two racketeering acts, 2) he knew the general status of the conspiracy, and 3) he knew the conspiracy extended beyond his individual role.
The SAC includes 22 causes of action for the six plaintiffs:
The Introduction is holds nothing back in correctly describing the defendants as members of a criminal enterprise within Scientology:
The Second Amended Complaint is 372 pages in length and may be slow loading: