Wed, 19 May 1999 21:50:26 GMT

Bob@minton.org wrote:

Church of Scientology International
Office of Special Affairs

May 12,1999

Mr. Jorgen Pedersen
Net Productions
Kalvebod Brugge 35-37
1519 Copenhagen V., Denmark

Fax No. 011-45-33-184461

Re: Your Upcoming Television program on Scientology

Dear Mr. Pedersen:

Following, our most recent telephone conversation today, I have given considerable thought to what we discussed concerning your upcoming television program on the Church Scientology.

Initially, I would like to point out that the Church has cooperated extensively with the production staff in the making of this program.

Our staff and parishioners in Denmark have provided interviews, footage of our church facilities and tried to answer all of your questions.

While I understand that to some degree the program will be controversial, I am grateful that the Church has had the opportunity to present you with sufficient material to portray the Church of Scientology in a balanced, even-handed fashion. And I truly hope that your program will ultimately reflect that balance. We are not seeking to exert editorial control over your program; your journalistic integrity deserves to be respected.

However, knowing what we know about Jesse Prince, we do object to the fact that he is being given the prominence of your television program to violate his contractual obligation.

In the final analysis, I fail to see what could possibly be gained by providing a Church spokesperson to engage in a televised debate with Jesse Prince. Mr. Prince was removed from any position of authority in the Church more than 10 years ago for his inability to attend to his duties in an honest, ethical fashion. He has no current knowledge of any of our Churches or activities. Thus, nothing he could possibly say on your program will improve your viewers' understanding of Scientology at all.

As to any past knowledge he may have had at one time, Mr. Prince admitted in a documented interview with Church counsel that such knowledge did not include any of the areas of expertise that he is now pretending to be an expert, such as Church legal affairs. For example, in August of 1998, Mr. Prince filed a declaration in a copyright infringement case involving the unlawful copying of approximate 2,000 published works by L. Ron Hubbard.

In it, Mr. Prince pretended to a knowledge of copyright procedures which he did not possess. Once this lack of knowledge was exposed in a deposition of Mr. Prince taken on August 19, 1998, the defendants in that suit, who hired Mr. Prince were forced to settle the case for a permanent injunction and a $1,000,000 damages award against them rather than face a trial with Mr. Prince as their witness.

Worse than merely being uninformed, Mr. Prince has amply demonstrated that he will say anything for money. Indeed Mr. Prince conceded in his August 19, 1998 testimony (excerpts of which were provided to you) that he had received several thousand dollars and a new car for testifying against the church, and that his paychecks would continue as long as he continued to speak out. This money is his only regular source of income beyond some occasional work as a handyman.

Before obtaining this windfall, Mr. Prince was unable to keep a job and, as a result declared bankruptcy in 1997. After declaring bankruptcy, he then sought to have the Church purchase his silence in exchange for large amounts of money. After the Church refused to cooperate with this attempted extortion, Mr. Prince took up the mantle of as a "professional" anti-Scientologist. Having collected his thirty pieces of silver to betray his faith, he continues to appear in the press, picket Churches, and harass Church staff both to earn his pay and in the hope that the Church will pay him money to go away. That is what he is attempting to do now, and I see no reason for the Church to aid him in his efforts.

Further, you were provided with evidence concerning Mr. Prince's long, unchanging pattern of unethical conduct. These included court records of arrests and convictions for lewd conduct and for driving while intoxicated. This conduct continues to the present. You were provided these materials for a specific reason: Mr. Prince intends to come on your program and pass moral judgement on my Church. His fitness to make moral pronouncements is thus directly relevant. It is my view that Mr. Prince's conduct renders him unfit to judge Scientology or anyone else.

Finally, we have presented you with the contract Mr. Prince signed when he left Church staff in which he agreed never to disclose any of the information he learned while on Church staff. This contract was entered into precisely to avoid the circumstance of Prince inventing allegations which force the Church to disclose private internal matters to disprove his lies. Mr. Prince is contractually bound to the Church in the amount of $10,000 for each breach of this contract. As he is penniless, and as your program is paying his expenses to enable him to fly to Denmark and appear on your show in violation of his contractual obligations, the Church will hold your production company and any of its employees or agents who induced Mr. Prince to breach his contractual obligations fully responsible for any violations.

Thus, if you sincerely desire to have your program reflect the amount of effort you and your staff appear to have put into it, and not to have it degenerate into a tabloid-style forum for the airing of lies which have been bought and paid for, I urge you to seriously reconsider using Mr. Prince at all.

Whatever you decide, you will not have a Church representative sitting opposite him in a live-on-tape debate; that we will not do. You do have our views, though, in this letter, and I would request that those views be accurately communicated to your viewers.

If you wish to communicate about any other matters concerning your program please do not hesitate to contact me.

Sincerely,

Kurt Weiland Church of Scientology International

Santa Klaus <tirnanog@my-dejanews.com> said:

"we are not trying to tell you what to say..." "but if you say things that make us look bad we will be very upset..."

Hey Kurt - I am sure that it has not escaped your tubby little mind but Prince's contract was signed in the USA - I doubt that your threats to a Danish broadcaster have any value whatsoever.

Also a non-disclosure document doesn't cover things like you described - if, indeed, Mr Prince is fabricating things then those "fabrications" are not covered under an NDA - an NDA covers not disclosing confidential information learned while one was an employee. It does not cover a whole host of other things - like, for example, talking about public information. It also does not proscribe reporting illegal activities to the authorities.

It is interesting that, once again, the church is trying to claim that someone who was as high in hierarchy as Mr prince was, in fact, a loser who could not hold a job etc etc - if Mr prince, with this terrible track record could rise so high in your organization, Weiland, what does that say about you? After all Mr Prince was your boss was he not?

Bluster and braggadacio seems to be your only stock in trade Mr Weiland. Did you point out to the Danish producers that you yourself had been sanctioned by a court in germany for your efforts in Munich?

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