Scientology Lies

The Church of Scientology has filed a countersuit in Las Vegas to a suit filed last month in federal court in Boston, church spokesman David Aden said.

Last month, Lavenda Van Schaick, a former member of the organization, filed a $200-million class action suit in US District Court in Boston on behalf of herself and others, charging the organization with fraud.

The church has filed a suit in federal court in Las Vegas, charging Van Schaick and one of her lawyers with conspiracy to violate the church's First Amendment right of religious freedom, Aden said yesterday.

Michael Flynn, another of Van Schaick's lawyers, said last month, when the complaint was filed, that his client was not pursuing the suit on the issue of religion, but was charging the church with defrauding her and others of large sums of money and making fraudulent claims about the benefits of being a church member.

The church has lost a $2-million damage suit filed in Portland, Ore., and nine of its leaders were convicted in federal court in Washington, D.C., of burglary and theft in connection with breaking into private and government offices.