Actress Leah Remini is suing the Church of Scientology over allegations she has suffered “psychological torture”, threats and harassment for several years.
The star, who rose to fame in shows such as Saved By The Bell and is best known for The King Of Queens series, is a former member of the church who joined as a child, but has since become one of its most prominent public opponents.
The 53-year-old claims she has been the victim of “intentional malicious and fraudulent rumours via hundreds of Scientology-controlled and co-ordinated social media accounts that exist solely to intimidate and spread misinformation”, according to a lawsuit filed at Los Angeles Superior Court, reported by Sky News’ US partner network NBC News.
Remini, who left the movement in 2013, co-created and hosted an anti-Scientology documentary series, Leah Remini: Scientology And The Aftermath, which aired from 2016 to 2019 and won two Emmy awards.
She is suing the church and leader David Miscavige, saying she does not believe she is the religion’s first alleged victim, “but I intend to be the last”.
“For 17 years, Scientology and David Miscavige have subjected me to what I believe to be psychological torture, defamation, surveillance, harassment, and intimidation, significantly impacting my life and career,” the star said in a statement.
Sky News’ US partner network NBC News has contacted the church and a representative for Miscavige, but they have not immediately responded to a request for comment.
Remini claims in her lawsuit that Miscavige and other defendants began attacks on her more than 10 years ago.
She alleges that current and former Scientologists were enlisted to record defamatory video statements against her – including that she “was abusive to her mother and daughter, and that she is a racist”, the lawsuit says.
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‘Final objective of silencing me has not been achieved’
Remini said she feared for her safety and was forced to hire bodyguards for the first time in 2015, after learning private investigators allegedly working for the church were following her during the promotion of her book, Troublemaker: Surviving Hollywood, in New York.
In 2018, the church organised a meeting with celebrity Scientologists and drilled attendees on “how to attack Ms Remini’s credibility, based on lies, using talking points that Scientology wrote”, according to the star’s lawsuit.
Remini has also accused the church of enlisting a man with “a history of mental illness and a violent criminal record” to watch her at her home in Los Angeles in 2020, the lawsuit claims. It also says her family and friends have been subjected to the harassment.
She is seeking damages “for the enormous economic and psychological harm” that the church’s alleged attacks have caused, and says she hopes to deter the church from “continuing their unlawful campaign of harassment and intimidation”.
“While advocating for victims of Scientology has significantly impacted my life and career, Scientology’s final objective of silencing me has not been achieved,” the actress said.
The weapons supervisor for the Western film Rust is appealing against her conviction for involuntary manslaughter over the fatal shooting of a cinematographer on set, according to court documents.
She was in charge of weapons during the production of the film in October 2021, when a Colt 45 revolver fired by actor and co-producer Alec Baldwin went off during a rehearsal.
Cinematographer Halyna Hutchins died, while director Joel Souza was injured.
A defence lawyer for Gutierrez, who is serving an 18-month sentence at a prison for women in New Mexico, filed a shortly worded appeal notice on Monday.
Her legal team has 30 days to submit detailed arguments. They previously requested a new trial following the verdict.
Gutierrez’s trial was told she unwittingly brought live ammunition to the set, where it was expressly prohibited, and failed to follow basic gun safety protocols.
During her sentencing hearing, she told the court she had tried to do her best while working on the production, despite not having “proper time, resources and staffing”.
Baldwin, who was a producer for the film as well as its star, has also pleaded not guilty to a charge of involuntary manslaughter.
He maintains he pulled back the gun’s hammer – but not the trigger – before it fired, and is set to face trial in July. He denies any wrongdoing.
The 66-year-old was originally charged in January 2023, more than a year after the shooting, but those charges were dropped a few months later. He was charged again in January this year.
His legal team has filed a motion calling for the charges to be dropped. Prosecutors responded with a 32-page documentclaiming that footage of the star on set shows he had “absolutely no control of his own emotions” and “no concern for how his conduct” affected those around him.
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Assistant director David Halls, who also faced charges, entered a plea bargain for negligent use of a deadly weapon last year, receiving a six-month suspended sentence.
A man who scooped a $1.35bn lottery win is said to be embroiled in a legal battle – with his own family.
The Mega Millions winner, who has not been named but is believed to hail from the US state of Maine, won the fourth-largest jackpot in US history last year (worth around £1.07bn).
But the story has only grown more complex since then, and the man is now involved in legal proceedings with two members of his family, US media outlet The Daily Beast reports.
He is said to have sued his daughter’s mother for allegedly revealing his newfound wealth to other members of his family in what he claimed was a violation of a non-disclosure agreement.
The lottery winner has also reportedly demanded hundreds of thousands of dollars in penalties, claiming that his child’s mother told his father, sister and stepmother about his big windfall.
But in recent court filings, the woman alleged that the man himself told his father and stepmother about the win, The Daily Beast reported.
Her lawyers said this “shatters the remaining shards” of the lawsuit.
The unnamed lottery winner’s father has also now apparently become involved in the legal proceedings, alleging that his son misled him about a number of things since the win.
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“I understand that my son has stated that he told me nothing about his money ‘other than the simple fact that I had won.’ That is not true,” he is quoted as saying in a declaration.
His dad adds that his son “told me a number of things he planned on doing with his money,” even though he never asked him for anything, The Daily Beast also reported.
These allegedly included building a new garage for his father as well as buying old cars to fix up.
Michael Cohen said he had been “knee deep into the cult of Donald Trump” as he testified for a second day in the ex-president’s trial.
As Trump‘s defence tried to paint the former lawyer and ‘fixer’ as a bitter and fame-hungry former acolyte, he denied being obsessed by his former boss but said he had once “admired him tremendously”.
He is testifying in the case about hush money payments to ex-porn star Stormy Daniels in an attempt to cover up an alleged sexual encounter in 2006.
Such payouts aren’t illegal, but Trump is accused of falsifying business records to hide it – a claim he denies.
He told the court on Tuesday that loyalty was the reason he kept lying about the payment when it came out in the media.
In 2016 he described Trump as kind, humble, honest and genuine.
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The defence asked whether he had believed what he was saying.
“At the time, I was knee-deep into the cult of Donald Trump,” he responded, adding: “I was not lying, no, that’s how I felt.”
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Mr Cohen admitted he “missed Trump” at times after he became president.
They have also pointed to hundreds of media appearances, podcasts and interviews in which the disgraced lawyer has mentioned him.
His credibility was under attack as Mr Cohen has previously admitted lying under oath.
The 57-year-old was jailed after pleading guilty in 2018 to charges relating to the hush money payment and other unrelated offences.
He said that after a FBI raid on his home the same year, Trump had messaged him: “I am the president of the United States, everything is going to be okay, stay tough”.
Donald Trump denies the liaison with Stormy Daniels and says Mr Cohen acted on his own initiative when he made the payment.
The former lawyer denied that claim in earlier evidence, saying “everything required Trump’s sign-off”.
‘I violated my moral compass’
Mr Cohen – who once said he would take a bullet for his boss – admitted at the end of questioning on Tuesday that he “violated my moral compass” while working for Donald Trump.
“I regret doing things for him that I should not have,” he told the New York court. “Lying, bullying people in order to effectuate the goal.
“I don’t regret working for the Trump Organisation – as I expressed before, [those were] some very interesting, great times,” he added.
“But to keep the loyalty and to do things that he had asked me to do, I violated my moral compass, and I suffered the penalty, as did my family. That is my failure.”
Prosecutors say Trump later paid the money back and covered it up by recording it as a legal retainer fee.
He faces 34 counts of falsifying business records over the claims.
Trump – who will take on Joe Biden in his bid to become president again in November – is unlikely to face a custodial sentence if found guilty.
His other cases are potentially more damaging but mired in delays.
They concern allegations of keeping stacks of secret documents after leaving office and trying to overturn his 2020 election defeat. He denies the claims.