Editing Cult Awareness Network (section)

=== Church of Scientology's response ===
The Church of Scientology had long characterized the Cult Awareness Network as both an opponent of [[freedom of religion|religious freedom]] and a "[[hate group]]".<ref name="frantz">{{cite web | first = Douglas | last = Frantz | title = An Ultra-Aggressive Use of Investigators and the Courts | url = https://www.nytimes.com/1997/03/09/us/an-ultra-aggressive-use-of-investigators-and-the-courts.html | website = [[The New York Times]] | date = March 9, 1997 |url-access=subscription |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210308060210/https://www.nytimes.com/1997/03/09/us/an-ultra-aggressive-use-of-investigators-and-the-courts.html |archive-date=March 8, 2021 | access-date = 2007-10-30 }}</ref>  In 1990, a woman named Jolie Steckart, posing as Laura Terepin, applied to volunteer for the (original) Cult Awareness Network.<ref name="noah" /> [[Bob Minton]] later hired a [[private investigator]] to look into this, and in 1998 discovered that she was actually a "deep undercover agent", who was managed by David Lee, a private investigator hired by the [[Church of Scientology]].<ref name="noah">{{cite news | last = Noah | first = George | title = David Lee Exposed: The Real Story About John Fashanu's So Called Private Investigator | work = Nigeria Today Online | date = 27 August 2000 | url = http://www.xenutv.com/print/africa/nigeria-lee-082700.htm | access-date = 2007-10-28 }}</ref> Steckart had also attempted to infiltrate the Scientology-critical organization [[FACTNet]].<ref name="noah" />

In 1991, over fifty [[Scientologist]]s from across the [[United States]] filed [[civil suit]]s against the Cult Awareness Network, many of whom used the same [[carbon copy]] claims through influence from the [[Los Angeles, California]] law firm [[Bowles & Moxon]]. In addition, Scientologists filed dozens of [[discrimination]] complaints against CAN, with state [[human rights commission]]s in the United States. The Cult Awareness Network, which ran on a budget of 300,000 [[United States dollar|USD]] per year, was unable to cope with this amount of litigation. By 1994, it had been dropped by all of its [[Insurance|insurance companies]], and still owed tens of thousands of dollars in legal fees.<ref name="frantz" /><ref name="amlawyer">{{cite news | last =Hansen | first =Susan | title =Did Scientology Strike Back? | work =[[American Lawyer]] |date=June 1997}}<!--https://culteducation.com/group/1284-scientology/23030-did-scientology-strike-back.html--></ref> Kendrick Moxon, chief attorney for the Church of Scientology, had stated that the lawsuits were brought to address discrimination against individuals who wanted to reform the Cult Awareness Network.<ref name="frantz" /> These fifty individuals had all simultaneously tried to join the organization.<ref name="linnsemuels">{{cite news | first = Virginia | last = Linn |author2=Semuels, Alana | title = PostScript: When scientologists aren't so clear | url = http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/05212/546007.stm | newspaper = [[Pittsburgh Post-Gazette]] | date = 2005-07-31 | access-date = 2007-10-30 }}</ref> When the Cult Awareness Network's executive director turned down the applications for fear that the new Scientologist applicants would overtake control of CAN, they sued in separate lawsuits claiming [[religious discrimination]].<ref name="linnsemuels" /> Though Moxon handled the litigation for all of the lawsuits, the Church of Scientology maintained that it did not provide the financial backing for the suits.<ref name="morganhardball">{{cite news | first = Lucy | last = Morgan | title = Hardball: When Scientology goes to court, it likes to play rough – very rough. | url = http://www.sptimes.com/News/32899/TampaBay/Hardball.html | newspaper = [[St. Petersburg Times]] | date = 1998-01-28 | access-date = 2007-10-30 }}</ref> Moxon did acknowledge that his firm [[Moxon & Kobrin|Moxon & Bowles]] had represented the plaintiffs in the case at virtually no charge, and that Scientology churches "helped a little bit, but very little", with the litigation costs.<ref name="morgantobin" />

Daniel Leipold, the attorney who represented CAN in the suits, believed that the Church of Scientology did indeed have a role in the financial backing of the suits, stating, "for every nickel we spent, they spent at least a dollar".<ref name="morgantobin">{{cite news |url=https://www.tampabay.com/archive/1997/12/23/scientology-sponsored-suit-against-opponent/ |title=Scientology sponsored suit against opponent |first=Thomas C |last=Tobin |newspaper=[[St. Petersburg Times]] |date=December 23, 1997 }}</ref>
Leipold also stated that when he began to take statements from some of the Scientologist plaintiffs in the process of his defense of CAN, "[s]everal of the plaintiffs said they had not seen or signed the lawsuits, even though the court papers bore their signatures".<ref name="morgantobin" /> One Scientologist plaintiff told CAN attorneys that he could not recall how he initially got the contact information of CAN officials, or who had asked him to write to the organization.<ref name="morgantobin" /> Another Scientologist later fired his lawyer and asked a judge to dismiss his own case against CAN, saying that Eugene Ingram, a private investigator for the Church of Scientology, had paid him three hundred dollars to have lunch where he agreed to be a plaintiff and signed a blank page for Church of Scientology attorneys.<ref name="morgantobin" />  CAN attorney Leipold stated, "Scientology planned, instigated, coordinated and sponsored a plan to subject CAN to multiple lawsuits in multiple jurisdictions in order to overwhelm and eliminate it or take it over and control it".<ref name="morgantobin" /> Frank Oliver, who was until 1993 an operative in the Church of Scientology's [[Office of Special Affairs]] division (OSA), asserted that his last assignment with the OSA branch was to assist Kendrick Moxon in developing a special unit to target the Cult Awareness Network.<ref name="ortega99">{{cite web |first=Tony |last=Ortega |author-link=Tony Ortega |title=Double Crossed |date=December 23, 1999 |work=[[Phoenix New Times]] |url=https://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/news/double-crossed-6431852 <!--reprint version omits original photographs--> |url-status=deviated |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070312025501/http://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/1999-12-23/news/double-crossed/full |archive-date=March 12, 2007}}</ref> Oliver stated that this unit was tasked with recruiting plaintiffs to sue the Cult Awareness Network, with the intention that these lawsuits would put CAN out of business.<ref name="ortega99"/> In 1995, members of the Church of Scientology picketed the home of ex-Scientology staff members [[Robert Vaughn Young]] and Stacy Young. A Scientology spokeswoman called it "a peaceful First Amendment demonstration to protest the Youngs' involvement with the Cult Awareness Network".<ref>{{cite web | first = Jennifer | last = Bjorhus | title = Scientology Critics Claim Harassment For Using Internet | url = http://archives.seattletimes.nwsource.com/cgi-bin/texis.cgi/web/vortex/display?slug=2138183&date=19950826| work = The Seattle Times | date = 1995-08-26 | access-date = 2008-10-14 }}</ref> In a 2005 interview with the ''[[Pittsburgh Post-Gazette]]'', a Church of Scientology spokesperson stated that the Church was not responsible for the litigation leading to CAN's bankruptcy.<ref name="linnsemuels" />

Church of Scientology leader [[David Miscavige]] appeared in his first ever interview with the media on the program ''[[Nightline (US news program)|Nightline]]'' on February 14, 1992, and was interviewed by [[Ted Koppel]].<ref name="koppel">{{cite web | first = Ted | last = Koppel | title = Scientology Leader Gave ABC First-Ever Interview | url = https://abcnews.go.com/Nightline/story?id=2664713&page=1 | work = [[Nightline (US news program)|Nightline]] | publisher = [[ABC News (United States)|ABC News]] | date = 1992-02-14 | access-date = 2007-10-30 }}</ref> Miscavige stated that he believed Scientology did not "lend itself well to the press", and he criticized a piece on Scientology that aired on ''Nightline'' shortly before his interview.<ref name="koppel" /> In his criticism of the piece, Miscavige asserted that ''Nightline'' correspondents had only interviewed members of CAN, stating, "For instance, something that isn't mentioned in there is that every single detractor on there is part of a religious hate group called Cult Awareness Network and their sister group called [[International Cultic Studies Association|American Family Foundation]]. Now, I don't know if you've heard of these people, but it's the same as the [[KKK]] would be with the [[Black people|blacks]]. I think if you interviewed a [[Neo-Nazism|neo-Nazi]] and asked them to talk about the [[Jews]], you would get a similar result to what you have here."<ref name="koppel" /> Koppel then posited the notion that others critical of Scientology were less apt to come forward and speak publicly due to fears of potential recrimination from the Church.<ref name="koppel" /> In 1994, the Cult Awareness Network opened a counter-suit against the Church of Scientology, eleven individual Scientologists and the [[Los Angeles]] law firm of [[Bowles and Moxon]].<ref>{{cite news | title = Hot-line buyer has Scientology ties | work = [[Chicago Sun-Times]] | date = December 1, 1996 }}</ref>