Letter to HBO Counsel Jay Ward Brown
Re: Support of “Anonymous” Hate Group by Lawrence Wright

March 18, 2015

Jay Ward Brown
Levine Sullivan Koch & Schulz

Stephanie S. Abrutyn
Vice President and Senior Counsel
Home Box Office, Inc.

Re: Support of “Anonymous” Hate Group by HBO Documentary Producer Lawrence Wright

Dear Mr. Brown & Ms. Abrutyn:

I am writing to you regarding the documentary HBO is releasing on Scientology using Lawrence Wright’s book as the base. This letter focuses on Wright’s treatment of the hate group Anonymous and the support this hate group is given by Wright’s primary sources.

I am very familiar with this group, as the criminal and terrorist conduct of Anonymous targeting the Church’s ecclesiastical leader, other Church officials, all Churches of Scientology and all Scientologists was so serious and so extensive that I became the liaison attorney between federal, state and local law enforcement investigating Anonymous for the crimes they perpetrated relating to Scientology.

The cyber-terrorist attack on Sony accompanied by escalating terror threats of violence by a group calling itself the “Guardians of Peace” illustrates the public concern of what is unquestionably a serious threat. As detailed in this letter, the cyber-terrorist attacks launched in the past by “Anonymous” against Scientologists are chillingly similar to the attacks against Sony. Imagine the uproar that would occur if a journalist characterized those making the Sony threats as a “bunch of kids who didn’t care about anything” and a “hacktivist collective” to rehabilitate them and downplay their conduct and attempted to justify their acts of cyber-terrorism by claiming that the more the Guardians of Peace “learned about” Sony, “the more aroused they became.” That journalist would be universally condemned for being hopelessly biased, mendacious and untrustworthy.

Yet, as detailed in this letter, that is exactly how Lawrence Wright has treated Anonymous and their chilling cyber-terrorism campaign against Scientology and its religious leader, and how Mr. Gibney’s primary film subjects treat those very real concerns for public safety even recently. This attempt to sympathize with and rehabilitate a cyber-terrorist group exposes Mr. Wright’s deep bias against the religion, his willingness to ignore the truth and his penchant for twisting the facts to serve his anti-Scientology agenda. How can HBO air a documentary based on a book by someone so untrustworthy, so biased and so unreliable?

Lawrence Wright’s references in his book to the attacks against the Church of Scientology by Anonymous are indicative of his modus operandi throughout the book: mischaracterize Anonymous as a benign group, assert generalities making the religion appear “deserving” of religious hate attacks, and ignore substantial information provided by the Church unequivocally evidencing the crimes, falsehoods and utter lack of credibility of those initiating such unlawful and hateful actions.

Many of Wright’s primary “sources” for his book and Mr. Gibney’s primary subjects for his film actively and enthusiastically associate with Anonymous. Yet, when the Church provided Wright with detailed evidence of the countless hate crimes committed by Anonymous and clear proof of the association of his “sources” with this hate group, Wright chose to ignore that proof.

Wright’s misrepresentations regarding the nature of Anonymous, including its crimes against the Church, and his reliance on sources with ties to these cyber-terrorists, represent a glaring example as to why this book is fatally flawed and utterly untrustworthy.

I am astounded that HBO would base a “documentary” on Scientology on Wright’s book when it is so riddled with material misrepresentations like this one. Reliance on such bunkum is a good reason why the film is as malicious and fallacious as the book.

1. Evidence of Anonymous Terrorist Crimes Targeting Scientology Provided to Wright

Anonymous has targeted the Scientology religion, Mr. David Miscavige, the ecclesiastical leader of the Church, Churches of Scientology, Scientology organizations, Scientology officials and Scientologists for hate crimes based solely on their religious association and beliefs.

This hateful purpose was publicly proclaimed in a February 13, 2008, YouTube video in which Anonymous made this chilling threat:

We are an elite Anonymous. On the 13th of March 2008 one 5 kilogram pack of nitroglycerin will detonate in the Churches of Scientology across the United States of America. ... This will be the world’s biggest terrorist attack on a religion. Lives will be lost… A separate personal attack on Heber Jentzsch [the President of the Church] will be launched on the 13th of March 2008 at an undisclosed time. His execution along with the deaths of other countless Scientologists will strike fear into the hearts of every member….

Anonymous then encouraged its criminal crew to “read Mein Kampf and the Communist Manifesto” as handbooks for a war on Scientologists and called for the “annihilation” of Scientology.

A member of Anonymous who described himself as a “media insider” and “reporter” also published an Anonymous document on the Internet entitled “Long Term Strategy—Insurgency” calling on members to spread “disinformation” about Scientology and encourage “documentary videos”—apparently based on this “disinformation.”

During this period, Anonymous also posted a chilling “Message to Scientology,” on YouTube which consisted of a robotic voice proclaiming that for various contrived reasons of hatred, and “our own personal enjoyment… Anonymous has therefore decided that your organization should be destroyed.”

Subsequent to this chilling pronouncement, Anonymous made numerous bomb threats, arson threats, and death threats targeting Scientology Churches all over the United States and in other countries and all Scientology parishioners. Anonymous made over 40 death threats, over 55 bomb and arson threats and over 100 threats of other violence.

These threats against Churches of Scientology included the following:

• Bomb threats were made over a period of months to Churches of Scientology including Scientology Churches in San Francisco, St. Paul, St. Petersburg (Florida), Los Angeles and Nice (France).
• A bomb threat from Anonymous at the Church in Washington, D.C. caused the police to evacuate the Church and to shut down Connecticut Avenue for several hours. The front door of the Church, although it contained thick tempered glass, was smashed following an Anonymous “hate march” in front of the Church.
• On January 30, 2008, letters containing simulated anthrax were sent by Anonymous to more than twenty Scientology Churches in Southern California. These “anthrax” letters caused the FBI, Secret Service and the Joint Terrorist Task Force in Los Angeles to take up the case.
• Anonymous also sent threatening emails to Scientology Churches, including the following threats: “[I will] kill you... I have the authority to use lethal force;” and “I’m watching you and I control the bombs.”
• Anonymous orchestrated over 40 incidents of vandalism against Scientology Churches, including an attempt to set fire to a Scientology Church in Los Angeles.
• Anonymous sent approximately 3.6 million harassing emails and 141 million malicious hits against Church websites, in an attempt to bring down those sites.
• Distributed Denial of Service (or “DDOS”) attacks were launched by Anonymous against the Church’s websites, crashing the religion’s primary line of information to non-members for several days.

In addition, as part of its hate campaign, Anonymous made numerous threats to assassinate the ecclesiastical leader of the Scientology religion, Mr. David Miscavige:

• Shortly before Mr. Miscavige’s appearance at the grand opening of the Church of Scientology Ideal Org in Las Vegas in 2009, an Anonymous member stated on an Anonymous channel that he would “go out and blow shit up with guns and explosives, then raid the fuck out of Scientology at 11 am.” He then posted a photograph of Mr. Miscavige riddled with bullet holes with a statement on the photograph that he should wear a bullet proof vest. In addition, the Anonymous member noted, “DM [David Miscavige] at 75 yds,” meaning he could accurately shoot Mr. Miscavige from that distance.

• Immediately before Mr. Miscavige’s appearance at the grand opening of the new Founding Church of Scientology Ideal Org in Washington, D.C., in 2009, an Anonymous member asserted on an Anonymous site that: “violence is always the solution”; and that “It only takes 1 shot to kill someone.” Another Anonymous member responded, stating, “How do we find David Miscavige and stalk him and kill him?”

The Church provided Wright with: 1) exhaustive detail regarding the mountain of terrorist hate crimes committed by Anonymous against the religion and its parishioners; and 2) the crystal clear connection between Anonymous and Wright’s key “sources” for his defamatory allegations, demonstrating their utter lack of credibility.

Yet, none of this is in the book. This information providing the truth, the context and the significance of this hate group and the true agenda of Wright’s “sources” was omitted.

Instead of being objective and honest with readers, Wright determined to exclude anything contrary to his predetermined program of prejudice. How could HBO’s documentary rely on such an utterly fallacious book? There is no need to answer as it is obvious: this is a direct reflection of HBO’s bias and reckless disregard for the truth.

2. Arrest and Conviction of Anonymous Members for Crimes Targeting Scientology

With support and assistance from law enforcement (which, unlike Wright, recognized terrorist crimes when it saw them) numerous Anonymous members were caught, arrested and prosecuted, including the following:

• On October 17, 2008, the U.S. Department of Justice filed federal criminal charges against New Jersey Anonymous member Dmitriy Guzner related to the DDOS attacks against the Church of Scientology International. Guzner pled guilty to felony charges, was sentenced to and served a year in a federal penitentiary, and continues to make monthly restitution payments to the Church, ordered by the Court.
• In October 2009, Las Vegas Anonymous member Colby Schoolcraft was arrested by the Anti-Terrorist section of the Las Vegas Police for his threats to kill Mr. Miscavige at the opening of the Las Vegas Church of Scientology. Two AK47’s and several rifles were recovered in the accompanying search.
• The U.S. Department of Justice prosecuted Anonymous member Brian Mettenbrink for his involvement in the DDOS attacks against the Church. Mettenbrink was convicted of felony charges arising out of those hate crimes and spent a year in federal prison.
• An Anonymous member in Los Angeles, Donald Myers, was also twice convicted of criminal acts against Scientologists and the religion. First, Myers was the subject of a civil restraining order for stalking a female staff member at the Church of Scientology International offices in Los Angeles. Notwithstanding that order, Myers was subsequently convicted of property damage in Riverside County, California, at the Church’s religious filming studios. He was thereafter convicted of stalking and harassing school children at a facility utilizing study technology of the religion’s Founder.
• In January 2009, Anonymous member Mahoud Almahadin, dressed only in brief undershorts and covered with Vaseline and pubic hairs donated by other Anonymous members for the incident, ran into the New York Church of Scientology and smeared the disgusting goo over books, a video screen and shelves, then ran out. He threw a “stink bomb” when departing which failed to detonate. Almahadin was arrested and convicted of “malicious mischief.” The Court also issued a restraining order keeping him from any Church of Scientology.

All this information was offered to Mr. Wright, yet he turned his back on it and excluded it from the book. It simply did not serve Wright’s agenda of mischaracterizing Anonymous as a “bunch of kids,” sympathizing with their “cause,” and attempting to justify their hate crimes against Scientologists by downplaying such crimes and revising history.

The reality is that members of Anonymous committed terrorist acts and people who associate with it, like many of Wright’s Apostate “sources,” are hate mongers who are hopelessly biased and cannot be trusted.

This is but one of hundreds of flaws in the research and reporting in Wright’s book.

3. Anonymous Crimes Against Others

Scientology was not the only target of random threats of violence by Anonymous. Other acts of violence and threatened violence included the following:

• October 22, 2006, Anonymous member Jake Brahm posted a threat on Anonymous website 4chan.org to detonate seven radioactive “dirty bombs” in football stadiums in seven different cities. Brahm was caught and convicted of these crimes in federal court.
• On September 11, 2007, Anonymous member Trey Burba posted a threat on an Anonymous website along with photos of pipe bombs he threatened to detonate at a high school. Burba was arrested before the plot was carried out.
• On November 7, 2007, 18-year-old Anonymous member, Pekka-Eric Auvinen, posted on an Anonymous website, “I’m going to kill people at Jokela high school today in the name of anonymous,” to which several Anonymous members immediately exhorted him to carry out the deed. That day, Auvinen shot and killed seven students and one teacher before turning the gun on himself and taking his own life. Thereafter, Anonymous members referred to Auvinen as a “hero.”
• On December 5, 2007, 20-year-old Anonymous member Jarrad Willis posted the following message on an Anonymous website: “this is my last message, tomorrow a shooting will go down at 189 The Grove Drive, Los Angeles [a shopping center] using a Mossberg 590, 8 round magazine. I will not stop until I am incapacitated or killed by a police officer.” Willis was tracked down, arrested and released, and on July 8, 2008, the day before he was scheduled to appear, took his own life.

The Church provided information to Wright addressing the many investigations and prosecutions of Anonymous members over the past several years against various other public and private entities. We informed him that:

• Anonymous made DDOS attacks against Australian government websites after that country had the audacity to curb the online dissemination of child pornography.
• Anonymous attacked and crashed the websites of recording and movie industry companies in protest of efforts to police illegal dissemination of copyrighted movies and music recordings.
• Anonymous crashed websites belonging to credit card companies which had refused to process funds for Wikileaks in response to Wikileaks’ wholesale distribution of restricted State Department cables.

4. Wright’s Failed Attempt to Rehabilitate Anonymous

Wright stoops so low as to attempt to rehabilitate Anonymous by disingenuously transforming these hate mongering terrorists into a “ bunch of kids who didn’t care about anything” and a “hacktivist collective” to downplay criminal conduct.

According to Wright, the more Anonymous “learned about” Scientology, “the more aroused Anonymous became.” This, Wright asserts, resulted in massive denial-of-service attacks by Anonymous against the Church’s websites and organized protests at Churches around the world by Anonymous members. In other words, when Scientology was looked into by Anonymous, Wright asserts, it warranted a rash of hate crimes against the religion. (Book at 317)

This assertion, like so many others in the book, is revisionist history and false.

The initiation of the Anonymous attack started on a back-line “chan” (internet channel, and specifically here, “4chan”). 4chan is a lawless, criminal consortium of Anonymous individuals posting vile slurs about many ethnic and racial groups, but also promoting and attaching to their postings, pornography, (including child pornography) and evidence of crimes. Recently, one poster was even permitted by the moderator to post that he had just strangled his girlfriend.

On 4chan, a single person exhorted others to attack Scientology websites because, as he asserted, Scientology made no sense to him, and “it was time” for them to do “something big” by hacking into and bringing down the Church sites. As the attack was in progress by some members of this group who said they were doing it for the “lols,”^[1] the instigator of the attack urged them to “destroy” Scientology:

4chan, answer the call! Join the legion against Scientology, help in its demise, in its long awaited doom! For decades this tyranny has existed, corrupting the minds of the weak - although hilarious, it’s rather pathetic. We must destroy this evil, and replace it with a greater one - CHANOLOGY. For when we are victorious, the chans will stand united in a new chapter of anonymous existence and batshit insanity; we will have begun our world take over. If we can destroy Scientology, we can destroy whatever we like! The world will be but our play thing.

As noted, the Distributed Denial of Service (or “DDOS”) attacks against the Church’s websites crashed the religion’s primary line of information to non-members for several days. Anonymous members provided no further justification for their bizarre random acts of hatred other than that they did it for the “lols.”

5. The Government Has Identified Wright’s “Bunch of Kids” as a Terrorist Group

Unlike Wright’s romantic, revisionist, rose-colored portrayal of Anonymous, the government has identified them as a terrorist group.

• The Federal Joint Terrorism Task Force actively investigated and prosecuted Anonymous for its crimes against the Church and its leaders.
• A Deputy Chief of the Los Angeles Police Department characterized Anonymous as a “terrorist group.”
• The Department of State Police Virginia Fusion Center has also identified Anonymous in its 2009 Virginia Terror Threat Assessment, noting that “this movement has the power to inspire lone wolf behavior in the cyber realms.”
• Local anti-terrorist law enforcement officials have also investigated and arrested Anonymous members for “terrorist threats.”

The hatred of this group and the lack of restraint of Anonymous members know no bounds. Their hatred, like all cases of blind prejudice, defies reason, makes no sense and cannot be justified—except to Lawrence Wright and others who mimic his dishonest tactics.

Wright’s Sources Are Closely Associated With Anonymous

Wright saw fit to sympathize with Anonymous because Wright’s primary “sources” for his book are themselves associated with Anonymous. If Gibney (in the film) and Wright (in the book) had revealed their sources’ association with an anti-Scientology terrorist group guilty of heinous hate crimes against Scientologists, their complete lack of credibility would have been self-evident. That’s why both of them ignored the evidence we provided and didn’t cover any of it in the film:

• Source Marty Rathbun is more than just connected to Anonymous; he’s actively furthered their hate-filled agenda, stating in an on-line communication with Anonymous, “I’ve got your back,” and referring to members as “pals.”
• Source Mike Rinder participated in a “hate march” targeting the London Church of Scientology in which he fraternized with the terrorist group. He even autographed an anonymous member’s sign. And recently, he confirmed he is an Anonymous sympathizer and denied their documented criminal conduct. It’s ironic that Gibney referred to Rinder as a “hero” like Anonymous members referred to Auvinen as a “hero.”
• Sources Marc and Claire Headley both participated in Anonymous “hate marches.” Marc Headley regularly posted messages fueling religious bigotry toward the Church of Scientology and other Scientologists on Anonymous websites. Headley’s postings included hate speech of the most obscene and vile nature—including imagined sexual assaults of Scientology leaders and spokespersons. Headley has also urged Anonymous to take action to disrupt and shut down Scientology operations.
• Source Jeff Hawkins is a self-professed card-carrying member of Anonymous who has participated in their “hate marches.”
• Source Garry Scarff is also a card-carrying member of this terrorist group who participates in “hate marches” organized by Anonymous.
• Source Mark Fisher has participated in Anonymous “hate marches” against Scientology, supporting their bigoted attacks.
• And sources Marty Rathbun, Marc Headley, Jesse Prince, Amy Scobee and Jason Beghe have traveled to Germany to attend “hate rallies” with Anonymous against Scientology, hosted by the notorious German human rights violator, Ursula Caberta.^[2]

If Wright were honest about his hopelessly biased view of Scientology and the hopelessly biased view of his bitter apostate sources, he would have revealed their unseemly association with Anonymous. Considering that the Church provided Wright all this information and he reviewed it in detail, the fact that none of it appears in his narrative leads to but one inescapable conclusion:

• Wright did not include the crimes of Anonymous and the close ties of his “sources” to these cyber-terrorists because he did not want his readers to know the truth, as it did not fit with his disinformation campaign.

No one would attempt to rehabilitate Anonymous by calling them a “bunch of kids” and a “hacktivist collective” without also revealing the federal convictions, religious hate crimes and death and bomb threats upsetting the lives of not only Church leaders but also parishioners and even innocent schoolchildren—unless that writer had a preconceived plan. No one would say that felonies are irrelevant—of course they are relevant! The reality is that it simply was no accident that Wright refused to include this critical information in his 365-page diatribe.

Of course, Wright knew that if he honestly portrayed Anonymous and exposed that his “sources” had close ties with them, his readers would know the real story—and would have been able to decide the truth for themselves. But that did not fit within the ambit of Wright’s agenda, for he is nothing but a propagandist.

How can HBO base a “documentary” regarding a worldwide religion on a book that is constructed in such a devious and dishonest manner? To do so would mirror the reckless disregard for the truth and blatant malice that characterized Wright’s fatally flawed approach to the subject.

Conclusion

Wright’s book is riddled with material misrepresentations and outrageous falsehoods concocted by his bitter and biased band of apostate “sources.” This renders the book fatally flawed and utterly unreliable. This letter exposing the dishonesty in Wright’s treatment of Anonymous represents but one example of the malicious and fallacious nature of his work.

Gibney’s and Wright’s sources continue to this day to demonstrate their motives are not freedom of speech but either profit or revenge and, like Anonymous, they are engaged in conduct that is not for the public good. Gibney carefully omitted this information from his film and so is dishonest in saying the film is based on the book, as he has chosen to exclude all information in the book that shows Wright’s research is deplorable and his bias self-evident.

Wright sympathizes with those who have committed terrorist acts because he considers such acts committed against a religion not to be serious. That’s deplorable and the very definition of bigotry. It’s that simple. The book is bigoted propaganda and the film is, accordingly, “garbage in, garbage out.” A responsible media organization would not distribute such an inaccurate, narrow-minded and repugnant film. It’s not too late for HBO to make the right decision.

Sincerely,

Kendrick L. Moxon