WEBVTT

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In writing a 365-page book targeting
the Church of Scientology,

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Lawrence Wright sought out a tiny
group of disgruntled ex-members

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led by this man:

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expelled from the Church for
financial misconduct, deception,

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ineptitude and violence.

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Nearly all of Wright's sources

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were dismissed from the Church
for similar offenses,

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including: embezzlement, financial
wrongdoing, sexual misconduct,

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physical abuse and severe violations
of Church doctrine.

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Yet these are the individuals
Lawrence Wright uses to impugn the

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character of the Church
and its leader,

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a man responsible
for a worldwide religion

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and its unprecedented expansion…

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…and under whose stewardship,

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the Church’s social betterment
programs have become

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the largest non-governmental
anti-drug and

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human rights campaigns on Earth.

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But in writing his "so called"
expose on Scientology,

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Lawrence Wright’s sources were
far from credible and Wright knew it.

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Their allegations so far-fetched that
a federal judge and an appeals court

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dismissed them as baseless.

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Lawrence Wright ignored that.

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And when the Church provided
thousands of pages of evidence

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documenting the falsehood
of those claims -–

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Lawrence Wright continued to present
the allegations as fact.

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When asked in a journalist forum,

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“Do you believe that journalism
can lead to truth?”,

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Wright had this to say:

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"Truth is one of those
subjective terms

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that are pointless
to get too tied up about."

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Wright's book was
released in January 2013

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but failed to generate reader interest.

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Still, it found itself immediately
steeped in controversy

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about the veracity of its claims.

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So much so that the book’s publisher
would not release it in Britain,

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Ireland, Canada or Australia because
of their libel laws.

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The chances of losing a lawsuit
were simply too great.

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Now, documentary filmmaker Alex
Gibney has taken Lawrence Wright’s

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book at its word
without question or examination:

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“I utterly trusted Larry. I wasn’t
looking for holes in his story.”

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Over the two years Gibney quietly
worked on his documentary,

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he never once contacted the Church,
visited a Church

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or spoke to any of its members.

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His documentary was in the can before
he even mentioned it to them.

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And to this day, Gibney refuses to
reveal his allegations to the Church.

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Let’s take a closer look at Wright
and Gibney's sources:

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Meet Facebook friend
of Lawrence Wright, Jesse Prince,

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expelled from the Church
over two decades ago

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for misconduct
and hiding his criminal past ...

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… used as a "source"
for Lawrence Wright's book,

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the basis for Alex Gibney’s
cable documentary.

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But what Wright is not telling you is that
Jesse Prince's criminal background

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includes offenses such as:

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An arrest for contributing to the
sexual delinquency of a child

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with whom he fathered a baby...

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Two DWIs…

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And a criminal charge for walking naked
down the middle of a busy city street

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while high on drugs.

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In court documents, Jesse Prince admitted
to being a male prostitute...

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Let me see if I understand that, that means
women paid you to have sex with them.

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Correct, sir.

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… and he confirmed he had incest
with his sister.

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So when that starts, "When I was young, I
used to have oral sex with my sister."

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Yes, sir.

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Is everything on that page your
handwriting?

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Yes, sir.

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Then there's the violent side
of Jesse Prince,

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who had this to say
to a senior executive of the Church.

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“I’m coming with a dick so big, I’m gonna
knock his goddamn spine out.”

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More to the point, Jesse Prince
has taken big money

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to give false testimony about the Church.

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In one case, over $300,000
from known Church attackers

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to lie under oath in a court of law.

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Once set up with a house, a car
and a generous allowance,

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Jesse Prince swore to the court that he had
pulped three feet of file folders

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into a "little vial" at the order of the
leader of the Church.

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But the lie caught up to Jesse Prince
when all three feet of files

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were presented to the Judge, fully intact.

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The judge was not happy.

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Not only would she not allow
Prince onto the witness stand,

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she admonished him over and over:

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"He [Prince] was extraordinarily biased
and really, frankly,

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he said and would say that he
couldn't tell the truth."

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“…He would tell you under oath that he
wouldn’t care if he was under oath or not,

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he’d lie...”

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"Do you think that any judge
would allow that man to testify?

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No. I don't think they would have."

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Then she told Prince's lawyer:

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“Mr. Prince, quite frankly,
in this Court’s opinion,

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is useless to you
as a credible witness.”

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But being kicked out of a courtroom for
being "biased" and not-credible,

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doesn't make Jesse Prince
useless to Lawrence Wright

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who uses Prince through-out his book
as a "reliable source."

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Would it be fair to say that you had some
problems in terms of morals and ethics?

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No, sir. I think I was just
a normal American boy.

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You think normal American boys
have oral sex with their sisters?

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Some of them.

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Now Lawrence Wright, Alex Gibney
and Sheila Nevins,

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HBO’s head of Documentaries
and Family Programming,

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are trying to pass off Jesse Prince
as a “credible witness”

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in the court of public opinion.

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But, as Sheila Nevins says:

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“You gotta do what you gotta do.”

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In future segments,

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we’re going to show you more of
Lawrence Wright’s “sources"...

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Remember this guy – the ringleader of
that tiny group Lawrence Wright

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befriended and used to tell false
stories about his former religion?

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“Shut the fuck up. I’m tellin’ you
something right now…”

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He was dismissed and expelled from
the Church for criminal activities --

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that's criminal, as in felony.

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His résumé also includes episodes of
shoving, kicking,

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punching and extreme violence.

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And a honeymoon night spent in jail.

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But Lawrence Wright
doesn’t reveal any of that,

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or any other sordid
detail about this man.

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You’ll also meet those
this man calls his "posse":

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Such as the guy he nearly killed, who
he now calls his "best good buddy".

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This guy deserted his children and
ruthlessly attacked his estranged wife…

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…the thief who used to ride shotgun with
the ringleader on his punching sprees.

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Admitted accomplices
in a scheme to suborn perjury –

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getting others to lie under oath.

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And another Lawrence Wright source,
the "lady" expelled from the Church

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for having sexual relations with
someone she was ministering to,

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a violation of professional conduct
in any church. You'll meet her, too.

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…the paid tabloid source and his
wife, whose frivolous lawsuits

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were repeatedly thrown
out of Federal Court

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and the couple ordered
to pay the Church $40,000.

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... and the writer who took advantage
of his Scientology connections to

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take $5 million for writing scripts
he never completed.

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Lawrence Wright and Alex Gibney
could have shown you

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the truth about Scientology.

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For this is Scientology today:

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A rapidly expanding religion with new
churches opening, by the month,

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throughout the world...

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But instead of showing you this,

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Wright and Gibney have chosen
to give you this man...

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Shut the fuck up…

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And his tiny group of followers.

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That’s right – this guy is the leader of
all Lawrence Wright's "sources."

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They are interconnected,
each of them corroborating the other’s

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false stories and lies,
some for big bucks.

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All of them handpicked
to populate the story

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Lawrence Wright and
Alex Gibney want to sell.

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Lawrence Wright, Alex Gibney

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and executive producer Sheila Nevins
know full well who these people really are.

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But you won’t see that on HBO.

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Shut the fuck up…