Scientologists Sue 17 IRS Officials - 1991-08-13
Scientologists Sue 17 IRS Officials August 13, 1991,
The Church of Scientology International filed a $120-million federal lawsuit against 17 Washington- and Los Angeles-based Internal Revenue Service officials Monday, accusing them of waging a 33-year campaign of illegal acts against Scientology and a large number of its members.
According to the suit, filed in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles, documents obtained under the Freedom of Information Act and testimony from IRS officials detail a lengthy history and unchanging pattern of improper, harassing and illegal activities against the church by IRS officials.
Among those sued are IRS agents who in the mid-1980s conducted a criminal tax investigation against Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard, whose death in 1986 reportedly ended the probe.
The suit alleges that IRS agents in Los Angeles, along with a former church member, schemed to plant forged documents in the Church of Scientology's files, which the IRS could then seize in a raid.