Reports: Tom Cruise Linked to FBI's Church of Scientology Investigation

The Church of Scientology is under investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) over allegations of "human trafficking," and Hollywood megastar Tom Cruise is directly linked to that probe, according to a Huffington Post news article and other published reports.

According to these reports, Tom Cruise is not the subject of the wide-ranging investigation, but the FBI probe has uncovered allegations that the Church of Scientology provided unpaid labor to Cruise, who is a devoted and outspoken Scientologist, to work on his motorcycles, vehicles, boats, and other personal property.

News of the FBI's investigation was originally made public in a Huffington Post news story that appeared on February 8, 2011. That article claimed an exposé published in the February 14, 2001 issue of the New Yorker magazine as its primary source. The 26-page exposé, entitled "The Apostate: Paul Haggis vs. the Church of Scientology," which was written by Lawrence Wright, relates how Academy Award-winning movie director Paul Haggis (Million Dollar Baby, Crash), himself a Scientologist for 34 years, resigned from the church because of its opposition to the legalization of gay marriage in California, an issue that Haggis supports. A portion of the article relates many details of how the church provided unpaid labor to Tom Cruise, at the actor's request, on several occasions.

Wright asserts in his New Yorker article that the most senior leaders of the Church of Scientology regularly engaged in a pattern of abusive behavior against other church members who either were openly critical of the church's policies, or who attempted to leave the church altogether. This behavior included physical beatings, separation of family members, assignment to detention centers for "group confessions," and assignment to menial work details. Several members assigned to one such detention center in California sued the church's leaders for allegedly confining them against their will, intimidating them, and other acts of coercion. The suit was thrown out, but it prompted the FBI to begin its investigation into "human trafficking" by the church in 2009.

According to the New Yorker article, the FBI investigation uncovered assertions that the Church of Scientology, on several occasions, provided unpaid labor to Tom Cruise at his request. Specifically, workers were ordered to disassemble one of Cruise's motorcycles, nickel-plate all of its parts, and reassemble it; install homemade paneling into Cruise's SUV; and assist in the renovation of an airport hangar maintained by Cruise. For all this work, laborers received either no compensation or a nominal stipend.

Tom Cruise denies all allegations against both himself and the church. Cruise's attorney released a statement saying: "...the Church of Scientology has never expended any funds to the personal benefit of Mr. Cruise or provided him with free services."

Likewise, the Church Of Scientology denies the allegations contained in the New Yorker article and claims the FBI has closed its probe. A portion of the church's press release appears on the Huffington Post. It says:

"The New Yorker press release and Lawrence Wright's profile on Paul Haggis, 'Paul Haggis vs. the Church of Scientology,' released Monday, reported on an alleged federal investigation. The New Yorker was well aware the Church knew nothing of the investigation but had refuted the same claims based on a case already thrown out by a Federal Court Judge. Nonetheless, The New Yorker irresponsibly used the same sources who were discredited in the dismissed case to claim an "investigation" so as to garner headlines for an otherwise stale article containing nothing but rehashed unfounded allegations."

But Lawrence Wright insists in his New Yorker article: " I recently spoke with two sources in the F.B.I. [sic] who are close to the investigation. They assured me that the case remains open."

SOURCES: Embedded in Article