THE PROOF AT LAST: FBI Files Reveal Scientology 'Human Trafficking' Investigation
May 3 2017, Updated 11:14 a.m. ET
The Church of Scientology and its celebrity members are about to be rocked with a scandal the likes of which the controversial organization has never seen.
In an earth-shattering world exclusive, RadarOnline.com has uncovered a 300-page highly confidential FBI file that finally confirms that the federal government secretly launched an intensive nationwide investigation into the church over claims of "human trafficking".
The horrifying details of this probe – and why it was suddenly and mysteriously abandoned with no explanation – have been a kind of Holy Grail for critics of the church.
Journalist Lawrence Wright first mentioned the investigation in a 2011 New Yorker article, but after that, the trail seemed to go cold.
Scientology spokeswoman Karin Pouw insisted in 2013, "The church has no knowledge that this 'examining' ever occurred.'' And at the time, the FBI, US Attorney's Office, and Department of Justice ALL refused to confirm the investigation took place. But now, RadarOnline.com finally has uncovered the proof – and it could bring down the church at last.
"I don't think the timing could be worse for Scientology," journalist and noted Scientology expert Tony Ortega told RadarOnline.com.
On the heels of HBO's Scientology documentary Going Clear, and Leah Remini's Scientology documentary series, Ortega, founder of The Underground Bunker said, "This is going to be devastating."
The federal investigation began in utter secrecy, with the filing of an FBI agent's request "to open a sensitive investigative matter" on October 5, 2009, regarding the Church of Scientology and "human trafficking."
The agent reported there were whispers of "underground labor camps that resemble 'concentration camps,' where Scientologists live and work in slave-like conditions around the clock" facing "severe limitations of civil liberties, including physical abuse, which has become mainstream." (Scientology has always denied the existence of labor camps, as well as incidents of abuse within the church.)
From there, the FBI quietly but diligently set about their work, seizing several items of relevant "property" and interviewing more than a dozen former Scientologists across the country.
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By January 2010, the FBI reported in a briefing that they were expecting "the likely indictment of multiple subjects." In May of that year, the Assistant US Attorney filed a report with the title, "Grand Jury Investigation of Operations Overboard," the probe's new name.
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