Tom Cruise named in lawsuit

Top Gun star Tom Cruise has been named in a £125million legal claim against the Church of Scientology.

Tom Cruise has been named in a lawsuit against the Church of Scientology. Peter Letterese, a former member of the controversial religion, has filed court papers against the church claiming £125million and using the US’s RICO (Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organisation) laws normally used for dealing with the organised crime the New York Daily News reports. In the papers Letterese calls the church a “crime syndicate”, uses threatening behaviour and uses a business book, Effective Sales Closing Techniques, as part of it’s teachings. “Scientology head David Mascavige is aided and abetted by the actions of Tom Cruise, his right-hand man for foreign and domestic promotion, as well as for foreign and domestic lobbying,” Letterese’s legal papers read. “He has assisted the syndicate in acquiring funds and [made] his own donations of money believed to be in the multiple tens of millions of dollars.” The church has been quick to denounce the claims. “The case filed by Peter Letterese and his company Creative Desperation is frivolous and obviously designed to generate publicity for himself. In this case, he is suing more than 60 people and entities, including Google, Yahoo! and the American Arbitration Association. In July 2008, the Federal Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit rejected similar claims and affirmed that the Church's use of the book in question is fair use,” Elliot J. Abelson, a lawyer acting for the church says in a statement given to gossip powerhouse Holy Moly. “Letterese's company was penalized $266,000 by a California Court stating that his company has "filed numerous, repetitive and frivolous motions" and "refused to comply with [court] orders, even though its counsel was warned several times that serious [penalties] would result from such failure." The lawsuit is as merit less as his other filings.”

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