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It is indisputable that the Church of Spiritual Technology, doing business as the L. Ron Hubbard Library, is the seat of power in Scientology. They own ALL the copyrights. (See "How CST Grabbbed the Copyrights.") They have the right to seize control of ALL trademarks, and to seize control of ALL the "Advanced Technology" at any time, at their "sole discretion."  (See "What's Behind the L. Ron Hubbard Library?") 
.....But WHO are the shadowy figures in control of the Church of Spiritual Technology (CST)?  
.....If you take a look at the SECRET CHART OF POWER, you'll see that, whoever they are, they rule over all of Scientology. We've reproduced just a section of that chart at right to show the structure at the top of CST. The Trustees have the power to elect and remove the Directors, and the Directors have the power to elect and remove the Officers. 
.....CST is unique, in that it is the only Scientology corporation known to have "Special Directors." Their exact role is unknown, but they seem to wield quite a lot of power. 
.....So who ARE these secretive people in power? 
.....The short answer is: nobody knows--at least, nobody outside the small circle of those who are in control. 
.....The reason why nobody knows involves California corporate law and IRS Codes. In California, only MEMBERS of a religious corporation can have access to the corporate records that name the Trustees, Directors, Special Directors, and Officers. And the Church of Spiritual Technology was set up specifically to have NO MEMBERS. So it was the FOUNDERS of CST who made sure that the identities of the people running it would be forever protected. 

WHO SET IT UP TO BE SECRET? WHO ARE THE FOUNDERS? 

There are four co-founders: Sherman Lenske, Meade Emory (former Assistant to the Commissioner of IRS), Lyman Spurlock, and Leon Misterek. Of the four, only Lyman Spurlock even claims to be a Scientologist. He is also a CPA. The other three are tax and probate attorneys. 
.....Although the four are named as co-founders in a 1992 United States Claims Court ruling, Sherman Lenske is named as "sole incorporator" in the Articles of Incorporation. 
 
FOUNDER #1: SHERMAN LENSKE According to United States Claims Court records and his own testimony, attorney Sherman Lenske is not a Scientologist, but in May of 1981--after L. Ron Hubbard had disappeared, never to be seen alive again--Lenske appeared on the scene, claiming that he was L. Ron Hubbard's "personal attorney." Less than two months later--on or about 13 July 1981--Mary Sue Hubbard was overthrown from her position as Controller, where she had held control over the corporate structure of Scientology, as well as over the copyrights and trademarks. 
.....In the months following Mary Sue Hubbard's overthrow, Lenske was instrumental in the corporate restructuring of all of Scientology. And on 28 May 1982, Lenske, Meade Emory, Lyman Spurlock, and Leon Misterek founded CST--which ultimately came into control of every intellectual property that L. Ron Hubbard and Mary Sue Hubbard had ever owned or controlled. 

 

.....Mystery-man Sherman Lenske has been all but invisible throughout his 15-year tenure behind the scenes of the Scientology power structure. Most Scientologists have never even heard of Lenske, much less know how much control he has over Scientology. But he occupies the unique position of being an important part of every entity that controls any copyrights or trademarks having anything to do with Scientology and L. Ron Hubbard. He was also the probate attorney who wrote the wills of L. Ron Hubbard--the wills that made Norman F. Starkey the Trustee and Executor of L. Ron Hubbard's estate, and that gave everything to CST. 

 

.....In the 1992 U.S. Claims Court ruling, Lenske is named as one of the "Special Directors" of CST, along with Stephen Lenske (Sherman's brother), and Lawrence Heller, a former law partner of the Lenske brothers. 
.....Whether these three still hold their positions as Special Directors is unknown. Repeated calls and FAXes to the Lenskes' office, asking about their current roles and the current leadership of CST, went unanswered. 
. 
 
 
FOUNDER #2: MEADE EMORY Meade Emory is a co-founder of CST, and perhaps few less-likely candidates for that position could be found anywhere on the face of the earth. Like Lenske, Emory is not a Scientologist. But Meade Emory served as Legislation Counsel for the Joint Committee on Taxation of the U.S. Congress from 1970 to 1972, and is a former Assistant to the Commissioner of IRS. That connection alone will instantly raise the eyebrows of most long-time Scientologists. 
.....But they are often truly stunned when they find out the years during which Emory was Assistant to the Commissioner of IRS: 1975-1977. Why are those years significant? Because those are the very years during which IRS documents were being stolen by an IRS employee named Gerald Wolfe, and being passed secretly to Scientology's Guardian's Office. As a result, the FBI raided Scientology headquarters in 1977, leading finally to the dissolution of the Guardian's Office, and to the overthrow of Mary Sue Hubbard. 

 

Then, less than a year after Mary Sue Hubbard was overthrown, Meade Emory had co-founded CST. And CST ended up in control of everthing that Mary Sue Hubbard and the Guardian's Office had previously controlled. Coincidence? 
.....When contacted regarding the current leadership of CST, Emory declined to comment. 
. 
 
 
FOUNDER #3: LEON MISTEREK Of Seattle attorney (and non-Scientologist) Leon Misterek, little is known. Misterek was contacted, but wouldn't comment about his involvement in the establishment of CST, except to say that it was during a period when he was a law partner with Meade Emory. In response to an attempted follow-up, Misterek said "I...am unwilling to invest time in having my memory refreshed." He also declined to comment on the current leadership of CST, saying only that he could be of "no assistance." 

 
FOUNDER #4: LYMAN SPURLOCK Lyman Spurlock is the only Scientologist involved as a founder of CST. The 1992 United States Claims Court ruling says that Spurlock "is the President of CST, one of its Directors, and one of its Trustees." The document goes on to say that he is "also a Trustee of RTC," and that as a Trustee, "Spurlock has authority to elect and remove the Directors who run RTC." But we're not done. If Spurlock is still all those things (and who could possibly remove him?), he is also wearing other hats, because in 1996 he is known to have identified himself in letters as the "Tax Compliance Officer" of RTC. Confused yet? Well, we've charted it for you to help, and you can follow along: Spurlock, as co-founder of CST, apparently appointed himself as a Trustee of CST. Then, as a Trustee, he got to elect himself as a Director. And, as a Director, he was then able to elect himself as President (a corporate Officer). Neat, huh? How he got to be a Trustee of RTC, we don't know. But, as a Trustee, if he wants to call himself "Tax Compliance Officer," who's going to stop him? 
.....There is another disturbing element in the 1992 court ruling that names Spurlock as President of CST; that same court document says that CST had reported that the Secretary of the corporation (another important corporate Officer position) was Leo Johnson. But we have learned that Leo Johnson, in 1992, had been diagnosed as having dementia, and was in advanced enough stages of it that he had difficulty forming or understanding simple sentences. How, then, could he have been carrying out the vitally important record-keeping duties of a corporate Secretary? 
.....Whether Spurlock is still holding all the positions shown on our chart or not is unknown. No phone number could be found for the Church of Spiritual Technology. Repeated calls to the Church of Scientology International (CSI) and to the Religious Technology Center (RTC), trying to find out where Lyman Spurlock could be reached, were to no avail. Receptionists at both places refused to say if Spurlock could be reached there, and he never returned any calls. 

WHY ARE THEY HIDING? 

Why would NONE of the founders of CST respond to simple questions about the current leadership of the corporation? Why did they set up CST so that members of the public couldn't find out who the leaders were? Why would they not return phone calls? We don't know. 
.....</FONT>It's almost certain that the IRS knows who the current leaders are; they granted CST tax exemption, and the formerly-secret IRS Closing Agreement requires certain annual reports to be submitted to IRS on all Scientology-related entities. It is virtually certain that the leadership of CST is part of what must be reported. 
.....So why the super-secrecy? 
.....These men are supposedly religious leaders, pillars of society, who have set up a corporation organized strictly in the public interest for religious, charitable purposes--with the blessings of IRS. So what possible reason could they have for keeping the identities of the leadership of their church such a closely guarded secret? 
.....We don't know yet. The story is still unfolding. Is it because of the strange case of the Library of Congress records? (See "A New Slant on Fraud?") Is there something more behind Meade Emory's IRS connections, something hidden back in the years of 1975-1977? Is it all tied to L. Ron Hubbard's mysterious disappearance? 
.....Whatever the cause, the question will not go away, and sooner or later the answer must out. But for now the question rings and echoes: WHY the secrecy?