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I later learned, a copy of my personal credit report – with detailed information about my bank accounts, home mortgage, credit-card payments, home address and Social Security number – had been illegally retrieved from a national credit bureau called Trans Union. The sham company that received it, "Educational Funding Services" of Los Angeles, gave as its address a mail drop a few blocks from Scientology's headquarters. The owner of the mail drop is a private eye named Fred Wolfson, who admits that an Ingram associate retained him to retrieve credit reports on several individuals. Wolfson says he was told that Scientology's attorneys "had judgments against these people and were trying to collect on them." He says now, "These are vicious people. These are vipers." Ingram, through a lawyer, denies any involvement in the scam. [...] After that, however, an attorney subpoenaed me, while another falsely suggested that I might own shares in a company I was reporting about that had been taken over by Scientologists (he also threatened to contact the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission). A close friend in Los Angeles received a disturbing telephone call from a Scientology staff member seeking data about me – an indication that the cult may have illegally obtained my personal phone records. Two detectives contacted me, posing as a friend and a relative of a so-called cult victim, to elicit negative statements from me about Scientology. Some of my conversations with them were taped, transcribed and presented by the church in affidavits to Time's lawyers as "proof" of my bias against Scientology.
=== Carmen Llywelyn, 2002 ===
Actress and photographer Carmen Llywelyn was introduced to Scientology through her partner (and future husband) professional skateboarder and actor Jason Lee. In 2015, Llywelyn penned an article entitled "Why I Left Scientology". According to her account, when she revealed to her talent manager that she had read A Piece of Blue Sky, a book critical of the Church, she was labeled a suppressive person and shunned (or "disconnected") by her Scientologist friends. Llywelyn's manager, a Scientologist, also "disconnected" and allegedly convinced United Talent Agency to drop Llywelyn as a client.
Llwelyn reports being subjected to a campaign of surveillance and harassment. Writes Llywelyn: "Scientology has a sophisticated intelligence agency known as the Office of Special Affairs, which is essentially a complex system dedicated to ruining the lives of those it sees as enemies in any way possible. Those who work for the OSA do not follow the law."
=== John Sweeney, 2007 ===
Journalist John Sweeney said of fair gaming: "While making our BBC Panorama film Scientology and Me I have been shouted at, spied on, had my hotel invaded at midnight, denounced as a 'bigot' by star Scientologists and been chased round the streets of Los Angeles by sinister strangers." Sweeney also claimed that his family and neighbours had been harassed by unidentified strangers back in the UK, including an intruder at his wedding who fled when confronted.
=== Mark and Monique Rathbun, 2009 ===
Mark C. "Marty" Rathbun, a former senior executive of the Church of Scientology, left the organization in 2004. A one-hour feature titled Scientologists at War was broadcast on June 17, 2013, on British Channel Four. The feature, a rare insider view of the Church of Scientology, investigated the pressure tactics used by the "Squirrel Busters" affiliated to the organization to discredit and silence members who leave the Church. It highlighted the story of Mark Rathbun, his role in Scientology, his fall out with Scientology leader David Miscavige, his attempts to further the cause of an independent Scientology movement, his confrontations with the "Squirrel Busters" and the repercussions on his family life.
Videographer Bert Leahy reported being paid $2,000 a week by the "Squirrel Busters" to help document their activities. Leahy reported that his employer had "flat-out said our goal is to make Marty's life a living hell".
In 2013, Mark Rathbun's wife, a non-Scientologist, filed suit against the Church of Scientology, alleging four years of harassment by the Church. In October 2014, Rathbun filmed an encounter which he claimed showed three members of the Church's top management as they "ambushed" him at Los Angeles International Airport. The Church defended this activity as being protected by first amendment (religious freedom) and free speech rights. As of January 2016, the court has denied a Church motion to have the case dismissed under anti-SLAPP law, but the ruling that Miscavige must testify in the case was overturned on appeal. After more than 32 months of litigation, Monique Rathbun dropped the lawsuit against the Church, after firing her attorneys in January 2016, due to financial constraints. She filed a motion to end the legal proceedings which the state Supreme court granted on May 6, and Monique Rathbun filed for dismissal on May 10.