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fishman affidavit
---
title: "Fishman Affidavit"
source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fishman_Affidavit
retrieved: 2026-06-28
---
The Fishman Affidavit is a set of court documents submitted by self-professed ex-Scientologist Steven Fishman in 1993 in the federal case, Church of Scientology International v. Fishman and Geertz (Case No. CV 91-6426 (HLH (Tx) United States District Court for the Central District of California).
The affidavit contained criticisms of the Church of Scientology and substantial portions of the Operating Thetan auditing and course materials.
== Church of Scientology International v. Fishman and Geertz ==
The documents were brought as exhibits attached to a declaration by Steven Fishman on 9 April 1993 as part of Church of Scientology International v. Fishman and Geertz. Along with Kendrick Moxon and Laurie Bartilson, Timothy Bowles was one of the lead attorneys for the Church of Scientology in the case.
Fishman told the court that he had committed crimes on behalf of the Church. He also attested that he was assigned to murder his psychologist, Uwe Geertz, and then commit suicide. Fishman received a mail fraud conviction three years earlier, and he claimed being brainwashed by the Church and that he had committed the crime to cover the cost of his Scientology sessions. The court rejected Fishman's defense and he was soon after sued for libel by Scientology.
As evidence, Fishman submitted course materials he said that he purchased from Ellie Bolger, a fellow Scientologist, and Richard Ofshe, an expert witness for his defense. The Church says the documents were stolen and considers them to be copyrighted and a trade secret. Among other materials, the affidavit contains 61 pages of the allegedly trade-secret and copyrighted story of Xenu.
The Fishman Affidavit contains much text from the old versions of the Operating Thetan levels. The versions of OT I to OT VII in the Fishman Affidavit are considered authentic as the church's Religious Technology Center (RTC) brought copyright lawsuits over their release on the Internet. Fishman's description of OT VIII contains what many interpret as the accusation that Jesus was a pedophile. After initially asserting copyright to all the OT level descriptions in the affidavit, RTC amended its claim to remove the OT VIII description, calling it a forgery. Fishman stated that he had obtained his copy of OT VIII from Ofshe, a different source than his copies of the other OT Levels, purchased from a fellow Scientologist.
The Church of Scientology dropped its libel case against Fishman and Geertz in 1994.
An important side aspect of the case was that several high-ranking Scientology officials and lead attorneys for the organization and former high-ranking Scientologists submitted declarations on their activities for the Church of Scientology, giving thereby insight into the internal ongoings of the Scientology management.
Among others, declarations were submitted by:
Richard Aznaran & Vicki Aznaran, former executives of the Religious Technology Center
Jonathan Epstein, at that time International Finance Director of the Church of Scientology International
Guillaume Lesevre, at that time Executive Director International of the Church of Scientology International
David Miscavige, Chairman of the Board of the Religious Technology Center
Raymond Mithoff, at that time Senior Case Supervisor International of the Church of Scientology International
Thomas Spring, tax attorney for the Church of Scientology International
Norman Starkey, at that time executive director of Author Services Inc.
André Tabayoyon, ex-Scientologist and former security official of the Church of Scientology International
William Walsh, attorney for different organizations of the Church of Scientology
Marc Yager, at that time Chairman of the Watchdog Committee of the Church of Scientology International
Monique Yingling, tax attorney for the Church of Scientology International
Robert Vaughn Young, former spokesperson for the Guardian's Office and Author Services Inc.
Stacy Brooks Young, former official of the U.S. Office of Special Affairs
== Posting to the Internet ==
Although the Church of Scientology attempted to prevent others from receiving the document by continuously borrowing it, the text of this declaration and its exhibits were scanned, converted to text, and posted onto the Usenet newsgroup alt.religion.scientology by ex-Scientologist Arnie Lerma. The material was then placed on the World Wide Web by David S. Touretzky.
Lerma's newsgroup posting resulted in the August 1995 raid of his home for copyright violation on the materials, and the resulting lawsuit Religious Technology Center (Scientology) vs Arnaldo Lerma, Richard Leiby, and The Washington Post. U.S. Federal Judge Leonie Brinkema ruled that while Richard Leiby and the Washington Post had not violated copyright, Lerma was liable and fined $2,500 but with no costs awarded to Scientology. Judge Brinkema also stated that the primary motivation for the case was "to stifle criticism of Scientology in general and to harass its critics."