French scientologists guilty of fraud
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Published on Monday 15th November 1999
They went on trial last September accused of accepting money for dubious treatments organised for church members.
Some of these included ‘purification’ sessions and vitamin cures sold at excessive prices, according to the prosecution. The case grew out of complaints by a former scientologist.
Charges of violence and illegally practising medicine have been dropped.
Prosecutors in the case had sought more severe sentences.
They argued that “beneath the religion there is a clear, institutionalised business drift” in which money was extorted by psychological manipulation. They said people with real psychological problems had been targeted.
Source: BBC News
