The following article was originally published by Freedom Magazine in 2011. To view the original story, click here.
“While Marc Headley and I were stationed at the same international headquarters property for nearly 15 years, his views of some of Scientology founder Hubbard’s writings and my views differed greatly.”
—Marty “Kingpin” Rathbun in Marc Headley’s self-published diatribe
Believe it or not, Rathbun and Headley’s views still differ greatly. That is when they’re not allies in telling tales to whatever media outlet is in need of a story—as in a made-up story. In particular, while Rathbun claims to be a Scientologist (even if only in his dreams), Headley is now a fervid anti-Scientologist who never misses an opportunity to publicly denigrate the religion and its Founder.
That he did so, yet again, in another tabloid magazine article is part of Headley’s routine and even accounts for his profession as a paid media source. That consists of making up stories about his former religion for a living.
Nonetheless, Rathbun penned the foreword to the book Headley hawks on the Net—all to emphasize that any enemy of the Church is a tacit friend of his.
Indeed, the two share a bond. Then again, drug cartel bosses share a bond—one that can be broken in blood, and quickly. On the other hand, if Headley thought he might possibly—however remotely—spike sales by including Kingpin between the covers, he was once again sorely mistaken. Given Headley’s Church-hating crowd despise Rathbun with equal zeal, and the rest of Rathbun’s Posse doesn’t exactly love Headley, the whole cross-promotion idea turned out to be a dud.
In truth, the only way Kingpin might have helped Headley sell a few books is if he had “commanded” members of his apostate Posse to buy one. At least that would have amounted to 6 or 7 copies right there—and those kinds of numbers constitute a “bestseller” in the disgruntled apostate book trade.
The problem with this author, however, is that it can be a challenge for him to keep his stories straight in his own head. Such is the case with the magazine article in which Headley is quoted.
That’s because, depending on what version you might want to disbelieve, the story that Headley told the magazine differed with the version that appears in his book.
Yet another version of Headley’s tale was the one he told on a TV network news program.
So the question must be asked: to whom was Headley dissembling: himself, in the book; the magazine; or was it the TV news show?
Or, was it all three?
Anyway, given that Headley was in debt, that would be a motivation to tell just about anything—especially to a tabloid magazine more interested in selling copies than in telling the truth.
As for the book itself, it purports to be the story of why and how Headley left the Church. That said, it is missing a few key chapters: namely those that reveal the real motivations behind his exit and subsequent excommunication. So, in the interest of accurate reportage, the following chapter summaries fill in the gaps of Headley’s personal account.
The first chapter is entitled, “The Embezzler.” It tells of how Headley, while still working for the Church, teamed with a criminal audiovisual supplier. Among the sordid details revealed here are Headley’s under-the-table negotiations with the company and the system they devised to fast-track payment of bogus purchase orders. The crooked A/V outlet fraudulently collected better than $200,000 but the ring was busted before Headley could collect his share of the loot.
Next is the chapter aptly called, “I Did It My Way On eBay.” It chronicles Headley’s next get-rich-quick scheme. This is the one wherein he sold Church-owned property on the auction site, secretly funneling more than $15,000 into his personal bank account. It’s here the threads of Headley’s book neatly interweave with real events. For he tells of how he hopped on his motorcycle and headed for the hills, but omits the fact his hasty departure was prompted by the discovery of his eBay enterprise. So, as he was about to be caught red-handed, he got the hell out of Dodge. As a footnote, his wife Claire soon followed suit, making her unannounced exit shortly thereafter.
So, no, Headley’s “autobiography” doesn’t exactly tell the whole tale. It also doesn’t include the details of the couples’ exploits since leaving the Church. Hence, the chapters outlined below.
Title the first “Mr. and Mrs. Anonymous,” owing to the fact the Headleys are placard-carrying members of the cyberterrorist group. In emphasis thereof, Marc traveled to Germany to take his place on the dais at a 2010 Anonymous gathering. It’s rumored they even bought miniature Anonymous masks for their little ones so the whole clan could march together in Anonymous protests.
Then there is the one called “Marc Under Oath.” This one is all about Marc sitting in deposition wherein he admitted to anonymously selling salacious stories concerning the Church and parishioners to equally salacious tabloids. Headley was forced to reveal not only the names of the publications, but the paychecks as well. One story alone, snapped up by the ethically bereft and now defunct News of the World, paid Headley $10,000. And he’s also been employed as a “paid source” for the U.S. supermarket tabloid Life & Style. “Paid source,” of course, is a euphemism for “paid story teller” because the magazine is known to trade in celebrity falsehoods and innuendo. And the narrative continues with the chapter “Family Lawsuits.” It centers on two frivolous husband-and-wife suits the Headleys filed against the Church. A federal judge heard their cases in a Los Angeles courtroom, whereupon she promptly tossed both out “on their merits and with prejudice.” Not only did the Headleys stumble out of court without the millions they had been banking on, the judge ordered the couple to pay the Church’s court costs totaling more than $40,000.
Then, of course, there is their chapter—the one called “Blowing Town.” It begins with Marc walking out on his business partner and straight into the bank, where he emptied every dime from the corporate account. Then, in the dead of night, the Headleys packed up the last of their belongings and set out for Denver, Colorado—leaving a foreclosed home and a pile of debt behind in California.
The dismissals of their ill-filed claims were recently affirmed by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.
The couple naturally cried poormouth when it came to complying with the judge’s order and—within days of the final judgment—Headley’s lawyer said that his client could not pay the money and wanted the Church to waive all costs because Headley was “dead broke.” When that was rejected he came back with an offer of $1,000. Then he offered $1,000 a month for 30 months. Then, out of the blue, he paid the full amount of $42,852.06 by cashier’s check.
The timing of the check was curious because Headley’s counsel had earlier said his client could not pay the amount in full, and yet he did so 24 hours before the magazine article in which Headley is quoted appeared on the Internet.
And because Headley has a history of being paid by the media and because his stories tend to contradict each other, one has to wonder whether he changed his story again, this time for the magazine, in exchange for money.
Also, the magazine promoted Headley’s self-published book, so there already was a form of “quid pro quo” in place to aid his personal income by providing him free promotion.
Furthermore, if the Headleys weren’t accepting money from anyone before the magazine article, they certainly are now.
Getting back to Headley’s book, there is, of course, his most recent and final chapter—the one he aptly entitles “Poor Me.” Portraying himself as the victim of someone else’s unethical behavior (which is really his), in order to elicit pity and sympathy, or maybe even to evoke compassion, once again it’s all about his own self-absorbed self in order to solicit donations to fill his supposedly depleted coffers.
So far, he’s been able to fix his roof, get a new truck, and next he just might put an Olympic-sized swimming pool in the backyard to replace the kids’ swing set he just “had to sell” to pay the $42,852.06 court-ordered judgment.
Could Headley have used his “paid source” income to pay the Church and then have played the sympathy card for more money? Money, money and more money—this is what it is all about for Mr. and Mrs. Anonymous.
In summation, this is the factual and complete story of Marc Headley and his wife Claire, bitter, revenge-driven apostates and media sources. They might as well trademark the slogan “this story or stories for hire” for any publication wanting to publish a scandalous story on Scientology—and give a nice plug to their self-published “book.”
And, as this final chapter comes to its pathetic close, their book is now finished, except for an epilogue that comes from Marc Headley’s own words, in a revealing moment when he actually managed to tell the truth.
“I am someone that cannot be trusted.”—Marc Headley
So, for Mr. and Mrs. Anonymous, this is truly … The End.