Company "infiltrated" by Scientologists: three people will be tried for moral harassment and bankruptcy

Three men will be tried in Versailles before the criminal court for moral harassment, bankruptcy and misuse of corporate assets in the case of the Arcadia company, suspected by former employees of having been "infiltrated" by Scientologists, according to the referral order consulted on Friday February 7 by AFP.

A fourth man will be tried for complicity in moral harassment. The trial date has not yet been set.

Among the defendants is the boss of this company specializing in attic conversions, located in Voisins-le-Bretonneux (Yvelines). A former employee interviewed by investigators describes him as having been "under the influence" of two consultants and an auditor, all three members of the Church of Scientology, classified in France as a sect by several parliamentary reports.

According to another complainant, the two Scientology consultants "vampirized" the company in order to buy it "at a low cost."

The holding of a trial "is excellent news for my clients who are impatiently waiting for the criminal court to be able to judge this case which has already been going on for a very long time," declared Olivier Morice, lawyer for the 15 civil parties, contacted by AFP.

The case broke out when a dozen Arcadia employees filed a complaint in June 2014, claiming they had been harassed by their company's management.

Among the plaintiffs was the son of the boss who had described "an atmosphere of surveillance, mistrust and denunciation" since the arrival in 2013 of these external service providers, who have since been removed from Scientology.

On June 30, 2014, the company went into insolvency. A preliminary investigation was opened in Versailles in July 2014, then an investigation in August 2015.

One of the consultants in question is notably accused of having administered personality tests inspired by those of Scientology and including numerous questions relating to private life that many employees considered intrusive, according to testimonies collected by investigators.

The four defendants contest the facts alleged.

The company's boss is a "victim" twice, according to his lawyer Marc Bensimhon. Victim of the plaintiffs, who in 2015 set up a company also specializing in attic renovation. A procedure for unfair competition is still pending before the commercial court. But also victim of the Scientology consultant and auditor "who financially plundered" the company "to sink it and buy it back" at a low price, continued Mr. Bensimhon.

The consulting firm of one of the defendants had billed Arcadia almost 700.000 euros between 2012 and 2014, the referral order states.

The three other defendants deny having wanted to buy the company.