[22] One such recent lawsuit, filed in April 2022, refers to repeated sexual assault of children by senior Scientology executives in the Sea Org during Miscavige's leadership.

Miscavige's family joined the Church of Scientology in 1971 and eventually moved to the organization's world headquarters at Saint Hill Manor in West Sussex, England.

[25] In 1976, with his father's permission, Miscavige left high school on his sixteenth birthday and moved to Clearwater, Florida, to join the Sea Org, a Scientologist organization established in 1968 by founder L. Ron Hubbard.

[25] Some of his earliest jobs in the Sea Org included delivering telexes, groundskeeping, food service and taking photographs for Scientology brochures.

[25] Miscavige was appointed to an elite group of young Scientologists within the Sea Org called the Commodore's Messenger Organization (CMO), which Hubbard had established to carry out his personal errands and deliver executive directives to Scientology management.

[27][28][29]: 264–5  By 1977, Miscavige was living in La Quinta, California, working directly under Hubbard as a cameraman for Scientology training films at CMO Cine Org.

[30]: 94 By the end of 1981, Miscavige was in charge of the Watchdog Committee and the All Clear Unit,[30]: 94  as well as Author Services Inc., a for-profit entity established in 1981 to manage Hubbard's literary and financial affairs.

He established the Religious Technology Center (RTC), an entity responsible for licensing Scientology's intellectual property, and Author Services Inc. to manage the proceeds.

[35] A number of those ousted attempted to establish breakaway organizations including the Advanced Ability Center led by David Mayo, a former RTC board member who had also been Hubbard's personal auditor.

A 1991 Time magazine cover story, "The Thriving Cult of Greed and Power," described Miscavige as "ringleader" of a "hugely profitable global racket that survives by intimidating members and critics in a Mafia-like manner.

[40][41]: 132–133 [42]: 217–218 The Scientology organization also brought a libel lawsuit against the piece's publisher Time Warner and its author Richard Behar, seeking damages of $416 million.

"[51][39] In the aftermath of the September 11 attacks, David Miscavige published a message to all Scientologists entitled "Wake Up Call", urging them to redouble their efforts to use Scientology.

[54] Scientology officials and the IRS later issued a statement that the ruling was based on a two-year inquiry and voluminous documents that, they said, showed the organization was qualified for the exemptions.

[54] To announce the settlement with the IRS, Miscavige gathered a reported 10,000 members of Scientology in the Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena, where he delivered a two-and-a-half-hour address and proclaimed, "The war is over!

[68] The largest of Scientology's properties in Clearwater, Florida, the 377,000-square-foot (35,000 m2) structure[69] is reportedly outfitted with custom-built equipment designed to administer the supposedly perception-enhancing "Super Power Rundown" to high-level Scientologists.

[75] In 2009, the St. Petersburg Times published a series titled "The Truth Rundown," which featured allegations by former Scientology executives that Miscavige had repeatedly humiliated and physically beaten his staff, and had confined Scientologists in degrading conditions in a building at Gold Base known as "The Hole.

"[10][66] The series included interviews with Mike Rinder, former spokesperson for Scientology and director of the organization's Office of Special Affairs, and Mark Rathbun, the former Inspector General of the RTC.

[76] "The Truth Rundown" was recognized with journalistic honors, including the 2010 Gold Medal for Public Service award from the Florida Society of News Editors.

[82] Scientology representatives have consistently denied abuse by Miscavige, insisting that the allegations come from apostates motivated by bitterness or attempting to extort money from the organization.

"[89] Scientology says the National Affairs Office was built "to oversee programs around the country and the world dealing with human rights, drug addiction, literacy and disaster response.

[19][20][21] The lawsuit also alleges repeated sexual assault of children by senior members of the Sea Org, of which Miscavige was leader at the time and remains so to the present.

"[105] In July 2012, responding to press speculation on Shelly's whereabouts, lawyers who said they represented her informed two UK newspapers that "she is not missing and devotes her time to the work of the Church of Scientology.

[108] Author Lawrence Wright reports that "former Sea Org members" claim that they believe Shelly Miscavige is being held against her will at the compound of the Scientologist's Church of Spiritual Technology corporation near the mountain town of Running Springs in San Bernardino County.

[110] Thomas Tobin of the Tampa Bay Times reviewed the book, writing that the author "describ[es] his son as a tyrant who has turned the organization into a destructive influence."

Tobin wrote that Ron Miscavige said the church had "morphed into an immoral organization that hides a long list of abuses behind First Amendment protections, spends millions to investigate and harass its critics, and has destroyed families—including his own—through its practice of disconnection.

[113] Denise Licciardi, Miscavige's twin sister, was hired by major Scientology donor Bryan Zwan as a top executive for the Clearwater-based company Digital Lightwave, where she was linked to an accounting scandal.

[114][115] Shelly Miscavige's mother, Mary Florence "Flo" Fike Barnett, was a long-time Scientologist[25] who later resigned, taking with her copies of "confidential upper-level materials."

[116] According to testimony by former high-ranking church executive Vicki Aznaran: "The fact that David Miscavige was linked to [Barnett] by familial ties was extremely repugnant to him and to his wife.

Around the same time Cruise was beginning his relationship with Rogers, Miscavige made an announcement at a Church of Scientology rally, "The most important recruit ever is in the process of being secured.

[119] He removed himself from the Church and worked on the film Eyes Wide Shut until 1999 when Miscavige sent Marty Rathbun to successfully "retrieve" Cruise and convince him to continue training.