Church of Scientology Fined $900,000 for Fraud by French Court

The Church of Scientology was fined upwards of $900,000 after being found guilty of fraud by a French court. Plantiffs in the trial testified they were deceived out of thousands of dollars after the church used an electropsychometer, or E-meter, on them to measure their spiritual well-being. Regardless of the church's guilt in the fraud case, the court did not prohibit the Church of Scientology from operating in France.

The Paris court doled out convictions to six of the group's leaders, the Church of Scientology's French office, as well as its library on the morning of Tuesday, October 27. Four of the six leaders convicted were slapped with fines ranging from $8,000 to $47,750 and prison sentences of 10 months to two years.

The French-based Church of Scientology claim innocence, denying the allegations of fraud, saying they plan to appeal the verdict. The prosecutors of the case were gunning for the church to be shut down altogether but due to a recent change in French law inhibiting an outright ban of the group.

The fraud case comes close on the heels of acclaimed screenwriter and director Paul Haggis making news for quitting the Church of Scientology after a scathing resignation letter from Haggis to the church's celebrity liaison Tommy Davis went viral just yesterday.