Mark Rathbun
| Mark Rathbun | |
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Mark Rathbun
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| Born | 1957 United States |
| Known for | Former Inspector General, Religious Technology Center (RTC) |
| Spouse(s) | Anne Joasem (divorced) Monique "Mosey" Rathbun (present) |
| Website | markrathbun |
Mark C. "Marty" Rathbun (born 1957) is a former senior executive of the Church of Scientology who last held the post of Inspector General of the Religious Technology Center (RTC), the organization that is responsible for the protection and enforcement of all Dianetics and Scientology copyrights and trademarks.
As the lead inspector overseeing the Inspector General Network at the international level, his official duties as described by RTC were to investigate and correct "instances in which departure from a standard, policy or ethic could betray an organization’s service to its constituent public." The post is widely acknowledged as one of the most senior management functions in the hierarchy of the Church and its related organizations. Rathbun left the Church of Scientology in 2004 and became an independent Scientologist, but now considers himself non-religious.
According to his official biography, Rathbun became a Church staff member in 1978, and joined the RTC board in 1987. The biography also credits him with having played a major role in various Church victories, including the negotiation of the Church's tax exemption agreement with the Internal Revenue Service in 1993. In 1998, Florida newspaper the Tampa Bay Times described Rathbun as "top lieutenant" to Scientology leader David Miscavige.
In 1997, The New York Times reported that according to an internal Scientology publication, Rathbun and Miscavige jump-started stalled negotiations over Scientology's tax status when they made an unscheduled visit to I.R.S. Commissioner Fred T. Goldberg, Jr. at the Internal Revenue Service headquarters in Washington in October 1991. The Church of Scientology and Rathbun later denied that there had been an unscheduled meeting between Goldberg, Rathbun and Miscavige that day. The Church said that "While an internal publication of three years ago does recount Mr. Miscavige approaching the I.R.S., it never states he was granted an unscheduled meeting on demand." Rathbun, in a separate letter to the New York Times, explained that the first meeting he and Miscavige had with Goldberg and other I.R.S. officials was approximately one month after their impromptu visit to the I.R.S. building.
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