Scientology Guilty of Fraud, Rules French Court

A Paris court has convicted the Church of Scientology's French branch of fraud and fined it $600,000, but stopped short of the ban on the group that was sought by prosecutors. Church leaders were found guilty of pressuring members into paying large sums of money for questionable financial gain. The court handed them suspended sentences of between 10 months and two years. The court did not order the group to shut down, ruling that it would be likely to continue its activities anyway, "outside any legal framework." (More Scientology stories.)