Church of Scientology the "United Churches of Florida" the citizens and City Council of Clearwater did not realize that the building's owners were actually the Church of Scientology until after the building's purchase. Clearwater citizens' groups, headed by Mayor Gabriel Cazares, rallied strongly against Scientology establishing a base in the city (repeatedly referring to the organization as a cult), but Flag Base was established nonetheless. In the years since its foundation, the Flag Land Base has expanded as the Church of Scientology has gradually purchased large amounts of additional property in the downtown and waterfront Clearwater area. Scientology's largest project in Clearwater has
Tax status of Scientology in the United States which purportedly delivered banking services to Flag. However, in reality OTC had no offices, officers or employees. Flag's funds were deposited in OTC's Swiss bank accounts, on all of which Hubbard was a signatory. In 1972, Hubbard had $2 million in cash transferred from OTC's accounts to the "Apollo", where it was stored in a locked file cabinet to which only his wife Mary Sue had the keys. Another vehicle for inurement was the United States Churches of Scientology Trust, described by the US Court of Claims in 1984 as "a bogus trust controlled by key church officials" including Hubbard