Pam Bondi is dealing with mounting scrutiny over her longstanding ties to the Church of Scientology – and new questions on how a authorized headache for Scientology movie star John Travolta appeared to quietly vanish after her current appointment of a key ally to a senior federal function.
As RadarOnline.com has reported, U.S. Legal professional Common Bondi – a vocal Trump ally and evangelical Christian – has maintained public connections with the controversial church since at the very least 2010, based on a number of sources.
In accordance with journalist and Scientology watcher Tony Ortega, who posts his forensic examinations of the group on The Underground Bunker website, Bondi’s current determination to put in a former Greenberg Traurig lawyer, Gregory Kehoe, as interim U.S. lawyer for the Center District of Florida successfully shifted a legal case that risked embarrassing Travolta out of state courtroom and into federal palms.
Ortega says the transfer wiped away makes an attempt to query the actor below oath.
The advanced case facilities on Hollywood icon and main Scientology member Travolta’s former pilots, Jean-Paul Lacruz Romero, 29, and Jordan Coursey, who have been accused in 2024 of defrauding the actor’s aviation firm, Constellation Productions, of practically $800,000 in inflated gas invoices.
In January 2025, a witness record was filed naming Travolta and his longtime coach James Marino, saying they might testify about “residing preparations” at Travolta’s Ocala property and fuel-purchase practices.
Romero’s lawyer stated: “Usually the pilots, as a situation of their employment, would spend the night time in lodging supplied by, and accessed by, Mr. Travolta whereas touring or whereas making preflight preparations.”
The lawyer added: “Moreover, Mr. Travolta can be a main witness, as being the individual having essentially the most in-person conversations and interactions with the pilots concerning plane upkeep, aviation gas, essential plane provides and flight plans.”
Prosecutors moved swiftly to dam the request for Travolta to be made a witness – even asking for a closed-door listening to to forestall the actor and Marino from being deposed.
As a timeline across the case on Ortega’s website reveals, the matter took a sudden flip when Bondi appointed Kehoe to the highest federal prosecutor publish masking Travolta’s residence jurisdiction.
Inside months, the pilots’ case was transferred from state to federal courtroom below Kehoe’s oversight, resetting proceedings and voiding Barone’s witness record.
Ortega stated: “Bondi has developed a robust reference to Scientology, though she herself belongs to an evangelical Protestant church within the Tampa space. Rich Scientologists have raised cash for Bondi, who attends fundraisers at their houses.”
He added: “On January 7, 2025, Jean-Paul LaCruz Romero’s very intelligent protection lawyer, Jo Barone, recordsdata a witness record that features Scientology movie star John Travolta and his live-in coach, Jimmy Marino.
“Barone intends to depose each of them within the case and particularly to ask about sleeping preparations at Travolta’s Ocala home.
“(The pilots accused of bilking Travolta usually stayed over on the home between flights.)
“The state lawyer’s workplace freaks out, not solely opposing Barone’s movement, but additionally asking the courtroom to think about holding a listening to behind closed doorways about its opposition to deposing Travolta and Marino.
“Barone then explains in one other submitting how totally uncommon this request for a non-public listening to is, and the state lawyer backs down.”
Ortega went on to focus on how the U.S. Legal professional’s workplace within the Center District of Florida – below Bondi-appointed Gregory Kehoe – secured a grand jury indictment of pilots Jean-Paul LaCruz Romero and Jordan Coursey, who have been already being prosecuted in state courtroom for a similar alleged crime.
He stated: “On October 27, 2025, the prosecution of LaCruz Romero and Coursey is formally moved from state to federal courtroom.
“Jo Barone’s try and depose John Travolta and Jimmy Marino is wiped away because the legal case begins over once more from scratch, and the 2 pilots get new attorneys.
“The federal courtroom units trial for December 1, and orders the federal government to show over any exculpatory discovery to the protection.
“No point out of a deposition of sufferer John Travolta or his particular pal Jimmy Marino is talked about.”
Ortega additionally joked about how he believes the sudden twist within the case is right down to Bondi’s Scientology hyperlinks: “See how that works, children? JT and Jimmy can breathe straightforward.”
Bondi’s connections to Scientology stretch again over a decade. She gave a 2016 speech at Scientology’s Fort Harrison Resort praising its “anti-trafficking” efforts, and in 2014 attended a fundraiser hosted by six outstanding Scientologists.
Critics say Bondi’s new function “amplifies considerations about her impartiality over Scientology instances.”