Hmmm... Pretty sure this was what I was talking about. He was not booted out of the SO as normally done with an SP declare. He was sent to the RPF's RPF at this time. He must have gotten out later.
I am 99.9% sure that this SP declare did not get him released from the grasps of the Sea Org.
I worked with Mike for many years.
There was more than one time when he was on the RPF. He was assigned in 1983 (along with me and a boatload of other people). At the time, ASI was releasing the book Battlefield Earth. Mike was pulled off the RPF for a "special assignment" to sell books.
It was bizzare. A bunch of us RPFers were at ASI doing renos and Mike, who was also on the RPF, walks in in a three piece suit with a briefcase.
He was assigned to the RPF again around 1989 or 1990, before his actual declare was issued. Mike at that time was doing a lot of tours. He was assigned around that time. Issues were: out-2D on tour, financial stuff, etc. I can't remember if it was this time or the first time he had a "provisional declare". This is a DM invention where the person is on the RPF (or RPF's RPF) but is actually "declared". (However that's supposed to work.)
Sea Org managmement and Michael aways had a rough relationship. The public loved him, especially in the lower orgs. He would go on tour to these orgs, give events, talk, do magic tricks. He was kind of a celeb. Though management liked the fact that he made money, they hated the fact that he had a following. He was a very smart, very funny guy, and was always controversial.
He had a big talent for "figuring out" people's accounts. At some point in the late 80s he was taken off as a reg and put onto arrivals. He would go through a person's account folder and figure out ways that they actually had an intensive or intensives of auditing paid for, so he could get them in as an arrival. (This sounds odd unless you are familiar with what an actual account folder looks like for someone who's been in Scientology for a while.) He was great on the arrival's lines, but of course at some point this flapped with management and he was crucified for "financial irregularities".
I was sad when he was declared in the 90s, but even at the time, being on staff, I was kind of happy for him. No matter how much money and bodies and PR he generated for the org, I knew that sooner or later he would just get blown away again. He would never be treated well in the Sea Org. He was just too much of an individual. I'm glad he's out and he's happy now.