Nationality American Motive Ponzi scheme | Name Reed Slatkin Organizations founded EarthLink | |
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Full Name Reed Eliot Slatkin Born January 22, 1949 ( 1949-01-22 ) Detroit, Michigan Occupation Former investment manager Criminal penalty 14 years in U.S. federal prison Conviction(s) Guilty plea, 15 counts: mail fraud, wire fraud, money laundering, obstruction of justice Died June 20, 2015, Los Angeles, California, United States Criminal status Federal Correctional Institution, Lompoc | ||
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Reed Eliot Slatkin (born January 22, 1949 in Detroit, Michigan) was an initial investor and co-founder of EarthLink and the perpetrator of one of the largest Ponzi schemes in the United States since that conducted by Charles Ponzi himself.
Contents
- Scientology reed slatkin 2 3
- Scientology reed slatkin 3 3
- Ponzi scheme
- Guilty plea and post conviction
- In popular culture
- References
Slatkin had been an ordained Scientology minister since 1975. Around 1984 he changed from being a full-time minister to becoming a self-employed investor, and many of his investment clients and victims were also Scientologists.
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Ponzi scheme
From 1986 to 2001, Slatkin raised approximately $593 million from about 800 wealthy investors. Using the funds from later investors, he paid one group of early investors $279M on their original $128M investment, citing investment success without actually making most of the claimed investments. He also distributed millions in fees to associates as "consultants". He successfully sustained the scheme until 2001, when it was shut down by an investigation by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). In May 2001, the SEC shut down Slatkin's scheme by filing an enforcement action and obtaining a temporary restraining order freezing his remaining assets. On the same day as the SEC action, the Federal Bureau of Investigation executed search warrants relating to Slatkin.
The civil case was brought by the SEC in SEC v. Slatkin, Civil Action No. 01-04823 (C.D. Cal.). The criminal case was brought by the U.S. Attorney for the Central District of California in U.S. v. Reed E. Slatkin, CR 02-313 (C.D. Cal.).
Among his victims were actors Joe Pantoliano, Anne Archer and Giovanni Ribisi (the latter two being Scientologists), producers Art Linson (father of high-ranking Scientologist Jenny Linson) and Armyan Bernstein, and two additional Scientologists, film composer Mark Isham and commentator Greta Van Susteren. as well as key people of EarthLink, including Gregory B. Abbott and Scientologist Sky Dayton. He funneled millions of dollars to the Church of Scientology and their related entities.
Guilty plea and post-conviction
Slatkin pleaded guilty to mail fraud, wire fraud, money laundering, and obstruction of justice and on September 2, 2003, he was sentenced to fourteen years in federal prison.
His Federal Bureau of Prisons registration number was 24057-112 and he was initially incarcerated at the Taft Community Correctional Institution in Taft, California. By 2010, he had been transferred to the Lompoc Federal Correctional Institution in Lompoc, California.
Many of his victims were also Scientologists. In his fraud case, his lawyers blamed his behavior on Scientology; but Scientology's lawyers from Latham & Watkins characterized Slatkin's explanations as "shameful" and having "sold the psychiatrists a bill of goods".
In July 2013, he was released from a halfway house in Long Beach, California.
On June 23, 2015, journalist Tony Ortega reported on his website that Slatkin had died from a heart attack. Ortega said that he had confirmation of Slatkin's death from Slatkin's ex-wife.
In popular culture
In February 2008, the television show American Greed featured the Slatkin case, which it titled "Stealing $$$ from Scientologists".