Reed Slatkin
In March 1994, ordained Minister of Scientology, Reed Slatkin, launched EarthLink, an Internet Service Provider based in Atlanta. Eight years earlier, in 1986, he began attracting investors, many from the Scientology community. The first round of investments totaled $128 million. Slatkin promptly paid $279 million in returns, using the monies from later investors.
By 2001, Slatkin had taken almost $600 million in investments, all of which he eventually pled guilty to defrauding his investors of. He was shut down by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, charged, and sentenced to 27 years in prison. Slatkin died in June 2015 of a heart attack while living in a halfway house in Long Beach, California.
