07 Jul 2001
tikk@freedom.net
For those of you who didn't want to wade through all of the scans (there
were a lot of em), here's the entire January 2000 deposition,
transcribed.. February will follow in the coming days.
http://www.slatkinfraud.com/depo_jan.htm
I'll paste from the original intro text supplied when first unveiling
the scanned docs:
In these extraordinary documents, Reed Slatkin explains at great
length, and to the apparent surprise of the SEC lawyers gathered to
question him over his unlicensed investment activities how his
unlicensed money management scheme was borne not of greed or laziness,
but out of his deep-rooted religious beliefs, and his support for the
Church of Scientology and its members.
In a rambling dissertation that lasts for over 80 pages, he details his
history within the church, including his introduction to the faith by a
Scientologist uncle after the death of his father while Reed was in his
early teens, to spending his summers studying with Scientology founder
L. Ron Hubbard at his elite Scientology school in Britain, where, he
recalls, he created the original volunteer crew that became the Sea
Organization. Reed details being exiled from the United Kingdom after
that country "decided they didn't want Scientologists anymore," and his
return to the United States, where, he claims, he was one of a handful
of Scientologists who started the American Saint Hill Organization in
Los Angeles. At one point in his testimony, Reed apparently even
displays a brochure put out by the church entitled "What Scientology is
Doing in the World," and expresses his regret that he didn't bring the
"bigger books" that describe the church's works in more detail.
After the SEC lawyer in charge of questioning manages to get back onto
the subject of his investment practices, Slatkin discusses how he first
started his "Investment Club" out of his desire to help fellow
Scientologists make money to further their 'spiritual progress' in the
church, and stresses how from the beginning, he never intended to make
money off his 'clients', who, he argues, were friends and fellow
Scientologists. While he denies having received any payment for his
work, he admits that he has received 'gifts' everything from fruits of
the month to, he recalls, a statue from the Sinatra estate auction that
"you wouldn't even keep in your office, much less your house."
He also notes that many club members also used their gains to donate
large sums of money to the church.
Not surprisingly, the SEC lawyers seem less concerned with Reed's
spiritual goals and more interested in his investment activities, which
leads to lengthy exchanges in which the witness tries to explain the
labyrinth of bank and brokerage accounts that he has used during his
fifteen years, including NAA, the Swiss corporation whose very existence
has thrown into doubt by recent revelations (see Gully declaration).
Reed also discusses his investment training although his 1974
university degree is in Chinese and Japanese languages, he insists that
he has had considerable informal training from successful Scientologist
investors like Robert Duggan, and the internal conflict that he felt
when he first decided to 'cut back' his business after the SEC first
raised the question of his lack of a licence. In between tributes to L.
Ron Hubbard "Like it or not, he's my man," Reed says at one point in
the meeting and testimonials from client letters, he discusses how he
began to liquidate the funds and return the money to its owners, despite
his desire to continue to aid his fellow Scientologists.
Later he even says (while attempting to explain why it was so hard to
liquidate), "Maybe that's a violation of some law, I don't know," he
notes. "But to me, it was altruistic in that sense."
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