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."