Reed Slatkin
Reed Eliot Slatkin ( born January 22, 1949 in Detroit, Michigan) is an American entrepreneur and author of the biggest Ponzi schemes in the history of the United States since that of Charles Ponzi.
Slatkin grew up in a wealthy suburb of Detroit and attended the Cranbrook School before he began studying at the University of Berkeley.
Later Slatkin began with illegal business. Slatkins system collapsed in 2000 after complaints from investors with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, they could no longer refer back their money. Reed Slatkin received, depending on source of 200 million or 240 million U.S. dollars from over 500 wealthy investors, including many Hollywood celebrities.
He confessed his guilt in court and was sentenced to 14 years imprisonment in a federal prison.
Slatkin was a Scientology member of many of his victims also. In November 2006 it was announced that Scientology would repay the sum of 3.5 million to the bankruptcy trustee in the context of a comparison, because money had flowed to various Scientology organizations through the Ponzi scheme.