Santa Barbara News-Press: Slatkin gets 14 years
Rod Keller
Claim that church to blame for massive scam rejected
Santa Barbara News-Press
9/3/03
By CHUCK SCHULTZ
http://news.newspress.com/topsports/090303slatkin.htm
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Imposing a harsher punishment than even prosecutors sought, a federal
judge Tuesday sentenced former Hope Ranch resident and Earthlink
co-founder Reed Slatkin to 14 years in prison for bilking hundreds of
investors out of about $240 million.
U.S. District Judge Margaret M. Morrow rejected defense claims that Mr.
Slatkin had kept his fraud going for 15 years because of his strong
beliefs in - and fear of - the Church of Scientology, saying that she
wasn't convinced he acted under such duress.
"There is no evidence the church urged the defendant to engage in this
conduct," she said from the bench, moments before handing down a sentence
more than double the 6 1/2-year term urged by Mr. Slatkin's attorneys. It
is three years longer than the sentence recommended by Assistant U.S.
Attorney Steven Olson, for what was one of the biggest Ponzi schemes in
U.S. history.
"The harm is immense," Judge Morrow noted. "Innumerable lives have been
damaged or destroyed. He even cajoled people with fake illnesses to get
them to invest," all the while living a "lavish lifestyle" filled with
Lear jets, luxury cars, a beautiful home and expensive country-club
memberships.
Before the sentencing, three of Mr. Slatkin's many victims were allowed to
voice their wrath, and each urged the maximum sentence possible.
"There's something inherently evil in the way he carried out this scheme,"
said investor Michael Azeez, whose family lost $42 million. "He befriended
us, he visited our homes, he met our families," but then ended up
swindling money from investors' retirement funds, college accounts and
even life-insurance proceeds.
"Each and every time, he stole everything he could," asserted another
investor, John Poitras of Santa Ynez, who lost $15 million. "He is
enormously cruel. Punish him harshly."
Mr. Slatkin, 54, has been behind bars since he pleaded guilty in April
2002 to a variety of charges, ranging from mail fraud and money laundering
to conspiracy to obstruct justice. Near the close of his four-hour
sentencing hearing in a downtown Los Angeles courtroom, he walked to the
podium in handcuffs and addressed the judge in a subdued voice.
"I have now spent 500 days in custody," he said. "Not one day has gone by
without my experiencing overwhelming feelings of my responsibility for the
harm I've caused to people who had given me their trust. I join these
individuals in detesting my conduct, and detesting myself for the damage
I've caused."
To those who predict he will one day walk out of prison and pick up where
he left off, he added: "The future for myself is only one of isolation and
decline. I'm not going to be able to recover -- in any way, shape or form
-- my former life, my family and my friends."
When he declared bankruptcy in May 2001, his assets totaled just over $30
million. Investigators said most of the rest of the money defrauded from
investors was "lost in a financial black hole."
He was ordered to pay full restitution, $240 million, as part of his
sentence.
Since entering his guilty pleas, Mr. Slatkin has extensively shared
information with criminal investigators on how the Ponzi scheme operated
and who assisted him. He has also cooperated with a bankruptcy trustee
seeking to identify any remaining assets that could be used to partially
repay his victims.
But his cooperation has been less than complete, a key factor cited by
Judge Morrow in imposing a 14-year sentence after prosecutors had
recommended 11 years. "His cooperation has been, shall we say, somewhat
checkered," she said.
Defense lawyers suggested that was mostly due to his reluctance to
implicate people who were members of the Church of Scientology.
"It took us awhile to deprogram Mr. Slatkin," attorney Brian Sun told the
judge. It took several months, he said, "for us to wean him off the
influences of this group. There is no question that the hold the church
had on Mr. Slatkin was significant, even up to the time of his surrender."
A church member who formerly was a friend and business associate of Mr.
Slatkin, Daniel W. Jacobs, testified Tuesday that the defendant told him
when they met at a Santa Barbara restaurant more than two years ago that
he was going to use the church as an excuse for reducing his likely
double-digit sentence.
"Mr. Slatkin said he had a plan . . . that he was going to say the church
was a significant negative influence on him, on his state of mind and his
ability to make sound judgments," he said.
Asked his reaction at the time, Mr. Jacobs said he "didn't think it was a
good idea because it didn't make sense."
Mr. Jacobs, 60, was also charged with obstruction of justice for helping
hide the scheme from federal investigators. He pleaded guilty to the
charge last November, but has yet to be sentenced.
Defense attorneys suggested, in courtroom remarks and sealed briefs, that
Mr. Slatkin was afraid to stop his fraud because the church wanted to keep
getting big donations from members who had invested with him and been
falsely told they were reaping huge profits.
The judge noted, however, that Mr. Slatkin also benefitted hugely from
that ongoing fraud and said his lavish expenditures didn't indicate he was
living in fear.
"We're pleased the judge saw through his scam," David Schindler, an
attorney for the Church of Scientology, told the News-Press after the
hearing. "It was an outrage that they tried to blame the church for his
wrongdoing."
A standing room-only crowd of about 80 people filled the courtroom,
including numerous victims.
One of them, Charles Ohl of Los Angeles, said afterward that he had lost
about $100,000 when Mr. Slatkin convinced him to invest retirement funds
that had taken 10 years of "scraping and saving" to accumulate.
"I'm extremely pleased that the judge didn't buy any of the defense theory
for mitigation," Mr. Ohl said. "It's a partial healing."
Federal law requires even a model prisoner to serve at least 85 percent of
his sentence before being eligible for release.
"The financial and emotional devastation that the defendant has caused his
victims cannot be overstated," Mr. Olson, the prosecutor, wrote in his
sentencing memorandum to Judge Morrow. "Some victims lost tens of millions
of dollars. Other victims lost far less, but their losses amounted to
their entire life savings."
Unlike most investment frauds, Mr. Slatkin's was "very personal in
nature," he added. "He largely knew his investors, who in turn referred
their families and friends."
Mr. Olson said Mr. Slatkin's fraud would have been detected a year sooner,
and losses reduced by about $145 million, "but for the defendant's
elaborate conspiracy to obstruct the Securities and Exchange Commission's
investigation of his investment practices."
SLATKIN TIMELINE
Jan. 22, 1949: Reed Slatkin is born in Detroit, Mich.
1963: Father commits suicide; Mr. Slatkin turns to Scientology.
1966: Studies with L. Ron Hubbard in England.
1973: Moves to Los Angeles with wife Mary Jo and begins working and
studying with the church full time.
1975: Ordained as a minister in the church, begins training other
Scientologists.
1983: After second son is born, moves to Goleta.
1984: Starts investing money and says he has a couple of years with 100
percent returns.
1993: Buys two estates in Hope Ranch.
1994: Decides to invest $75,000 in Earthlink. Within three years, his
share is worth more than $100 million.
1997: The Securities and Exchange Commission begins an informal
investigation into Mr. Slatkin's business dealings.
1998: In one set of bank accounts, Mr. Slatkin reports to investors that
he has more than $50 million, but in reality has less than $3 million.
April 13, 2001: Frustrated that he hasn't had his money returned, John
Poitras files suit and Mr. Slatkin's assets are frozen.
April 30, 2001: In a meeting at the office of his attorney, Mr. Slatkin
first informs his investors that there's a problem with their money.
May 1, 2001: Files for bankruptcy at the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Santa
Barbara.
May 11, 2001: FBI and IRS raid and search Mr. Slatkin's office and homes.
July 30, 2001: A U.S. bankruptcy trustee tells 800 investors that their
money is mostly gone.
Dec. 14, 2001: The trustee says Mr. Slatkin's investment club was a scam
from the start.
March 26, 2002: Mr. Slatkin agrees to sign a guilty plea.
Nov. 21, 2002: Daniel W. Jacobs pleads guilty to conspiring to obstruct
the SEC investigation.
April 24, 2003: Richard McMullin agrees to plead guilty to conspiring to
obstruct the investigation by the SEC.
Sept. 2, 2003: Mr. Slatkin is sentenced to 14 years in federal prison.
-- Mark van de Kamp
roger gonnet
"Rod Keller" <rke...@unix01.voicenet.com> a écrit dans le message de
news:10625843...@newshost02.voicenet.com...
> Slatkin handed 14-year sentence
> Claim that church to blame for massive scam rejected
> Santa Barbara News-Press
> 9/3/03
> By CHUCK SCHULTZ
> http://news.newspress.com/topsports/090303slatkin.htm
> (turn off javascript)
>
> Imposing a harsher punishment than even prosecutors sought, a federal
> judge Tuesday sentenced former Hope Ranch resident and Earthlink
> co-founder Reed Slatkin to 14 years in prison for bilking hundreds of
> investors out of about $240 million.
>
> U.S. District Judge Margaret M. Morrow rejected defense claims that Mr.
> Slatkin had kept his fraud going for 15 years because of his strong
> beliefs in - and fear of - the Church of Scientology, saying that she
> wasn't convinced he acted under such duress.
She was right and wrong about that. Right since teh scam cult does not
advice to build ponzi schemes a s a way to make the cult richer. The cult
prefers to ask its victims to find new victimes who'll pay, and give the
ancient victimes some portions of the sums taken off the new victims, so as
to turn innocent people in accomplices of Hubbard, major con-man founder of
the crime cult.
r
Phil Scott
Mark Van de Kamp is not the brightest bulb over there at the Santa
Barbara News press...not in this report or when I talked to him 30
months ago on the phone.
He left out several exceedingly relevant pieced of information. For
instance in the list just above he failed to mention that before the
FBI's 'raid' Reed had already been notified of charges to be pending,
and spend the that two weeks with lights burning 24/7 hauling boxes of
material away in a van....duh.
Mark fails to mention that...others on the Staff of the Press did
however.
Also Mark fails to mention the fact that tens of millions of that
ripped off money ended up in hands of the cult through 'donations'...
and he fails to mention that the cult had internally warned *some
people away from Slatkin while allowing him to conn others for more
millions over a period of years.
One wonders where the 250 million is these days... a good percentage
of those 'investments' were rather obvious made up shells, dinky
little operations that sucked more 'investment' than would be
warranted then vaporized it totally...very unlikely as legitimate
investments...but very likely as part of a money laundering op to get
rid of the funds.
I think there is a very good possibility that Reed will net a million
or so a year for his prison time... and live quite well there after.
It will be interesting to see if Nielson lets the banks willingly
complicit and profiting greatly on the Slatkin fraud to walk... under
that mess would very likely be complicit federal officials.... a
stretch? explain then why the hell AGEG with Mikie Kobrin was
overrun with retired CIA staff as they vaporized 40 million in cash
paid investments on that laundry ball /bullshit water scam.
Messes like this do not get covered up by accident or for no reason.
Very important details are ignored all along this chain of events and
even in much of its reporting from some quarters.
My guess is that 'mitigating circumstances' will float to the surface
like a dead pig in a few years, allowing Reedie to walk with just a
few years served...that will be after the headlines die down of
course.
Phil Scott
Tom Klemesrud
Rod Keller wrote:
> Slatkin handed 14-year sentence
> Claim that church to blame for massive scam rejected
> Santa Barbara News-Press
> 9/3/03
> By CHUCK SCHULTZ
> http://news.newspress.com/topsports/090303slatkin.htm
> Defense attorneys suggested, in courtroom remarks and sealed
briefs, that
> Mr. Slatkin was afraid to stop his fraud because the church
wanted to keep
> getting big donations from members who had invested with him
and been
> falsely told they were reaping huge profits.
July 31, 1994, Sunday, Valley Edition
SECTION: Metro; Part B; Page 1; Column 2
LENGTH: 1691 words
HEADLINE: HACKER IN HIDING; DIGITAL DESPERADO WHO CLAIMS TO HAVE
WORKED FOR THE FBI IS NOW BEING SOUGHT BY THE AGENCY
BYLINE: By JOHN JOHNSON, TIMES STAFF WRITER
BODY:
First there was the Condor, then Dark Dante. The latest
computer hacker
to hit the cyberspace most wanted list is Agent Steal, a slender,
good-looking rogue partial to Porsches and BMWs who bragged that
he worked
undercover for the FBI catching other hackers.
Now Agent Steal, whose real name is Justin Tanner Petersen,
is on the
run from the very agency he told friends was paying his rent and
flying
him to computer conferences to spy on other hackers.
Petersen, 34, disappeared Oct. 18 after admitting to federal
prosecutors that he had been committing further crimes during the
time
when he was apparently working with the government "in the
investigation
of other persons," according to federal court records.
Ironically, by running he has consigned himself to the same
secretive
life as Kevin Mitnick, the former North Hills man who is one of the
nation's most infamous hackers, and whom Petersen allegedly
bragged of
helping to set up for an FBI bust. Mitnick, who once took the
name Condor
in homage to a favorite movie character, has been hiding for
almost two
years to avoid prosecution for allegedly hacking into computers
illegally
and posing as a law enforcement officer.
Authorities say Petersen's list of hacks includes breaking into
computers used by federal investigative agencies and tapping into
a credit
card information bureau. Petersen, who once promoted after-hours rock
shows in the San Fernando Valley, also was involved in the hacker
underground's most sensational scam -- hijacking radio station
phone lines
to win contests with prizes ranging from new cars to trips to
Hawaii.
The mastermind of that scheme was Dark Dante, whose real name
is Kevin
Poulsen. He is awaiting sentencing in connection with that case,
having
already spent three years in custody, the longest term in jail
for any
hacker in history.
Petersen's case reveals the close-knit and ruggedly
competitive world
of computer hacking, where friends struggle to outdo each other
and then,
when they are caught, sometimes turn on each other. Petersen
boasted of
his alleged exploits trapping his former colleagues.
Petersen gave an interview last year to an on-line
publication called
Phrack in which he claimed to have tapped the phone of a prostitute
working for Heidi Fleiss. He also boasted openly of working with
the FBI
to bust Mitnick.
"When I went to work for the bureau I contacted him,"
Petersen said in
the interview conducted by Mike Bowen. "He was still up to his
old tricks,
so we opened a case on him. . . . What a loser. Everyone thinks
he is some
great hacker. I outsmarted him and busted him."
How much of Petersen's story is true and how much is
chest-thumping is
at issue, for he is a shadowy person who didn't even use his own name
during the years he spent on the fringes of the Los Angeles rock
scene.
Tall, good-looking, with long hair down the middle of his back, Eric
Heinz, as he was known by everyone, shattered the computer nerd
pocket
protector stereotype. He frequented the Rainbow Bar and Grill on
Sunset
Boulevard, often with different women on his arm, and handed out
cards
identifying himself as a concert promoter and electronic surveillance
specialist.
Riki Rachtman, an MTV "veejay," said Petersen had a
reputation for
technical wizardry among the club crowd. "Everybody knew, if you
screwed
(him) over, he had the power to screw everything" with you,
Rachtman said.
But was he really working as a government informant at the
same time to
ensnare his hacker buddies for the bureau? The FBI refused to
talk about
Petersen directly. But J. Michael Gibbons, a bureau computer
crime expert,
expressed doubts. He advises against such relationships.
"It's not safe. Across the board, hackers cannot be trusted
to work --
they play both sides against the middle," he said. The agents
"could have
had him in the office. They probably debriefed him at length.
Send him out
to do things? I doubt it."
But Santa Monica attorney Richard Sherman, who is
representing a friend
of Mitnick's in another hacker case, has accused the FBI of not only
actively using Petersen as an informant, but also of turning a
blind eye
to Petersen's alleged crimes during the time he was in their
care. The
crimes involve alleged credit card fraud.
In a May 19 letter to Atty. Gen. Janet Reno, Sherman said
three agents
in Los Angeles engaged "in a course of conduct which is illegal and
contrary to bureau policy" in handling Petersen.
Jo Ann Farrington, deputy chief of the public integrity section,
responded on July 18 that there were no grounds to begin a criminal
investigation. Because Sherman had called "into question the ethical
conduct of the named special agents," the letter was referred to the
Office of Professional Responsibility for review.
******
"It is factually incorrect that we allowed Mr. Petersen to commit
crimes," said Assistant U. S. Atty. David Schindler.
******
Those who knew Petersen best described him as a bright,
verging-on-arrogant man who dressed well and sometimes walked
with a cane,
a result of a motorcycle accident six years ago that cost him a
foot. He
sometimes promoted after-hours clubs in the Valley and in Hollywood,
according to a partner, Phillip Lamond.
One night the two men were talking about Petersen's
adventures. "The
difference between you and me," Lamond said Petersen told him,
"is I get a
thrill from breaking the law."
In the Phrack interview, published on the Internet, an
international
network of computer networks with millions of users, Agent Steal
bragged
about breaking into Pacific Bell headquarters with Poulsen to obtain
information about the phone company's investigation of his hacking.
He said they found "a lot of information regarding other
investigations
and how they do wiretaps."
"Very dangerous in the wrong hands," replied Bowen, according
to a
transcript of the interview.
"We are the wrong hands," Petersen said. Bowen said Petersen
still
calls him from time to time.
Petersen was arrested in Texas in 1991, where he lived
briefly. Court
records show that authorities searching his apartment found computer
equipment, Pacific Bell manuals and five modems.
An FBI affidavit reveals fear that Petersen could have been
eavesdropping on law enforcement investigations. The affidavit says
Petersen admitted "conducting illegal telephone taps" and
breaking into
Pacific Bell's COSMOS computer program, which allows the user to
check
telephone numbers and determine the location of telephone lines and
circuits.
A grand jury in Texas returned an eight-count indictment against
Petersen, accusing him of assuming false names, accessing a computer
without authorization, possessing stolen mail and fraudulently
obtaining
and using credit cards.
[NOTE: The Texas operation was said to have been contracted by a
private investigator working for the cult, in order to obtain
information of the Aznarans--who were then cooperating with
Richard Behar in the writing of the May 6, 1991 TIME cover story]
The case was later transferred to California and sealed, out
of concern
for Petersen's safety, authorities said. The motion to seal,
obtained by
Sherman, states that Petersen, "acting in an undercover capacity,
currently is cooperating with the United States in the
investigation of
other persons in California."
Petersen eventually pleaded guilty to six counts, including
rigging a
radio station contest with a $20,000 prize. He faced a sentence
of up to
40 years in jail and a $1.5-million fine, but the sentencing was
delayed
several times while, Sherman believes, Petersen continued working
for the
government. Lamond said Petersen told him the FBI was paying him
$600 a
month "to help them track down hackers."
Then on Oct. 18, 1993, 15 months after entering his first
guilty plea,
Petersen was confronted outside federal court by Schindler, who
asked if
he had been committing any crimes while on bail. Petersen said he
had,
according to Schindler. Petersen met briefly with his attorney,
then took
off.
"I've got a big problem and I'm splitting," a friend said he
told him
the same day.
Attempts to reach Petersen were unsuccessful and his
attorney, Morton
Boren, said he has "no knowledge of Justin committing any crimes."
Sherman also scores the government for allegedly allowing
Petersen,
while an informant, to utilize a Pacific Bell Telephone Co. computer
called Switched Access Services, or SAS. Sherman said the
computer allows
operators to intercept telephone calls and place other calls,
making it
appear the calls originated from other phones.
Rich Motta, executive director of applications, reliability
and support
for Pacific Bell, said he would not "take a position one way or
the other"
on Sherman's allegations.
While declining to discuss Petersen's actions, Schindler
acknowledged
that in the Poulsen case, "we alleged and he pled guilty to the
fact of
using the SAS system. Among other things, they rigged radio station
contests using SAS. It is a test technology they managed to
hijack and use
for criminal purposes. Once we became aware of it we took steps
to correct
it."
There are tantalizing hints at links between Mitnick and
Petersen,
despite their obvious differences in style. Mitnick was the classic
computer jockey, overweight and shy, who asked his eventual wife
out on
their first date by sending her a computer message. Petersen, on
the other
hand, is flamboyant and self-assured.
The California Department of Motor Vehicles has a file on
Petersen, but
refused to divulge any information about him, saying the file was
being
used in another case. "The indications are that it's Mitnick,"
said Bill
Madison, a spokesman for the agency.
Friends say they think Petersen can survive well on the run.
"He's
already got a lot of experience" living undercover, said one friend.
But Mitnick may be having a tougher time. LEWIS DE PAYNE
thinks his
friend would like to find a way out of his predicament. "It is my
opinion
he would like to surrender to some type of news media that could
provide
legal counsel," he said.
In the Phrack interview, Petersen makes no apologies for his
choices in
life.
While discussing Petersen's role as an informant, Mike Bowen
says, "I
think that most hackers would have done the same as you."
"Most hackers would have sold out their mother," Petersen
responded.
Times staff writer David Colker contributed to this story.
Copyright 1994 The Times Mirror Company
Los Angeles Times
July 12, 1994, Tuesday, Home Edition
NAME: KEVIN MITNICK
SECTION: Metro; Part B; Page 1; Column 2; Metro Desk
LENGTH: 1429 words
HEADLINE: THE FUGITIVE HACKER; HUNT CONTINUES FOR MAN
ACCUSED OF RAISING HAVOC WITH COMPUTERS
BYLINE: By JOHN JOHNSON and JULIE TAMAKI, TIMES STAFF WRITERS
BODY:
He's one of America's most wanted digital desperadoes.
Kevin Mitnick, a legendary "dark side" hacker whose computer
was, in
the words of one investigator, an "umbilical cord . . . to his
soul," is
being sought by federal and state authorities for once again
allegedly
using his technical wizardry as a weapon.
A warrant has been issued accusing him of violating the
requirement of
his federal probation that he not enter a computer illegally. At
the same
time, the California Department of Motor Vehicles is accusing him of
posing as a law enforcement officer to gain classified
information and to
possibly create false identities for himself.
Authorities have not been able to catch up with him since
they visited
the Calabasas company that he worked for in late 1992. Mitnick's
life now
seems to have come tantalizingly close to replicating the Robert
Redford
movie role in "Three Days of the Condor," about a man who goes
into hiding
and uses his technical knowledge to outwit the government.
Mitnick once used the nickname "Condor."
For Mitnick, 30, a former computer nerd who dropped 100
pounds before
going into hiding, these are just the latest accusations spanning
a career
of hacking that began at Monroe High School in North Hills, when he
learned how to access the school district's main computers.
Eventually, he
was able to break into a North American Air Defense Command
computer in
Colorado Springs, Colo., several years before the movie
"WarGames," about
a hacker who nearly starts a war after entering a defense computer.
Mitnick also became a skilled "phone phreak" who was able to
manipulate
the telephone system to pull pranks on friends and enemies,
according to
authorities. He disconnected service to Hollywood stars that he
admired,
and a former probation officer said her phone service was
terminated just
as she was about to revoke his probation.
"He's an electronic terrorist," said a onetime friend who
turned him in
to authorities in 1988.
After his arrest in 1988, he was denied bail by three
different federal
judges, who feared what he could do once back on the streets.
Much of the
fear about Mitnick in law enforcement quarters appears to stem
not from
what he has done in any one case, but from what mayhem he could
cause in
our computer-dependent society if he put his mind to it.
Mitnick eventually pleaded guilty to one computer crime and
served a
year in prison. Afterward, he spent almost a year in a Los Angeles
residential treatment program, Gateways Beit T'Shuvah, during
which time
he was not allowed to touch a computer.
Harriett Rossetto, the program director, said Mitnick
suffered from an
addictive-obsessive disorder.
"I saw his hacking as an addiction," she said. Mitnick was a
loner who
was very vulnerable and did not open up easily. In appearance, he
resembled the classic computer jockey, with clunky glasses and
shirttail
hanging out. But at the keyboard of a computer, he felt strong and
capable.
Rossetto liked him, but was not particularly impressed by his
intelligence.
This has been a recurring theme over the years. Some people
see him as
a genius with a terminal, while others say his technical
abilities are not
extraordinary. What is extraordinary, say friends, is his
willingness to
be consumed for as long as it takes by his task, such as finding
a way
past a computer's security system.
Undeniable, however, are his skills at what is called "social
engineering" by some and "gagging" by others -- the ability to
manipulate
others to turn over information he desires, such as access codes and
passwords.
Beit T'Shuvah uses the 12-step recovery model. While at the
center,
Mitnick made good progress and lost weight. After leaving the
program, he
moved to Las Vegas, then returned for a relative's funeral.
Rossetto saw
him briefly.
He told her he wasn't doing well. "I said, admit yourself
back here,"
she said. He didn't.
In June, 1992, Mitnick went to work for Teltec Investigations
Inc. in
Calabasas.
Company executive Michael Grant said Mitnick was training to
be an
investigator for the firm, which does asset investigations,
surveillance
and research. Grant said he knew about some of Mitnick's past
problems,
but "he told me he had gone straight."
Grant said that while Mitnick was at the firm, he did a good
job. He
lived with another company official, Mark Kasden, a friend of
Mitnick's
father, Alan.
Then in late September of that year, FBI agents showed up and
asked to
search Mitnick's office.
According to an affidavit for another search at the same
time, the FBI
was conducting a computer and wire fraud investigation into computer
hacking and unauthorized entry into Pacific Bell Telephone Co.
computers.
Mitnick wasnamed as a suspect.
The FBI believed that Mitnick the "phone phreak" was back.
According to
the affidavit, Mitnick or others residing and working at three
apartments
and a Compton company had tapped into telephone and electronic
communications to obtain passwords belonging to security
investigators,
tampered with the computers and intercepted company voice mail.
Investigators also alleged that special calling features not then
available to the public had been placed on Kasden's phone and
were not
being paid for. They included speed dialing and priority ringing.
The FBI declined to comment on the investigation, but Grant
said he and
Kasden believe that Mitnick rigged the phones for himself while
he was
staying with Kasden.
Grant believes that Mitnick is "probably one of the brightest
individuals with a computer that ever set foot on Earth."
After the search, Mitnick disappeared. Kasden said he later
saw him
once briefly at a gas station. "He said, 'Adios, I have problems
I have to
take care of.' "
Neither Grant nor Kasden sees him as destructive. "He's a
gentle guy
and nonviolent. He's never going to hurt anybody. But some of the
stuff he
does is irritating," Grant said.
Concurring in that assessment are some people who have known him
longer.
Alan Rubin, an attorney who once represented him, said
Mitnick has
never used his skills to enrich himself. When he was arrested in
1988, he
was living in a modest Panorama City apartment.
And LEWIS DE PAYNE, 35, who befriended Mitnick when both men were
teen-agers, said his friend is often judged to be something he is
not.
"He's brash, but effective, and that causes some people some
discomfort as
far as rubbing them the wrong way."
DE PAYNE says people overestimate Mitnick's computer wizardry.
But others insist that his activities go beyond curiosity and
pranks to
serious crime, such as posing as a law enforcement officer to
gain private
information. The New York Times has reported that Mitnick is
suspected of
stealing software and data from half a dozen cellular phone
manufacturers,
compromising the security of the phone networks.
The DMV has requested a warrant for his arrest, contending
that in the
fall of 1992 he began posing as a law enforcement officer to obtain
sensitive DMV information, including driver's licenses and vehicle
information and photographs.
"He would give a requesting officer's name and would
basically use his
identity and birth date," said Bill Madison, a DMV spokesman in
Sacramento.
Madison believes that Mitnick could have gotten the secret law
enforcement personal identification numbers that he needed by
tapping into
DMV phone lines in Los Angeles and Sacramento.
Authorities got wind of the trouble after a DMV technician became
suspicious when a man, identifying himself as an investigator for the
fraud division of the Los Angeles County Welfare Department,
requested DMV
information and supplied a fax number that the technician did not
recognize.
The number was traced to a Studio City copy shop. Other fax
numbers
were traced to copy shops in Sacramento and Santa Monica.
Investigators staked out the copy shop and watched Mitnick
pick up the
materials, Madison said. A chase ensued, but Mitnick got away.
"We almost had him," Madison said.
Madison said he believes that Mitnick may be using the
information to
change identities, to wreak havoc on other's lives or for some
type of
monetary gain.
In one case, Mitnick allegedly gained access to a Bay Area man's
records and used information in the file in an attempt to change his
health care provider so that he could benefit from the man's medical
coverage. He also allegedly used the information to take on the
identity
of the man's dead son to obtain a phony driver's license.
"It's very scary," Madison said. "You don't want him in your
records."
GRAPHIC: Photo, Hacker Kevin Mitnick, shown in a file photo,
remains at
large.
--
--Joe Hamill "Where it is a duty to worship the sun
it is pretty sure to be a crime
to examine the laws of heat."
joha...@cerf.net --John, Viscount Morely of Blackburn
Tom Klemesrud
Rod Keller wrote:
> Slatkin handed 14-year sentence
> Claim that church to blame for massive scam rejected
> Santa Barbara News-Press
> 9/3/03
> By CHUCK SCHULTZ
> http://news.newspress.com/topsports/090303slatkin.htm
> (turn off javascript)
[snip]
> "We're pleased the judge saw through his scam," David Schindler, an
> attorney for the Church of Scientology, told the News-Press after the
> hearing. "It was an outrage that they tried to blame the church for his
> wrongdoing."
July 31, 1994, Sunday, Valley Edition
LENGTH: 1691 words
they play both sides against the middle," he said. The agents
"could have
Phil Scott
david Miscavige is listed along with 'authors family trust B' with
many high roller criminals in bed with Reed Slatkin and his mentors in
bogus corporations world wide ..this was well known as far back as
1991 when Behar did much of the original research for his time mag
article and is addressed slightly in a side bar
...Khasshogghi the worlds largest black market gun runner did not
marry a scnist and move in next door to reedie boy my accident.
Fishman did not operate in a vacuum...DM's oil well fiasco's (1% of
his entire mess) was with cult funds. Has enough surfaced yet to make
an iron clad case? no.... Amanda Keller did not move in with Mohamed
Atta (911 terrorist leader) by accident...and yes the second amanda
with the one in a billion shot same particulars presented by the
FBI...was smoke...to confuse idiots.
has enough surfaced to show a situation exists...oh ya.
A search of SEC records for lists of Reedies mentors, Baybak, Duggan,
Gondi, and thier associates, will link over 200 people with crooked
banks (such as BCCI) and thier players to a world wide web of billion
dollar corruption with cult of scientologists all though the middle of
it..
Phil Scott
Phil Scott
>
> r
Dave Bird
<rke...@unix01.voicenet.com> writes:
>Slatkin handed 14-year sentence
>Claim that church to blame for massive scam rejected
>Santa Barbara News-Press
>9/3/03
>By CHUCK SCHULTZ
>http://news.newspress.com/topsports/090303slatkin.htm
>(turn off javascript)
>
>Imposing a harsher punishment than even prosecutors sought, a federal
>judge Tuesday sentenced former Hope Ranch resident and Earthlink co-
>founder Reed Slatkin to 14 years in prison for bilking hundreds of
>investors out of about $240 million.
Good, it's what he deserved.
--
FUCK THE SKULL OF HUBBARD, AND BUGGER THE DWARF HE RODE IN ON!!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
8====3 (O 0) GROETEN --- PRINTZ XEMU EXTRAWL no real OT has
|n| (COMMANDER, FIFTH INVADER FORCE) ever existed
.................................................................
A society without a religion is like a maniac without a chainsaw.