Finders (Part 3)

[wmin...@delphi.com]

PART III

Unclassified, No. 35, Winter, 1995

Finders: The CIA and the Cult of Marion David Pettie

Wendell Minnick

Today, along with several former Finders, Terrell, a former
IRS employee now living in Florida, is suing the Finders to
regain money and property invested while a member.
The most recent example of Finders embarrassing a major
corporation surrounds S.W.I.F.T. Services in Culpeper, Virginia.
S.W.I.F.T. stands for Society for Worldwide Interbank and
Financial Telecommunication. This is an automated system for
transferring data among financial institutions (e.g. money
transfer, bank statements, warning messages). The Finders have
created a mirror company called "Swift Services" in the same
town. According to the phone company Swift Services is listed
under four Finders - Knauth, Pettie, Silverstone, and Usdin.
Why the Finders mock a major corporation like S.W.I.F.T.
might be answered by examining the Customs documents. "Another
telex expressed an interest in bank secrecy situations. Other
documents identified interests in high-tech transfers to the
United Kingdom." When an outsider attempts to locate S.W.I.F.T.
by dialing information, they get Swift Services. What progresses
after that is uncertain.
If CMP, Future Enterprises, and S.W.I.F.T. feel abused by
Finders word games they should study the experience of journalist
Jan Pudlow who covered the 1987 scandal for the Tallahassee
Democrat. Pudlow complained, "If the Finders told me today that
they were coordinating the second coming of Christ and there was
Jesus at their right hand I still wouldn't want to get a quote
from them." The Finders sense of "wit is being deceitful and
downright lying."
Attempts to interview the Finders for this article were met
with bizarre responses. At one point the Finders reproduced my
business card with the name of Ronald L. Alleman. Complete with
the original logo, the card stated that Alleman was the author of
The Mind of the Spook (Global Press, 1996). The card included
the Finders address and phone number, along with the motto
"Investigation Uber Alles."
Anyone looking for Alleman might consider going to Culpeper.
The Finders purchased the Culpeper theater and congregate there.
Locals walk by to notice business men working on computers and
discussing unknown projects. Finders have three fronts in
Culpeper: Finders International, International Press Club, and
Swift Services. These fronts appear to be at least five years
old. In 1991 Steve Usdin, Finders International, International
Press Club, and Swift Services began sharing the same office and
phone number in Culpeper.
Also located at the same address was the office of former
Congressman D. French Slaughter (Republican). Slaughter's
possible involvement raises some interesting questions.
Slaughter served on three committees which would have been of
interest to the Finders: Judiciary (economic and commercial law),
Science, Space and Technology, and Small Business (procurement).
In 1991 Slaughter announced he would leave office due to his
health.
The future of the Finders is grim. Pettie's advance age,
the loss of members, and lawsuits by former members will take
their toll. When Pettie dies his secrets will be buried with
him. Present members of the group have discussed erecting a
monument to Pettie in Culpeper after his death. Perhaps it
should read, "I was not a kook, but a spook."
END ARTICLE