Slatkin's "business," of course, was "investment" - and as has been revealed since May, when he was forced to declare bankruptcy to offset a barrage of lawsuits by angry investors, his "investments" were almost universally disastrous, and resulted in millions of dollars of Other People's Money being wasted on failed business ventures perpetrated by his cronies, many of them Scientologists and some of whom were also members of the Reed Slatkin Investment Club.

Here are some of Reed's longtime business partners. Coincidentally (or perhaps not), almost all appear on the list of Slatkin lottery winners (the top 75 "net debtors" who got more out of the ponzi scheme than they put into the fund in the first place).

Ron Rakow - former Grateful Dead manager, convicted fraud artist and Scientologist; according to the December report from the trustee investigating Reed's bankruptcy, Rakow had signing authority over Reed's accounts, directed many of his investments, and was closely involved with several of the companies in which Reed poured his cash and investment hopes.

Christopher Mancuso - one of Rakow's co-conspirators in the Culture Farms scam that led to both men's (brief but memorable) incarceration in federal prison, Mancuso was both a Slatkin investor and the recipient of Slatkin "friends" fund largesse. He also helped Slatkin dodge discovery of the truth about his "Swiss bank acccount" at the non-existent NAA by setting up a fake phone number to "Switzerland" that looped back to Santa Barbara, according to the latest trustee report.

Joel Kreiner and Stina Hans - two longtime Scientologists, Joel and Stina Hans were the top 'net debtor' winners of the Slatkin payout lottery, collecting nearly $6 million more than they paid into the "friends" fund. Kreiner, a former Church of Scientology attorney, was also involved with Slatkin in a handful of real estate deals in the Los Angeles area, as discussed on the Slatkin partnership page here.

Don Simons - Well known as a businessman and bon vivant throughout the Los Angeles-area Scientologist community, Simons has -- or had -- a penchant for holding parties on his luxurious yacht. "Dynamo" Don Simons is also the CEO of Telsoft Solutions, formerly known as Stryker Technologies, a company in which Reed holds majority ( 70%) ownership, according to the trustee's report.

Don Rackemann - a drag-racing LA-area businesman with a string of failed -- and failing -- companies under his belt, non-Scientologist Don Rackemann was nonetheless involved in a number of companies that benefited from Reed's knack for bad investments, including PriceNET, IncomNet and Golf Star.

Dan Jacobs (Dr.) - the nebulous Dr. Jacobs, along with his wife, Myrna, are both ardent Scientologists who keep turning up in the background of companies in which Reed invested. Although his own site has mysteriously vanished since the Slatkin scandal broke, Dr. Jacobs is still listed as a "consultant" for several other companies with which Reed had financial ties.

Beacon Films (Armyan Bernstein, Kevin O'Donnell et al) - After their mutual success backing Earthlink in its early days, Slatkin continued to follow his longtime friend -- and fellow Scientologist - Kevin O'Donnell's lead on investments, most noteably this film company. Despite spotty success with films such as Thirteen Days (produced by Beacon co-owner -- and also a Scientologist -- Armyan Bernstein), according to the bankruptcy trustee, Beacon apparently required considerable, and continuous, cash injections - much of which came courtesy of the seemingly bottomless Slatkin Investment Fund pit.

This list, of course, does not represent all the "Friends of Reed Slatkin" who made money - For the complete list, click here to go to the Net Gainer Page, which profiles the top 75 net gainers, as revealed in the trustee's report.

It also does not come close to representing the myriad of investments, partnerships and other business ventures in which wound up the bulk of the half a billion dollars that flowed through Slatkin's fingers during his ten years as a self-appointed "financial guru".

For more information on Slatkin's business dealings, visit the Investments and Partnerships pages, and for more information on the hundreds of less fortunate "investor friends" who are now wondering just where their money went, visit Investor Central here.