SANTA BARBARA, Calif. (AP) -- The FBI searched the home of a co-founder of Internet service provider EarthLink Inc. who is under criminal investigation for investment fraud for his activities as a private money manager, a newspaper reported Saturday.
The search of Reed E. Slatkin's estate occurred on Friday, two weeks after separate raids on his offices in the Santa Barbara suburb of Goleta and Santa Fe, N.M. The previous searches netted boxes of documents and computers.
Brian Sun, an attorney for Slatkin, told the Los Angeles Times his client authorized the search of his home and home office.
"This is part of our continuing cooperation with federal regulators and authorities," Sun said.
Slatkin resigned April 26 from EarthLink's board.
In a separate enterprise, he invested money for more than 500 people, including fellow members of the Church of Scientology, Internet executives and Hollywood celebrities. Three of those investors sued him in April, alleging he had failed to return $34 million to them.
On May 1, Slatkin filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. Ten days later, the Securities and Exchange Commission won a court order freezing his assets.
Regulators said that between 1985 and April 2001, Slatkin collected at least $230 million from investors for Swiss securities trading accounts that never existed. He would allegedly use new investor funds to pay interest to earlier investors in a Ponzi-type scheme.
Bankruptcy officials and attorneys for the investors estimate that claims in the case could reach more than $600 million.