The next episode of CNBC's unprecedented series "American Greed," which focuses on how greed change's people's lives airs Wednesday, February 20th at 9PM & 12AM ET.
This episode features Reed Slatkin, a Scientology minister who leaves the church for a more lucrative career in the stock market. Operating as a day-trader, Slatkin claims to have devised a system to achieve about market returns and he consistently reports annual gains of 25%. In the early 90''s Slatkin invests in Earthlink and by 1999 his client list includes Santa Barbara socialites, Hollywood filmmakers and wealthy corporate leaders---but the SEC is bearing down on his operation and a defrauded investor brings Slatkin's scam to a screeching halt. CNBC exposes one of the largest financial frauds in American history. With his Ponzi scheme, Slatkin ultimately scams investors out of more than 500 million dollars.
Also on this episode of CNBC's "American Greed," the story of Dr. Vilas Likhite, a 66-year-old art dealer and con artist-whose pattern of deceit spares neither business associates nor friends. LAPD Detective Donald Hrycyk's investigation of Likhite uncovers a conman twenty years in the making and ultimately leads to a police sting caught on tape. A Los Angeles hotel room fitted with cameras and microphones, undercover police officers and a team of LAPD detectives listening in next door....Likhite believes he's at the hotel to sell some of his reported billion-dollar art collection to two Japanese businessmen...the problem is the pieces are ALL fakes. CNBC goes behind the scenes in a sting operation to examine the mysterious world of art fraud.
About CNBC:
CNBC is the recognized world leader in business news, providing real-time financial market coverage and business information to more than 340 million homes worldwide, including more than 95 million households in the United States and Canada. The network's Business Day programming (weekdays from 5:00 a.m.-7:00 p.m. ET) is produced at CNBC's headquarters in Englewood Cliffs, N.J., and also includes reports from CNBC news bureaus worldwide. Additionally, CNBC viewers can manage their individual investment portfolios and gain additional in-depth information from on-air reports by accessing http://www.cnbc.com.
Members of the media can receive more information about CNBC and its programming on the NBC Universal Media Village Web site at http://nbcumv.com/cnbc/.