MEDIA WATCH | ATLANTA JOURNAL-CONSTITUTION

Atlanta Journal-Constitution Advocating for the Architect of $21 Million Ponzi Scheme

Lila Mirrashidi, Deputy Commissioner for Policy at the DBO, told The Daily Beast for their article published yesterday: “LeClair was not cleared of any criminal charges. The statute of limitations just ran out. Any claim of innocence by LeClair, or that she fought successfully to clear herself of all charges, has no basis in facts or the evidence.

October 1, 2018

Managing Editor
Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Dear Mr. Waligore,

I read Nedra Rhone’s piece on Michelle LeClair published 24 September. What stood out most to me is Ms. Rhone’s citation to the California Department of Corporations who sued Michelle LeClair and her business partner in 2012 for running their $21 million Ponzi scheme against unsophisticated elderly retirees, all while LeClair was never licensed as a financial advisor.

That is a significant criminal racket by anybody’s standards, particularly since it robbed 140 retirees of their lifesavings. According to the public records, victims lost more than $21 million from 2007 to 2010. Many of the retirees lost their entire lifetime savings. The felony charges were dismissed by the District Attorney’s Office, not on the merits, but because they were filed in 2015 after the statute of limitations expired.

Interestingly, Lila Mirrashidi, Deputy Commissioner for Policy at the DBO, told The Daily Beast for their article published recently:

“LeClair was not cleared of any criminal charges. The statute of limitations just ran out. Any claim of innocence by LeClair, or that she fought successfully to clear herself of all charges, has no basis in facts or the evidence.

“The notion that this case had anything to do with Scientology is patently false, just like the claim she made to investors in her Ponzi scheme. LeClair conned Californians who were mostly seniors out of their life savings and she got caught.”

“The Church of Scientology had nothing to do with the case,” said Mirrashidi. “I am not a Scientologist or connected to Scientology in any way,” she added. “Also, no one connected to this enforcement action from DBO—including Commissioner Owen—is a Scientologist or has any connections to Scientology. The claim that DBO’s actions in this case are rooted in anything other than fulfilling our duty to hold LeClair accountable for breaking the law and bringing justice to her victims is pure fantasy.”

LeClair now seeks to tear attention from her heinous financial crimes and redirect it against her former religion, the Church of Scientology, claiming that we discriminated against her for her sexual preference.

The problem is that LeClair is orchestrating yet another fraudulent scheme to dupe the public out of money, this time with the assistance of her book publisher and gullible media who seem to have an unquenchable thirst for anti-religion/anti-Scientology publicity, ignoring LeClair’s documented history of fraud.

Rather than latching onto a salacious but fraudulent story, I recommend Ms. Rhone invest time in actually finding out what the Church of Scientology is and does and write the truth. This is why we created Scientology.tv—so people can find out the truth for themselves.

Sincerely,

Edward Parkin
International Director, STAND