Thanks, TG1, for your helpful summary and info.
1. You have the wrong concept of Duggan. I wouldn't trust old records for his current involvement in Scn. He's personally been an active, dedicated Scientologist for ages. That's how Slatkin knew him:
"Then, in 1983, their second son was born. They agreed that they needed more money: "And my wife and I were looking at each other and we said, well, we've been volunteering this stuff here for, you know, 20 years between us and it might be a good idea to see if, while we're doing all this volunteer work, that we have enough money to raise our family."
That's what led Mr. Slatkin to fellow Scientologist Mr. Duggan, a successful investor, to learn about investing, according to Mr. Slatkin's deposition."
http://www.skeptictank.org/slatkin/rslat048.htm (you really should read this)
2. Yes, he did pay it. The $20 million is only from ONE year's list of IAS donors. I haven't added up all the years yet, but believe his total contributions are more like $30 to $40 million in total. He seems to be donating huge amounts to the IAS every year. His donation is at LEAST $20 million if just ONE of those issues is true. So that is conservatively low - no reason to believe
every year is fabricated and his name and donations a falsehood. That makes less sense than the donations.
3. There is no reason to believe all investors are level-headed and wouldn't have personal interest in Scn. There are about a dozen investors who are Scientologists who have been involved in scams or schemes in years past and several are currently on the IAS donors list as well (i.e., Michael Baybak). Your premise is incorrect. Duggan is very experienced as an investor, but success? Not so much since Scn. Just Google him and read his history for yourself.
4. The reason he took on a partner is the reason that is obvious - he was short of cash. The articles tell exactly why his deal wasn't so favorable - it was his history - so there was no need for conjecture there. It's understandable he might be short of cash after some $30-40 billion in IAS donations. So he compromised about it being a big pharm company - and took on a partner he might not have taken on otherwise. Or, maybe he didn't personally care. Not everyone in Scn is crazily anti-drug and he obviously is not.
People make compromises all the time when they run short of funds.
5. Other - Extremely heavy coercion tactics, perhaps even threatened blackmail by the IAS thugs. There are horror stories about this, Synthia started writing a few of her own experiences here. Scn doesn't make 3X as much with only 25% of its former membership without some monstrous donations from a select, small number.
Or, to use the business word, it was "leveraged" out of these people.
I still think there's some connection to the real estate though. Haven't finished with that yet, but the rest makes sense to me.
Oh, and Duggan had some high priced professionals put together his financials, accounting and other things for him, too. Pricewaterhouse Coopers, for one, and his research team are all top of the line, too. This may make him appear much more acceptable, professional and level-headed than he actually is.