The Wall Street Journal

They Went to Work for a Stock Exchange. Then the Scientology Ties Became Clear.

Drawn to Dream Exchange’s message of helping Black entrepreneurs, staffers were surprised by its connections to a religious group; studying L. Ron Hubbard texts in the office

Joe Cecala, left, and Dwain Kyles at Dream Exchange offices.
Joe Cecala, left, and Dwain Kyles at Dream Exchange offices last September. Photo: Jermaine Jackson Jr. for WSJ

It started out as a routine workday at the buttoned-up offices of Dream Exchange, a fledgling stock exchange outside Chicago. Then Charlie Bills showed up. In flip-flops. 

Bills was there last summer to see Joe Cecala, the company’s founder and CEO. He took a seat on the couch outside the executive office and was told to wait. To those around him, Bills stuck out, and not just because he was a stranger with his toes out. 

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