Yes, I’ve heard the versions of the story that had either Isaac Asimov or Arthur C. Clarke at the table when Hubbard said the way to get rich was by starting a religion.
I read a lot of Asimov, both science-fiction and his popularization of science. The latter includes The Intelligent Man’s Guide to Science, and a single-topic book, The Neutrino.
I looked forward to hearing him speak at the University I attended. I was greatly disappointed as he was a conceited person. I stopped reading him.
I suspect that if I were to re-read his Foundation books, I would seem them in a new light. “Guiding” humanity along sounds socialistic to me now.