Schemes

GEORGIA: Baptist Ex-Pastor Locks Congregation Out of Church

Sun, 31 Mar 2013 12:25:00 +0100

CHEROKEE COUNTY, Ga. — Members of a Woodstock congregation said their former pastor locked them out and threatened to arrest them if he caught them on the property.

Welcome All Baptist Church attendees said their pastor's alleged actions stopped them from worshiping on Easter.

Channel 2's Rachel Stockman went to the church on Stell Road around 10 a.m. and found a group of church-goers gathered outside. She also saw a locked access gate and a 'No Trespassing' sign on the front door...

RHODE ISLAND: Days after resignation, new documents shed light on scandal that shadowed Pope ...

Fri, 15 Feb 2013 15:28:00 +0100

A trove of documents about the disgraced Legion of Christ were ordered to be released Friday.

Documents released today by a Rhode Island judge provide a new window into the internal workings of the disgraced Legion of Christ, a religious order of priests whose founder was revealed to have sexually abused seminarians and fathered children by at least two women.

The release of the voluminous court records by Superior Court Judge Michael Silverstein came within days of the stunning resignati...

ILLINOIS: Judge lowers bond for pastor arrested in $300,000 theft case

Tue, 18 Dec 2012 13:39:00 +0100

ALBION, Ill. — A judge in Edwards County, Ill., has lowered the bond for a former minister accused of embezzling more than $300,000 from his church.

Jason Laws, 44, of Albion, Ill., is the former administrative pastor of the House of Prayer in Albion. During a hearing Tuesday morning, Judge Tim Neubauer reduced Laws' bond from $30,000 cash to $10,000 cash on a class-X felony charge of theft of over $100,000 from a place of worship. He also faces two additional felony charges of forgery.

T...

TENNESSEE: Baptist Pastor charged with stealing from charity

Wed, 07 Nov 2012 20:42:00 +0100

DRUMMONDS, TN - (WMC-TV) – Allen Brown's name is still on the sign at Victory Baptist Church in Drummonds, Tennessee. Most people there haven't really had time to lose faith in the pastor who's accused of breaking at least one of the 10 commandments.

"What?" asked neighbor Pam Adkins.

Brown was booked into the Tipton County Jail Wednesday following his arrest on multiple theft charges.

"I had no idea, no idea," said Adkins. "For one thing, he's a minister, a worker of Christ, and you...

ISRAEL: Rabbi Linked to Campaign Inquiry Is Questioned in Israeli Bribe Case

Fri, 12 Oct 2012 00:00:00 +0100

A prominent rabbi who is a figure in the federal inquiry into the campaign of Representative Michael G. Grimm of Staten Island has been put under house arrest in Israel in a bribery and money-laundering investigation there, the Israeli police said on Friday.

The rabbi, Yoshiyahu Pinto, an Israeli citizen, also has a following in New York.

A spokesman for the Israeli police, Micky Rosenfeld, said in a statement, “The rabbi and his wife were questioned by police officers yesterday for several h...

INDIA: Sikh priest arrested for forgery

Sat, 29 Sep 2012 08:05:00 +0100

Three people, including a gurdwara priest, were arrested for allegedly printing the letterhead of a Mulund gurdwara and forging its seal and signature of its president.

They did this to sell it as ‘recommendation letter’ to two Punjab residents, who wanted UK visas. “Swarna Singh Jagtar Singh, 40, Tejander Singh Raghuveer Singh, 36, and Jinder Singh, 35, were arrested for cheating, forgery and criminal conspiracy. They were remanded in police custody for a week on Friday,” said...

GHANA: Pastor jailed two years for dealing in fake currency

Thu, 27 Sep 2012 01:19:00 +0100

Reverend Isaac Oti Agyemang, a pastor of Conquerors Redemption Church International at Achimota, was on Wednesday sentenced to two years imprisonment for dealing in fake GHC 50 notes.

This was after a Circuit Court in Accra had found Rev. Agyemang guilty on charges of conspiracy to possessing fake currency and possessing fake currency.

Rev. Agyemang and two others were arrested at the church premises on June 28, 2010 with 2,193 pieces of the false GHc 50 notes.

Charles Tawiah, a trader,...

TENNESSEE: Pastor arrested on money laundering charges

Fri, 21 Sep 2012 15:42:00 +0100

NASHVILLE, TN (WSMV) - A Middle Tennessee pastor, first exposed by the Channel 4 I-Team for collecting money from his congregation but never telling them the church was in foreclosure, was arrested on federal charges of money laundering related to narcotics distribution.

In an indictment filed Sep. 19, a federal grand jury charged Michael Whitsey on 10 counts of money laundering, citing transactions totaling $375,000 made between May and December of 2008.

U.S. attorneys claim Whitsey...

ZAMBIA: Drug Enforcement Commission nabs Pastor, accountant

Thu, 19 Jul 2012 00:00:00 +0100

A PASTOR and a consultant have been arrested by the Drug Enforcement Commission (DEC) for money laundering involving close to K300 million.

The pastor identified as Borden Chikuni, 55, of 39 Petauke Street in Kitwe is alleged to have been operating as an accountant when he is not registered with the Zambia Institute of Chartered Accountant (ZICA).

DEC public relations officer Samuel Silomba said yesterday that Pastor Chikuni offered accounting services to United Machining Works Li...

ZAMBIA: Lusaka pastor arrested over fake dollars

Thu, 05 Jul 2012 00:00:00 +0100

A 28-YEAR-OLD Lusaka-based pastor has been sentenced to 38 months imprisonment for illegally possessing 772 pieces of US$100 counterfeit notes.

The pastor has been jailed together with a driver of Solwezi.

Pastor Nkambe Chasha, of Lusaka’s Chelstone township and Mathews Manjimela, 40, of Messenger township in Solwezi, who were sentenced yesterday by chief resident magistrate Joshua Banda.

The matter came up for sentencing of the duo, convicted on Friday last week.

Chasha and Manj...

NEW YORK: Rabbi sentenced for laundering scheme

Tue, 03 Jul 2012 12:46:00 +0100

TRENTON, N.J. (AP) — A New York rabbi broke down and sobbed Tuesday as a federal judge sentenced him to nearly four years in prison for laundering close to a million dollars in what he thought were illicit funds through a religious charity.

"I have been living in shame. It is hell for me every day," Rabbi Mordchai Fish said as he held his head in his hands during a rambling statement to the court. "I don't blame anyone but myself. I was wrong. I was so very wrong."

Fish was ...

GREEK: Priests arrested for forged payroll scam

Thu, 28 Jun 2012 00:00:00 +0100

Two priests responsible for managing the payroll for clergy in the Thessaly and Farsala diocese have been arrested on charges of embezzlement and fraud to the amount of 690,000 euros in the first half of 2012. The two are accused of tampering with the amounts recorded on payroll documents in order to rake in large sums on their own behalf.

The two priests, aged 36 and 38 years old, respectively, were arrested in Farsala on Wednesday by Larisa police.

The charges against them include forgery, fraud,...

TEXAS: Baptist pastor and wife arrested for bilking their former congregation out of $430,000 ...

Mon, 25 Jun 2012 00:00:00 +0100

Houston Pastor Charles Gilford, 58 and his wife Adriane, 53, (pictured) were arrested and charged with bilking their former congregation out of $430,000 in church funds and using them for gambling trips to Louisiana, according to KHOU News.

The couple stands accused of aggregate theft and misapplication of fiduciary property. They allegedly used the monies donated by their flock to gamble at the Coushatta Casino near Lake Charles between 2004 and 2007, when they served as pastor and first ...

CALIFORNIA: Embezzlement Charges, Family Battle Offers Look Inside Lavish TV Ministry

Fri, 04 May 2012 00:00:00 +0100

NEWPORT BEACH, Calif. — For 39 years, the Trinity Broadcasting Network has urged viewers to give generously and reap the Lord’s bounty in return.

The prosperity gospel preached by Paul and Janice Crouch, who built a single station into the world’s largest Christian television network, has worked out well for them.

Mr. and Mrs. Crouch have his-and-her mansions one street apart in a gated community here, provided by the network using viewer donations and tax-free earnings. But Mrs. ...

SPAIN: 80-Year-Old Nun Charged In Baby-Stealing Operation

Thu, 12 Apr 2012 14:17:00 +0100

A Spanish nun has become the first person to appear in court in connection with the alleged theft of newborn babies, mostly in the Franco era. Sister Maria may have been part of a nationwide baby-snatching network

Madrid -- Sister Maria Gomez Valbuena, 80, is accused of stealing a mother's newborn daughter at a Madrid hospital in 1982.

Appearing before a judge on Thursday, Sister Maria refused to testify.

Thousands of babies are thought to have been taken from parents in hospitals a...

NEW YORK: Lawyer-turned-rabbi pleads guilty to immigration fraud

Mon, 02 Apr 2012 00:00:00 +0100

NEW YORK, April 2 (Reuters) - A suspended attorney who became a rabbi pleaded guilty on Monday to running a New York law firm that made millions of dollars in an illegal immigration scheme.

Earl David (aka Rabbi Avraham David), 48, fled New York for Canada in 2006 when he heard his law firm and colleagues were being investigated. The dual Canadian-U.S. citizen was arrested in Canada in October and extradited to New York in January.

David pleaded guilty to conspiracy and wire fraud charges. Fede...

NEW YORK: SAC Extortion Case Conviction of Brooklyn Rabbi Is Upheld

Mon, 19 Mar 2012 00:00:00 +0100

A federal appeals court upheld the conviction of Milton Balkany, a Brooklyn, New York, rabbi found guilty of trying to extort $4 million from Steven Cohen’s SAC Capital Advisors LP.

The U.S. Court of Appeals in Manhattan today rejected Balkany’s claim that he was induced to commit the crime by the firm’s lawyer, Martin Klotz, and was barred from putting on a defense that he had been entrapped by the lawyer working on behalf of prosecutors.

Balkany was convicted of extortion and blac...

RWANDA: Priest Held for Attempting to Bribe Traffic Policemen

Fri, 16 Mar 2012 00:00:00 +0100

Police in Rusizi District are currently holding a priest for allegedly attempting to bribe traffic police officers with Rwf 50,000 after being involved in an automobile accident.

He was arrested on Wednesday in Kamembe Sector at around 9:00 pm after he allegedly knocked down and seriously injured a taxi-moto rider. The injured, identified as Pascal Ngendahimana, was rushed to Gihundwe Hospital for medical treatment.

One of the officers, who was first to arrive at the scene was offered Rwf 50,00...

NEW YORK: Rabbi, Aide to Pupa Rebbe, Arrested By The ATF in Illegal Cigarette Scam

Wed, 29 Feb 2012 00:00:00 +0100

Rabbi Meshulam Rothschild, 26, was moving illegal cigarettes bearing no tax stamps out of his warehouse on Spencer Street in Williamsburg

A Brooklyn rabbi who allegedly scammed the state out of nearly $200,000 a week in unpaid cigarette taxes has been snuffed out of business, The Post has learned.

Authorities say Meshulam Rothschild, 26, was moving illegal cigarettes bearing no tax stamps out of his warehouse on Spencer Street in Williamsburg.

The Post witnessed his arrest in a raid earl...

VATICAN: Official warns pope of corruption

Wed, 25 Jan 2012 15:24:00 +0100

VATICAN CITY (AP) — An Italian news program has obtained letters from a top Vatican official to the pope in which he begs not to be transferred after exposing corruption in the awarding of Vatican contracts that cost the Holy See millions of euros (dollars).

Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano was removed in October as the No. 2 administrator of the Vatican city-state and was named the pope's ambassador to Washington. While the job is highly prestigious, the posting took Vigano far from head...

FLORIDA: Pastor and co-worker arrested, 3 sought in theft at nonprofit

Fri, 13 Jan 2012 22:02:00 +0100

Others sought in case involving Community Rehabilitation Center.

Jacksonville police have arrested one person and are questioning another as they seek three more in the theft of at least $77,000 from the nonprofit Community Rehabilitation Center.

Sauna Hicks, 46, was charged with organized fraud and bank fraud Thursday. Her former co-worker, Johnny Martin McCray, 58, turned himself in Friday afternoon, according to the Sheriff’s Office.

Police said McCray was a pastor who used personal infor...

NEW JERSEY: Prominent rabbi gets 5-year prison term for hiding $1M in massive corruption case

Wed, 04 Jan 2012 00:00:00 +0100

NEWARK, N.J. — A prominent rabbi who admitted playing a role in a $1 million money laundering scheme involving religious charities was sentenced Wednesday in Trenton to five years in prison, the longest sentence so far from the state’s largest-ever federal corruption sting.

Eliahu Ben Haim was arrested in July 2009 in a wide-ranging federal corruption probe into international money laundering and political corruption that ultimately netted 46 defendants.

Ben Haim, a 60-year-old Long Branch...

NEW JERSEY: Rabbi who admitted money laundering to be sentenced

Mon, 02 Jan 2012 09:02:00 +0100

_{Rabbi Eliahu Ben Haim will be sentenced Wednesday in Trenton after pleading guilty in 2010 to using his
network of religious charities to conceal more than $1 million in illegal proceeds; Tony Kurdzuk/The Star-Ledger}

DEAL — A once-prominent New Jersey rabbi who pleaded guilty in the state's largest corruption case is due to be sentenced this week.

Rabbi Eliahu Ben Haim is the former leader of the synagogue Congregation Ohel Yaacob in Deal.

He pleaded guilty in 2010 to a money laundering cha...

GREECE: Abbot Arrested for Role in Financial Scandal

Thu, 29 Dec 2011 00:00:00 +0100

In a relatively unprecedented move, Greek police arrested the Rector of the thousand-year-old Vathipedi Monastery, Father Ephraim, on Christmas Eve. He had just returned to the monastery, which is located on the most sacred ground in all of Orthodox Christendom, which we have now discovered to be the only semi-autonomous region of Mount Athos.

Father Ephraim was arraigned in Athens two days ago. It is hard to say just what this is all about, but the timing is, to put it mildly, dramatic.

...

NEW YORK: Prison chaplain fined for taking gift after organizing jailhouse bar mitzvah for ...

Mon, 05 Dec 2011 22:34:00 +0100

City slaps rabbi with $2,500 fine for taking silver wine gobblet and plate

That's some bar mitzvah gift.

A former jail chaplain who coordinated the lavish bar mitzvah for an inmate’s son was slapped with a $2,500 city fine for accepting a silver wine goblet and plate in return.

Rabbi Leib Glanz admitted that he accepted those gifts from inmate Tuvia Stern’s family during the bar mitzvah bash at the downtown lockup The Tombs on Dec. 30, 2008.

Still, the politically connected rabbi ...

INDIA: Priest, 2 others arrested in scam

Wed, 30 Nov 2011 00:00:00 +0100

A Hindu priest and two others were arrested in Polgahawela today over their alleged involvement in a foreign employment scam.

The Colombo fraud bureau raided the location where the fraudulent activity was taking place and arrested the suspects.

The police also seized fake documents used in the operation. The suspects had reportedly attempted to send several people overseas using the fake documents.

http://www.thesundayleader.lk/2011/11/24/priest-2-others-arrested/

...

GHANA: Pastor Hacks Into E-mails

Sun, 13 Nov 2011 00:00:00 +0100

A 34-year-old pastor has been arrested by the police in connection with the alleged hacking of people’s e-mails.

The police said they are investigating how the Rev. Eric Bornright Aboagye, Head Pastor of Bread of Heaven Ministries International at Ashaiman, managed to cash GH¢20,000 and 1,200 pounds sterling from the e-mails account of one of his victims, Edmund Boamah, a businessman.

The Director-General of the Criminal Investigations Department (CID), Deputy Commissioner of Police (...

TEXAS: $2 million reward case: Local pastor third person charged

Thu, 27 Oct 2011 08:45:00 +0100

WELLSVILLE -- The case of a Texas man who was offering $2 million to anyone who could help him get his son who was taken from him has led to another arrest, this time of a local pastor.

On Sunday, Wellsville Village Police charged Javan P. Smith, 48, of Helotes, Texas, with second-degree criminal contempt. They also charged Kay S. Croley, 68, of Wellsville with second-degree custodial interference.

Smith is the father who wanted to get his son back, despite a court order of protection ag...

SOUTH AFRICA: ‘Fraudulent’ pastor’s trial on hold

Fri, 07 Oct 2011 14:30:00 +0100

The trial of a 73-year-old priest accused of bribery and misusing education subsidies has been postponed, his lawyer said on Friday.

“He appeared in the Johannesburg Specialised Commercial Crimes Court today (Friday), and his case was postponed to the 23rd of November,” attorney Cliff Alexander said.

Pastor Josias Mabaso was arrested in a sting operation on the East Rand on Wednesday when he allegedly tried to pay a bribe to prevent the disclosure of the alleged R20 million ra...

SOUTH AFRICA: Priest arrested for bribe

Thu, 06 Oct 2011 00:00:00 +0100

A 73-year-old Johannesburg priest was arrested after he allegedly offered a bribe to hide corruption involving millions, the Hawks said on Thursday.

JOHANNESBURG - A 73-year-old Johannesburg priest was arrested after he allegedly offered a bribe to hide corruption involving millions, the Hawks said on Thursday.

“He was arrested after he tried to bribe LeadSA's Yusuf Abramjee so that he would not say anything about the multi-million rand corruption and fraud, involving two schools he r...

SOUTH AFRICA: Police Commissioner appointed to investigate priest embezzlement of Education Funds

Thu, 06 Oct 2011 00:00:00 +0100

Former police commissioner George Fivaz has been appointed to probe the alleged embezzlement of education funds by a priest.

“The investigation will look whether anyone from the department may have assisted in this crime through commission or omission,” Gauteng education spokesman Charles Phahlane said on Thursday.

“A review will be conducted of the finances of all independent schools in Gauteng that have been subsidised.”
Phahlane confirmed that around R20 million had been alloca...

GHANA: Pastor Nabbed for Masquerading as a Policeman

Sat, 24 Sep 2011 00:00:00 +0100

A 26-year-old pastor of the Word of Jesus Christ Church at Koforidua has been arrested by the Koforidua police for wearing a police uniform and masquerading as a policeman.

Pastor Kwame Sakyi, popularly called 'Prophet Elisha', allegedly stole the police uniform from his friend who is a policeman in Accra and wore it to enable him to get a 'free ride' from Accra to Kumasi because he did not have money for transport fare.

He is known to be a preacher on a local radio station at Koforidua.

Brie...

UGANDA: Pastor Arrested Over Child Trafficking

Thu, 25 Aug 2011 00:00:00 +0100

A city pastor accused of using street kids to beg has been arrested after a scuffle with police.

Pastor Robert Semfuma's luck ran out when five children, between eight and 12 years, gave police a clue about his business. The pastor allegedly ferries the children daily to the streets to beg from 8am till 6pm.

By 3pm when police took the five children into custody after a complaint from a trader, they had already gathered Shs48,500.

The pastor, who failed to show police his registratio...

NIGERIA: Pastor, wife face charges for duping widow

Tue, 23 Aug 2011 00:00:00 +0100

For over two months now, a couple who own and operate a Church in Ejigbo, Lagos, God’s Covenant Ministry were arrested for conspiracy and allegedly defrauding a widow to the tune of millions of naira and household property under false pretext.

The couple Pastor Ifeanyi Okoli who is the General Overseer of the church and his wife Ngozi Okoli who is the Presiding Prophet of the ministry was paraded by the Lagos State Police Command Public Relations Officer (PPRO) Samuel Adesanya Jinadu, a Dep...

LOUISIANA: St. Tammany arrest warrants recalled in exchange for cash

Fri, 29 Jul 2011 23:00:00 +0100

A former secretary at the St. Tammany Parish district attorney's office and her husband, a Baptist preacher, pleaded guilty Thursday to recalling arrest warrants in exchange for cash.

Joyce Winston, 54, and her husband, James H. Winston, 66, of Caroline Street in Mandeville, pleaded guilty to corruption charges and were given five-year suspended sentences, and placed on probation.

Joyce Winston had worked in the office's domestic violence division for nearly 15 years when, in February, au...

NEW YORK: Rabbi Accused of Bribing Witness in Case Against Other Rabbi

Wed, 13 Apr 2011 11:51:00 +0100

Rabbi Samuel Kellner has been arrested and accused of witness tampering and bribery

A Brooklyn rabbi is under arrest and facing charges of perjury, attempted grand larceny and criminal solicitation for allegedly paying an individual to accuse another rabbi of sexual abuse.

Sources tell NBC New York that Samuel Kellner was arrested Tuesday night. The Brooklyn district attorney has scheduled a news conference but has declined comment ahead of the announcement.

Kellner is accused of pa...

NEW JERSEY: Rabbi arrested in sting pleads guilty

Mon, 28 Mar 2011 00:00:00 +0100

The leader of the Syrian Jewish community in Brooklyn and Deal, arrested in a massive FBI sting in 2009, pleaded guilty Monday to illegally transmitting money.

Saul Kassin, 89, of Brooklyn pleaded guilty to one count of unauthorized money transmitting before U.S. District Judge Joel A. Pisano in Trenton, U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman said. Kassin is the spiritual leader of about 75,000 Syrian Jews in Brooklyn. Many of his congregants spend their summers in Deal.

Kassin, who also had a home ...

COLORADO: Boulder pastor sentenced to four years in prison for Ponzi scheme

Sat, 12 Feb 2011 00:10:56 +0100

A former Boulder pastor who pleaded guilty in December to a single felony count of conspiracy to commit securities fraud in connection with an alleged scam that cheated investors out of $750,000 was sentenced Friday to four years in prison.

In a scathing rebuke from the bench, Judge Gwyneth Whalen said that Loren Ankarlo, 53, had abused his position of trust to bilk money from people in vulnerable positions.

The entire $750,000 came from just three families, one of whom invested their entire re...

INDIA: Kerala police arrest Pentecostal pastor

Fri, 11 Feb 2011 08:00:00 +0100

...

INDIA: Pentecostal Pastor T.S. Balan arrested in Kerala

Fri, 11 Feb 2011 08:00:00 +0100

Police in Kerala have charged a Pentecostal pastor for alleged blackmail and defamation.

Pastor T.S. Balan was arrested for publishing an article in an online magazine which allegedly defamed a couple and for demanding 1 million rupees (US$22,220) from them, Anil George, a police official, told ucanews.com Feb. 11.

The 67-year-old pastor and his son Aneesh later visited the couple and demanded the money for not publishing more articles about them, George said.

The pastor and his son published th...

MALAWI: Police in Lilongwe arrest a pastor for collecting K1 million from people

Thu, 10 Feb 2011 08:00:00 +0100

Police in Lilongwe have arrested a pastor for collecting K1 million from people promising to employ them.

Lilongwe Police Public Relations Officer Mangani Kazembe said Pastor Kulialais Banda cheated people to pay a deposit of K25,000 each saying he would offer them employment.

Banda recruited people from the southern region and students at Bunda College. Forty people paid the money and were promised jobs like running orphanages, clinical duties and working with NGOs in distributions of farm ...

CALIFORNIA: Rev. Schuller: Flock Sheared As Bankrupt Church Leaders Live High On The Holy Hog

Tue, 21 Dec 2010 08:00:00 +0100

Devoted faithful woman loses home as church goes bankrupt, but Schullers clan living like high and mighty Princes of Egypt!

If there was anybody in the world she could trust, Kristina Oliver thought it was the Rev. Robert Schuller, one of the nation's most famous and best-loved TV evangelists.

But now her faith in the leader of the famed Crystal Cathedral has shattered and caused her family to lose their home!

Like many of those who toiled at the cathedral, Kristina has become poverty stricken...

CALIFORNIA: Pastor exaggerated earnings, records show

Sat, 11 Dec 2010 03:11:00 +0100

A Ventura pastor used the Internet last year to say he earned nearly $900,000 annually and could teach others to do the same, but bankruptcy records now show the Rev. Lonnie McCowan was actually taking in less than $74,000.

The pastor and his wife, Kimberly Oglesby McCowan, leaders of the Solid Rock Christian Center in Ventura, were arrested in October 2009 on suspicion of felony money laundering stemming from a case involving an elderly Ventura man, Leo Gilmond.

Since then, the criminal case h...

UGANDA: City pastor re-arrested over alleged scholarship scam

Wed, 08 Dec 2010 08:00:00 +0100

Kampala - Police is investigating another case in which Pastor Elijah Ssemugabi is accused of falsely obtaining money from students claiming that he would sponsor them to study abroad.

Kampala Metropolitan Police spokesperson Ibin Ssenkumbi yesterday said 20 children have reported cases of being conned of Shs40 million from the pastor’s church.

This is the third time the pastor is accused of a similar offence.

Mr Ssenkumbi said he is puzzled by court’s release of the pastor in all the previo...

NEW JERSEY: 3 in NJ sting plead to illegal cash transfers

Tue, 16 Nov 2010 08:00:00 +0100

TRENTON, N.J. — Three New York men arrested in a large-scale federal money laundering sting in New Jersey last year pleaded guilty Tuesday to running unlicensed money transmitting businesses.

Abraham Pollack and Naftoly Weber, both of Brooklyn, and Spring Valley resident Benjamin Spira admitted running the businesses, called cash houses, in Brooklyn.

The three admitted illegally transmitting hundreds of thousand of dollars to Rabbi Mordchai Fish and to an undercover government cooperator. The...

VATICAN: Bank head blames "error" for probe

Wed, 22 Sep 2010 08:54:00 +0100

ROME (Reuters) - An "error of procedure" at the Vatican bank is being exploited to attack the Vatican with a money-laundering investigation, the bank's president said in an interview published on Wednesday.

Vatican bank officials are under investigation for suspected money laundering and police have frozen 23 million euros ($30.21 million) of its funds, Italian judicial sources said on Tuesday.

The bank's president Ettore Gotti Tedeschi told financial daily Il Sole 24 Ore he felt humiliated by ...

ITALY: Vatican bank assets seized in Rome

Tue, 21 Sep 2010 14:30:00 +0100

Italian authorities have seized €23 million ($31 million Cdn) of Vatican bank assets as part of an investigation into suspected money laundering.

The Vatican said it was confused as to why financial police targeted the funds in a Vatican account at the Rome branch of the Italian bank Credito Artigiano Spa.

"The Holy See is perplexed and surprised by the initiatives of the Rome prosecutors, considering the data necessary is already available at the Bank of Italy," the Vatican s...

TURKMENISTAN: Pentecostal Pastor Faces Five Years Imprisonment

Thu, 02 Sep 2010 18:58:46 +0100

MARY, TURKMENISTAN (Worthy News)– A Pentecostal pastor remained in police custody Tuesday, August 31, in Turkmenistan where he faces five years imprisonment and confiscation of properties for “large-scale swindling", charges his wife and church members strongly deny, rights activists said.

Police arrested Ilmurad Nurliev, pastor of Peace to the World Pentecostal Church, for allegedly swindling money from two women who attended church meetings, although church members deny that ever happene...

INDIA: Pastor, 4 others arrested for circulating fake notes

Fri, 27 Aug 2010 21:53:00 +0100

Hyderabad: A pastor and four of his associates were arrested here for allegedly printing and circulating counterfeit currency and fake notes with a face value of over Rs 60,000 was seized from their possession, police said today.

Acting on a credible information, Falaknuma police on Thursday apprehended five persons including B Sudershan Rao, a pastor who was allegedly printing the fake currency notes and circulating the same with his associates in busy markets, South Zone DCP N Madhusudhana R...

INDIANA: Pastor Accused Of Cheating Orphans Group Arrested

Wed, 21 Jul 2010 17:53:00 +0100

Feds: Pastor Never Made Payments On $482K Loan

INDIANAPOLIS -- A former Indianapolis pastor accused of misusing hundreds of thousands of dollars meant to help build a church has turned himself in to federal authorities.

According to a federal lawsuit, the Rev. Wayne Taft Harris Jr. and his nonprofit corporation, known as Kingdom Builders Faith Church Inc., borrowed $482,000 to build a church at 2860 Euclid Ave., but the building was never constructed.

Representatives with Teen Missions, the gr...

INDIANA: Pastor Accused Of Fleecing Orphans Group of $482K

Tue, 13 Jul 2010 18:39:00 +0100

INDIANAPOLIS -- A federal warrant has been issued for an Indianapolis pastor accused of misusing hundreds of thousands of dollars meant to help build a church.

The Rev. Wayne Taft Harris Jr. borrowed $482,000 to build a church at 2860 Euclid Ave., but the building was never constructed, and Harris hasn't been heard from since, a federal lawsuit alleges.

According to court documents, Harris' nonprofit corporation, known as Kingdom Builders Faith Church, Inc., took a loan from Teen Missions, a gr...

The Almighty Dollar

Wed, 07 Jul 2010 07:15:00 +0100

Are preachers motivated by the desire to save souls or to make cold, hard cash?

Working with David Yermack of New York University, the two preachers' sons set out to test the Corinthian hypothesis by investigating the economic incentives affecting the United Methodist clergy of Oklahoma, where Hartzell's stepfather had spent his career. In "Is Higher Calling Enough?" a study forthcoming in the Journal of Labor Economics, the researchers show that Oklahoma's ministers are driven not just by s...

OHIO: `Holy men' blaze curious trail across country

Mon, 05 Jul 2010 12:24:00 +0100

CANFIELD, Ohio (AP) -- The monks seemed to come out of nowhere.

They arrived from Cleveland last fall - Archbishop Timothy and Father Anthony and the cleric in charge, Metropolitan Stephen. In their billowing black robes, they were looking for a new base for the Syro Russian Orthodox Catholic Church.

It was Archbishop Timothy who first drove past the Canfield Colonial Motel Condotel, a crime-ridden, no-tell motel on a desolate road dominated by hay bales and barns with sunken roofs.

"M...

NEW JERSEY: Prominent rabbi admits laundering $1.5M in NJ corruption sting

Fri, 18 Jun 2010 05:17:00 +0100

DEAL — As head of a prominent Monmouth County synagogue, Rabbi Eliahu Ben Haim once led a congregation of hundreds. He is patriarch of a sprawling extended family, with more than 20 grandchildren of his own.

But Thursday, as he walked into the federal courthouse in Trenton to plead guilty in connection to last year’s FBI sting, Ben Haim was alone.

Standing before a judge in a dark suit and yarmulke, the 59-year-old rabbi said he used religious charities to launder up to $1.5 million for a g...

CONNECTICUT: New Haven rabbi, lawyers, West Haven police commissioner among 15 arrested in ...

Fri, 18 Jun 2010 00:00:00 +0100

NEW HAVEN — When federal authorities Thursday released the names of 15 people charged in widespread mortgage fraud schemes, the list included a rabbi, prominent local attorneys and a West Haven police commissioner.

The lengthy federal complaints, issued by David B. Fein, U.S. attorney for the District of Connecticut, detail allegations of “straw” purchasers, fraudulent property appraisals, sham sales contracts and false loan applications.

During a news conference, Fein charged the all...

VATICAN: Hidden Wealth of the Catholic Church

Mon, 14 Jun 2010 18:09:00 +0100

Financial Scandals

The Hidden Wealth of the Catholic Church

The Catholic Church in Germany, already struggling to cope with the sex abuse scandal, has been hit by revelations of theft, opaque accounting and extravagance. While the grassroots faithful are being forced to make cutbacks, some bishops enjoy the trappings of the church's considerable hidden wealth.

Photo Gallery: The Hidden Wealth of the Catholic Church

Shortly before Pentecost, Pastor S....

ILLINOIS: Pastor charged with swindling more than $470K from church members

Wed, 19 May 2010 00:00:00 +0100

The pastor of a church in Aurora has been charged with three felony counts of theft by deception for allegedly bilking three men, including one member of his church, out of more than $470,000.

The pastor, 49-year-old Howard Richmond, of the 2900 block of Brossman Avenue in Naperville, was taken into custody about 6 a.m. Wednesday without incident after Aurora Police executed a search warrant at his home, according to a release from Aurora police.

Pastor Richmond heads Life Ministries, a storefr...

FLORIDA: Miami Baptist pastor Gaston Smith guilty of looting county grant funds

Fri, 11 Dec 2009 00:00:00 +0100

Jurors on Friday afternoon convicted Liberty City's Rev. Gaston Smith of looting $10,000 in county grant money intended to help the poor. He is now convicted of third-degree grand theft.

After a three-day trial marked by bitter legal skirmishes, a tense, packed courtroom and citywide political interest, jurors on Thursday began deliberating Smith's fate. Jurors heard dramatic pitches Thursday afternoon in attorneys' closing arguments.

Defense lawyer Larry Handfield insisted the county's c...

FLORIDA: Pastor, wife convicted of $7 million fraud

Tue, 24 Nov 2009 00:00:00 +0100

A Miami-Dade pastor and his wife were convicted Monday for their roles in a $7 million money-laundering and mortgage-fraud scheme.

Garry and Yvonne Souffrant, both 33, who live in Davie, stood trial in Miami federal court on charges of conspiring to defraud banks and launder drug traffickers' profits to buy more than a dozen residential properties in South Florida and Georgia from 2002 to 2008.

Garry Souffrant, pastor of God First Ministries in Miami Gardens, was also accused of recruiting his ...

GEORGIA: Baptist pastor charged with using phony badge

Mon, 02 Nov 2009 00:00:00 +0100

An Atlanta pastor was jailed for using a phony sheriff’s badge given to him by former Clayton County Sheriff Victor Hill, officials said

Anthony J. McMichael, senior pastor at Mt. Nebo Baptist Church, was arrested on charges of impersonating a police officer – a felony. He was released on bond on Saturday, but is facing more charges, police said.

A Georgia State Patrol trooper stopped McMichael in Douglas County on Oct. 21 after spotting him speeding on I-20. McMichael pulled out his licens...

TEXAS: Pastors and church worker plead guilty in scams

Thu, 29 Oct 2009 00:00:00 +0100

HOUSTON — Officials say two pastors and a deacon from a Houston church have pleaded guilty to fraud charges stemming from student loans and reimbursements for housing Hurricane Katrina evacuees.

A statement the U.S. Attorney's Office in Houston issued Thursday says the three were officials of the Fishers of Men Worship Center.
Pastor Sheila Diana Washington and deacon and church treasurer Tony Overstreet pleaded guilty to bank fraud. Authorities say the 49-year-old Washington and 44-year-old ...

NEW JERSEY: 'Organ trafficking': Rabbis arrested over massive crime ring

Fri, 24 Jul 2009 00:00:00 +0100

US agents have arrested 44 elected officials and Jewish rabbis in New Jersey in a huge anti-corruption sweep across the state.

Charges of extortion, bribery, money laundering and human organ trafficking were stunning even for a state long notorious for official corruption and organised crime.

Five rabbis were among suspects, along with the mayors of Hoboken, Secaucus and Ridgefield, the Jersey City deputy mayor and council president, two state assembly members, and numerous other politicians, p...