Monitoring religious fraud for 30+ years.
(Photo: Suzanne and Benny Hinn saying their wedding vows for a second time in 2013.)
Last week, Judge Jeffrey M. Rich granted the second divorce of Suzanne Hinn from televangelist Benny Hinn. As a result, the Hillsborough County website reports that the divorce case is closed.
On November 24, the county website was updated to report “FINAL JUDGMENT NON CONTESTED DISSOLUTION OF MARRIAGE.”
Continue reading “Televangelist Benny Hinn’s Remarriage Ends in Divorce”
(Screenshot: Kevin Adell being interviewed following Novi city council approval to build the Adell Center.)
The federal government’s civil case, filed in April 2023, to seize the $4 million Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, home of The Word Network President Kevin Adell has been postponed for 90 days due to the federal government shutdown. Adell is accused of owing almost $18 million in estate and gift taxes after his father Franklin Adell died in 2006.
Franklin Adell founded The Word Network which was later marketed as “the largest African-American religious network in the world.” However, due to recent programming changes, most of the preachers on The Word Network are now caucasian.
In 2015, the IRS revoked the tax-exemption of The Word Network’s previous parent World Religious Relief which Adell replaced with a new non-profit organization Church of the Word.
Adell also owns 170 acres of real estate in Metamora, Michigan, worth more than $2.6 million, according to real estate website Zillow. Adell’s Naples, Florida, beach house is currently for sale with a list price of $8.9 million (down from $10 million), featuring a large boat dock located near the Naples Yacht Club.
(Photo: Satellite view of Naples Yacht Club and nearby homes.)
Adell’s mountain home in Sundance, Utah, home of the Sundance Film Festival, is worth over $6 million, according to Redfin and Zillow real estate websites.
Adell’s wealth also financed a large car collection. In 2019, Hagerty reported that Adell’s “fleet of 100 or so automobiles” features newer hypercars and automobiles from old TV shows such as the Batmobile from the 1960s TV series and one of the General Lee cars from “The Dukes of Hazzard.”
Recent Court Filings
The Motion to Stay and the Joint Motion to Extend Trial and Related Deadlines were filed in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan Southern Division.
The failure by Congress to pass an appropriations bill to fund government operations resulted in the government shutdown, as explained in the Motion to Stay:
“At the end of the day on September 30, 2025, the appropriations act that had been funding the Department of Justice expired and those appropriations to the Department lapsed. The same is true for the majority of other Executive agencies, including the federal Plaintiff. The Department does not know when such funding will be restored by Congress.
“Absent an appropriation, Department of Justice attorneys and employees of the federal Plaintiff are prohibited from working, even on a voluntary basis, except in very limited circumstances, including “emergencies involving the safety of human life or the protection of property.”
The Joint Motion to Extend Trial and Related Deadlines has postponed Adell’s trial until “July 13, 2026, or later.”
Other church and ministry court cases might be postponed by the federal government shutdown, if it persists. We will continue monitoring the federal courts and will post updates as new motions are filed.
(Screenshot: David E. Taylor preaching about Passover in 2021.
A new court filing reveals the FBI and IRS obtained more than 250 subpoenas requiring people to testify or provide documents, and approximately 22 search warrants during their investigation of televangelist David E. Taylor, his assistant Michelle Brannon, and their Kingdom of God Global Church’s alleged use of forced labor and money laundering.
Because of the complexity of the case, the federal government requested the November trial date be postponed. This type of request is called a continuance. When granted, it sets aside the right to a speedy trial guaranteed by the Sixth Amendment so that the plaintiff and defendants have adequate time in preparing for court.
According to the filing, “The ends of justice require a continuance here, and the ends of justice outweigh the interests of the public and the defendants in a speedy trial. Therefore … the parties request that the Court find that the time between November 18, 2025, and April 14, 2026, be excluded in computing the time within which the trial must commence.”
A long legal battle shows why the IRS infrequently revokes the tax-exempt status of churches and ministries operating in defiance of the United States tax code.
In December 2018, the IRS secretly revoked the tax-exemption of Community Worship Fellowship, a church Lester Goddard founded in Portland, Oregon, in 1998.
Following the revocation, the IRS failed to disclose the revocation in its weekly news bulletin or in the IRS exempt organizations database.
The IRS claimed the church “failed to operate exclusively for an exempt purpose because it operated for the benefit of individual church members, and because its net earnings inured to the benefit of private individuals.” That quote from an IRS revocation letter was disclosed in the church’s lawsuit filed against the IRS.
In March 2019, Community Worship Fellowship (CWF) sued the IRS to regain its tax-exemption. On October 23, 2025, the United States Court of Federal Claims rejected the church’s legal arguments and upheld the revocation.
The CWF case dragged on for six years because on 18 occasions the parties requested additional time for discovery.
Continue reading “Church Tax-Exemption Revoked in Secret, Disclosed in Long Court Battle”
(Photo: Pixabay/geralt)
Until their actions match their words, the Kingdom Accountability Project (KAP) should be viewed as a public relations smokescreen and not a serious reform effort.
Promoters of this project are not meeting the well-written, high standards which they are advocating. Unfortunately, some of these same folks have engaged in coverups and false teachings.
(Screenshot: Excerpt from page 11 of manual.)
KAP and the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability (ECFA) have much in common. The huge loophole in their standards: There is not a single mention of the “prosperity gospel” in the KAP manual or on the ECFA website.
John P. Kelly, president of the International Coalition of Apostles Inc. (ICAP), serves as the executive director of the KAP. Kelly’s ministries file Form 990s. Are they financially transparent? Do they provide whistleblower protection? No … and we’ve got the evidence.
According to the John P Kelly Ministries 2023 Form 990, John Kelly received no compensation from his ministry even though he reportedly worked 30 hours per week for the ministry.
How can Kelly afford his Colleyville, Texas, home if he receives no compensation from his personal ministry or ICAP? Fun fact: Kelly lives in the same city as Joni Lamb and James Robison.
John P Kelly Ministries has only two paid employees and no independent contractors. The Statement of Expenses page reports $157,777 in compensation for current officers, directors, trustees, and key employees. It looks like John and Helena Kelly are getting paid, but the 990 doesn’t show it. Is this reporting fraud?
It seems hypocritical for supporters of the KAP to call for financial transparency while failing to provide thorough financial data to donors for their own ministries.
And these are examples:
Dr. Randy Clark’s Apostolic Network of Global Awakening does not file Form 990s. Jewish Voice Ministries International, led by Jonathan Bernis, stopped filing 990s after 2020.
The KAP manual also recommends that churches and ministries adopt whistleblower protections. However, the ministries of John Kelly and Patricia King have failed to adopt whistleblower policies. This is disclosed on page 6, line 13 of 990s.
The KAP manual also fails to address rampant false prophecy in charismatic churches. Meanwhile, KAP contributing author Patricia King is false prophetess.
In 2018, King falsely prophesied, “2020 is the target year! The Lord revealed that the harvest is NOW and we are not to delay in laying the sickle into the fields, but 2020 will be the significant year for the greatest harvest of souls that has ever been reaped.”
However, 2020 turned out to be the year that Covid-19 spread across the globe and there was no great harvest of souls.
To the authors and promoters of the Kingdom Accountability Project: We will be watching you. 👀 If you are serious, match your actions with your rhetoric.
(Photo: Televangelist David E. Taylor was arrested for forced labor and money laundering.)
Is God using law enforcement to remove predators from pulpits and dismantle cults worldwide?
Since the end of August leaders of American, Mexican and South Korean cults have been indicted or charged with crimes. The American indictments follow three multi-year criminal investigations conducted by the FBI.
On the morning of August 27th, FBI agents conducted raids in four states of properties owned by Kingdom of God Global Church and arrested cult leaders David E. Taylor and Michelle Brannon.
Two weeks later, a new indictment of Naasón Joaquín García, head of the Mexican cult La Luz Del Mundo (LLDM) which means “Light of the World” in Spanish, was unsealed revealing charges of racketeering conspiracy and sex trafficking conspiracy. It is quite rare for religious leaders to be convicted of racketeering. He plead guilty to previous charges and went to prison in 2022.
(Screenshot: Taylor associate, so-called “Prophetess” Kathleen Woods, preaching a sermon on September 21, 2025.)
Following the arrest of televangelist David E. Taylor and ministry executive Michelle Brannon for forced labor and money laundering, members of Taylor’s Kingdom of God Global Church (KGGC) have rallied to Taylor’s defense.
Recently, an informant contacted Trinity Foundation, revealing that members of Taylor’s church have continued their fundraising efforts by texting and calling previous church donors.
On September 16, 2025, the informant received a text message from Pastor Adam soliciting donations. The following day Pastor Kia called the informant to request a donation.
Fox 13 in Tampa has also reported on the recent solicitation phone calls. A journalist listened to a voice mail in which the caller claimed to have a message from David E. Taylor: “He really wanted us to really encourage you, as well as to pray with you.”
According to the federal indictment, Taylor operated call centers in four states (Florida, Michigan, Missouri, and Texas) with unpaid call center workers.
The International Cultic Studies Association (ICSA) reports that one of the common characteristics of cults is, “The group is preoccupied with making money.”
(Photo: Carl Lender – Creative Commons License)
After a price reduction of almost $2 million, televangelist Edir Macedo’s Florida beach condo was sold for $13 million, reports the Redfin real estate website.
Macedo may own additional property in the United States. One property database indicates Macedo’s family owns a $10.7 million beach condo. However, the Miami-Dade County assessor lists the owner as a mysterious LLC with unnamed managers.
Macedo, head of Brazil’s Universal Church of the Kingdom of God (UCKG), is ranked 1947th on the Forbes Magazine Billionaires List with an estimated net worth of $1.9 billion.
The beach condo is located in the exclusive Porsche Design Tower, a luxury highrise that cost $560 million when constructed. In 2013, The Real Deal reported, “Nearly two dozen of the homes — 22 — under contract will belong to billionaires.”
The Porsche Design Tower is famous for its patented car elevator which lifts autos to a garage on the floor where the resident resides. Macedo lived on the 40th floor.
Continue reading “Billionaire Televangelist Sells Condo for $13 Million”
(Trinity Foundation President Pete Evans reviewing documents obtained from dumpster diving in 1996.)
Inspired by the FBI’s Vault, a collection of more than 6,000 government documents, Trinity Foundation has created the File Vault, a document library, to expose the techniques that televangelists use to defraud their donors, to avoid financial transparency, and to avoid legal accountability.
We want donors to see with their own eyes how the scams work by publishing documents of historical importance. In 1987, televangelist Oral Roberts claimed that God commanded him to raise $8 million or God would take his life. Before making the announcement on television, Roberts sent a fundraising solicitation letter to his large mailing list.
Mailing lists are one of the biggest fundraising tools of religious broadcasters. Five of Oral Roberts’ 1987 fundraising letters are published in the File Vault including the letter in which Roberts announced the $8 million threat from God, and the countdowns to his death IF sufficient funds weren’t raised.
Continue reading “File Vault Exposes Tricks of Televangelists and Some Megachurches”
(Photo: Pixabay/Squarefrog)
On May 10th, Gateway Church in Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas, obtained a protective order to keep certain information secret by invoking the Defend Trade Secrets Act.
Gateway Church is facing a class action suit filed by former donors seeking a return of their donations based on allegations the church leadership lied about how much money it was giving to missions.
According to the Gateway Church protective order, “‘Confidential Information’ shall include, but shall not be limited to, information that concerns or relates to (1) sales, marketing, manufacturing, or research and development; (2) financial performance; (3) manufacturing or other costs of doing business; (4) licenses or other confidential agreements; (5) technical details of products or methods of doing business and/or marketing; and/or (6) personally identifiable information.”
Pete Evans, President of Trinity, says, “It’s pure insanity! Previous court cases have invalidated church trade secrets.”
In 1986, while deciding a case involving the Church of Scientology, the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that religious teachings weren’t subject to laws protecting trade secrets, citing California trade secrets legislation.
In the ruling, Judge Harry Pregerson explained, “We hold that the California courts would conclude that sacred Scriptures do not meet the definition of a trade secret under California law.”
Source: Los Angeles Times