Author: Lisa

Bizarre Church We Investigated is Accused of Slavery

Lisa
The Word of Faith Fellowship (WOFF) we investigated in the 90’s has recently been accused of enticing Brazilian nationals here to be used as slave labor.  16 Brazilians told the AP (read here) they were lured here with promises of learning English, gaining a college education, seeing a bit of the US, and improving their relationship with God, yet were forced to work as slaves.
Our investigator, who spent months undercover inside this church during the mid 90s and underwent 11 exorcisms while there, also remembers that fellow congregants were required to work for senior church leaders.
Ex-members interviewed during that time period by the Trinity Foundation related similar stories of being packed into suburban homes turned into communal compounds and forced into minimum-wage jobs, working for church leaders.
A local policeman, interviewed by Inside Edition at the time, told of helping a foreign national escape and being met at the airport by church leaders attempting to prevent the youngster from leaving the country.
This Wednesday, March 29, 2017 photo shows Ana Albuquerque, 25, during an interview in Belo Horizonte, Brazil. Albuquerque traveled to the Word of Faith Fellowship church in Spindale, N.C., from Brazil 11 times over the course of more than a decade, starting at age 5 with her parents. Over time, she said she witnessed so much screaming and shoving to “expunge devils” that she began to see the behavior as normal. Silvia Izquierdo AP Photo

 

This undated photo provided in 2017 by a former member of the Word of Faith Fellowship from Brazil shows founder Jane Whaley with children at the church in Spindale, N.C. Members visit the Spindale compound from around the world, but Brazil is the biggest source of foreign labor and Whaley and her top lieutenants visit the Brazilian outposts several times a year, the Associated Press has found. AP Photo)
This Wednesday, March 29, 2017 photo shows people at the Word of Faith Fellowship church in Sao Joaquim de Bicas, Brazil. An Associated Press investigation has found that Word of Faith Fellowship used its two church branches in Latin America’s largest nation to siphon a steady flow of young laborers who came on tourist and student visas to its 35-acre compound in rural Spindale, N.C. Silvia Izquierdo AP Photo

 

In this Wednesday, March 29, 2017 photo, Ana Albuquerque explains how she was spanked during an interview in Belo Horizonte, Brazil. Bent over a desk, Albuquerque says church founder Jane Whaley and another member repeatedly spanked her with a flat piece of wood while screaming that she was “unclean” and possessed by the devil when she was 16. Silvia Izquierdo AP Photo

 

This February 2016 photo shows Andre Oliveira in Spindale, N.C. When Oliveira answered the call to leave his Word of Faith Fellowship congregation in Brazil to move to the mother church in North Carolina at the age of 18, his passport and money were confiscated by church leaders _ for safekeeping, he said he was told. Trapped in a foreign land, he said he was forced to work 15 hours a day, usually for no pay, first cleaning warehouses for the secretive evangelical church and later toiling at businesses owned by senior ministers. Mitch Weiss AP Photo

TODD COONTZ INDICTED

Lisa

 

Channel Nine News of Charlotte, NC recently broadcast the news that Todd Coontz has been indicted by the federal government on several charges of tax fraud.  The Trinity Foundation began working with investigative reporter Jim Bradley in December 2012 to help provide information on Todd Coontz and his ministry.  Bradley’s March 2013 report on Coontz features a brief interview with Ole Anthony, President of the Trinity Foundation(view video here).  Recently Ole was interviewed by the Christian Post about our work with Bradley on that investigation and Ole’s response to the indictment (read article here).

Channel 9 June 23 news clip about Coontz’s indictment can be viewed here.

The federal indictment by the US Secret Service includes items mentioned in Bradley’s 2013 report on Coontz: that he owned a $1.38 million condo, a Ferrari, and a Maserati under his ministry’s name; and used ministry funds to pay for more than $227,000 in clothes and $140,000 at restaurants; in addition to taking luxury vacations. According to the government, Coontz owes a surplus of $326,000 in tax payments from the years 2010-2013.

Carra Crouch Lawsuit Outcome Ruled To Be Complete Responsibility of TBN

Lisa

Carra Crouch received a favorable outcome in court on Monday on a case which took eleven years to go to trial!  On June 5th the court awarded Carra $2 million dollars for her pain and suffering after a sexual assault by a TBN employee.  Although initially they ruled that Jan Crouch was only 45% responsible for her pain and suffering, assigning the remainder to her mother and the assailant, that was overruled based on the fact that California law only apportions accountability in negligence claims. 

 

This was initially ruled as an intentional infliction of emotional distress because of the way that Jan Crouch reacted to her granddaughter when she told her about the assault.  Now, TBN is responsible to pay Carra the entire $2 million in damages, as reported by the Orange County Register here.

TBN’s lawyers, who have filed a total of 22 lawsuits against Carra’s sister Brittany, were once called “vexatious litigants” by a federal judge.  Having been given a chance to correct their behavior, they (view our post here) have indicated that they reserve the right to fight the decision by the judge.

TBN Found Liable for Damages to Jan Crouch’s Granddaughter

Lisa

 

The granddaughter of the late TBN founder Jan Crouch was just awarded $2 million dollars in damages for emotional pain incurred from an alleged molestation and rape in 2006.  The court ruled that TBN is responsible to pay Jan Crouch’s portion of that ($900,000) because of Jan’s mishandling of her granddaughter’s claim of abuse that happened at a telethon by a TBN employee.  We are deeply disturbed to see this family involved in so much litigation with one another and saddened to see them in so much pain.  (Read the New York Times Article on the Trial here)

 

 

Who’s Counseling Who? The “President’s Pastor” threatens retaliation…

Lisa

 

U.S. President Donald Trump, Vice President Mike Pence (R), Pastor Paula White (C), and Pastor Jack Graham (Getty Images)

Paula White-Cain claims she can walk into the president’s office and pray for him any time she wishes, but before the prosperity preacher would answer Heat Street reporter Jillian Melchior’s list of questions, Ms. Melchior, Heat Street and owner Dow Jones were all threatened with a lawsuit by Paula’s lawyer—so much for “turn the other cheek”.  Ms. Melchior’s lengthy article illustrates how Ms. White-Cain asks for money—lots of it—and ends with a brief interview with Ole Anthony and our warning to the Trump administration about Mrs. White-Cain—read it here.