Category: Investigations

NDAfree – Opposing the Practice of Churches and Ministries Silencing Victims

Barry Bowen

During an episode of Leah Remini’s TV series about Scientology, a chilling strategy from L. Ron Hubbard is displayed onscreen. “Dominance of others is a control system. We are not looking for pleasant control–we are looking for effective control.”

Sometimes, there is little difference between Scientology and churches that claim to be Christian. Pastors and televangelists have employed the same techniques, using legal threats to control victims. At the heart of this scandal is the use of Non-Disclosure Agreements (NDAs).

However, more victims and whistleblowers are fighting back by exposing the abusive practices on social media with the hashtag #NDAfree. A group of whistleblowers have created the NDAfree website featuring their stories.

Christian journalists are also highlighting the problem. Christianity Today news editor Daniel Silliman reviewed at least 15 confidentiality agreements and concluded on Twitter, “Many are so broad that someone who signs one could be in violation at any time.”

Televangelists Kenneth Copeland and Paula White effectively used NDAs to prevent congressional hearings into financial practices among televangelists.

In 2007, Senator Charles Grassley’s office sent faxes to six TV ministries demanding financial records. Copeland responded defiantly to Grassley, “You can go get a subpoena, and I won’t give it to you.”

Three years later the inquiry came to an end when Grassley decided not to issue subpoenas to the televangelists or former employees of their churches.

A Senate Finance Committee report on Copeland’s ministry stated, “Former employees were sincerely afraid to provide statements for fear of being sued since they signed confidentiality agreements.”

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Blowback: Joel Osteen’s Lifestyle Target of Twitter Criticism

Barry Bowen

Don’t believe every criticism of televangelists on social media.

After a series of tweets and memes claiming that televangelist Joel Osteen drove a Ferarri spread rapidly accross Twitter in mid-July, Trinity Foundation attempted to verify the car ownership but found no evidence of Osteen owning a Ferrari.

Snopes, the fact checker, came to the same conclusions. Snopes reported that one of the memes featured “a Ferrari in Zurich, Switzerland in 2013” which was clearly not owned by Osteen.

In a recent tweets, pictures of Kanye and Kim West’s Calabasas, California home were also wrongly labeled as Joel Osteen’s residence. In fact, pictures of at least five different homes have been identified on Twitter as belonging to Osteen.

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Informants Wanted: Online Questionnaire for Victims of Religious Fraud

Barry Bowen

 

Trinity Foundation has created an online questionnaire for informants to report religious financial fraud. If you have witnessed religious fraud, theft or financial excess, please let us know about it.

Tips play an important role in solving crimes and exposing bad behavior.

According to attorney Stephen Martin Kohn, author of The New Whistleblower’s Handbook, tipsters uncover more fraud than professional auditors and law enforcement combined.

Trinity Foundation specializes in open source investigations. We comb through public databases and government records for evidence of religious leaders living extravagant lifestyles. However, our investigations often result in unanswered questions.

Informants may help investigators understand the big picture by answering the five Ws: who, what, when, where and why.

We will keep your identity confidential unless you authorize us to contact investigative reporters or government investigators on your behalf. We’ve been protecting the identity of confidential informants successfully since we began investigating in 1989.

NDA INFORMANTS WANTED: If you would like to become an informant and have previously signed an NDA, fill out our online questionnaire.

Calculating the Cost of Ministry-Owned Aircraft Flights

Barry Bowen

Let’s take a look at one of the most expensive days so far in 2021 for church, ministry and Christian university aircraft trips. We tracked eight aircraft on March 19, 2021. It is possible that more than $100,000 could have been saved by flying commercial rather than using privately-owned aircraft.

 

List of aircraft owners:

A. Mt Gilead Full Gospel International Ministries
B. Mighty Horn Ministries
C. Liberty University
D. Liberty University
E. Faith Life Church.
F. Assemblies of God Financial Services Group
G. Philadelphia Church of God
H. Harvest International Ministries

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Televangelists, but not the Religious Right, Abandon Annual National Religious Broadcasters Convention

Barry Bowen

(Photo: GFA World, formerly Gospel for Asia, at NRB’s 2021 Convention in Grapevine, Texas. Gospel for Asia has rebranded after facing a series of scandalous accusations and settling a $37 million lawsuit.)

Where have the televangelists gone?

The National Religious Broadcasters (NRB) annual convention was held this year in Grapevine, Texas, which is coincidentally the home of Benny Hinn Ministries.

Some of America’s best known televangelists (James Robison, Robert Morris, Marcus Lamb and Matthew Crouch) have homes within 10 miles of the Gaylord Texan Convention Center, home of the 2021 NRB Convention.

Yet, unsurprisingly, most televangelists and “Christian” TV networks were no-shows at the convention. Daystar Television Network, Inspirational Network and The Word Network stopped being convention exhibitors years ago. The ability to network over the Internet has dramatically reduced the need for in-person communication and the lingering effects of Covid-19 discourage large networking events in 2021.

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Tracking Televangelist Jets on Instagram and Twitter

Barry Bowen

If you thought televangelist shoes and watches are expensive, let us introduce you to the extravagant world of ministry aircraft. From the mundane to the exotic, we are tracking trips to ministry events and vacation destinations.

Trinity Foundation recently launched Pastor Planes, an investigative project, with the objective of bringing financial transparency to churches, ministries and Christian universities using privately owned aircraft.

Pastor Planes can be found on Instagram and Twitter.

Trinity Foundation is currently tracking 50 aircraft.

By our calculations, there are days when more than $100,000 is spent on private-jet and charter-jet travel by televangelists, ministry executives and Christian university personnel. In addition to the cost of purchasing or leasing aircraft, jet fuel, pilots’ salaries, inspections, repairs, insurance, landing fees, and hanger fees result in higher travel expenses.

Christian leaders are commanded to be good stewards of resources entrusted to them. 1 Corinthians 4:2 says, ”Moreover, it is required of stewards that they be found trustworthy.”

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Televangelist Receives at Least $41 Million in Compensation in 12 Years

Barry Bowen

(Photo: David Cerullo, president of Inspirational Network)

The accumulation of wealth by prosperity gospel promoting televangelist David Cerullo boggles the mind!

As president of Inspirational Network, David Cerullo has become one of America’s wealthier televangelists—a fact that is obscured by net worth tracking websites severely underestimating Cerullo’s wealth.

Net Worth Post estimates that Cerullo has a net worth of $900,000. Meanwhile, Idol Networth estimates Cerullo’s net worth to be $3.2 million, but neither website reveals how they reached such dubious conclusions.

In 2010, the Charlotte Observer reported, “With compensation exceeding $1.5 million a year, Cerullo is the best-paid leader of any religious charity tracked by watchdog groups.” Eleven years later, Cerullo remains the highest paid executive in MinistryWatch’s 100 Highly Paid Ministry Executives list.

Last week the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) published Inspirational Network’s 2019 Form 990, a financial disclosure document revealing total revenue, total expenses, and compensation of key employees. It shows that Cerullo received more than $3 million in 2019 bonuses, pushing total compensation to $7,319,371 for the year.

To create a big picture view of this ministry’s compensation, Trinity Foundation compiled a compensation spreadsheet of Cerullo, other family members working for the TV network and Dale Ardizzone, the network’s attorney.

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Trinity Broadcasting of Texas Obtains PPP Loan After Receiving $933 Million

Barry Bowen

Matthew Crouch, president of Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN) has launched a massive restructuring of the world’s largest religious TV network.

Financial disclosure documents published last week on the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) website report that Trinity Christian Center of Santa Ana (TCCSA), long the parent organization of TBN, and other affiliated organizations transferred $860,132,250 in assets to Trinity Broadcasting of Texas in 2019.

The Texas-based non-profit also reported $30 million in donations, $24 million in revenue from selling airtime, and $17 million of investment income. Total revenue for the year was $933,330,134!

In 2020, Trinity Broadcasting of Texas received a Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) forgivable loan of $3,308,005.  Congress authorized the Small Business Administration to create the program to help small businesses retain employees during the Covid-19 pandemic.

While applying for the PPP loan, applicants were required to certify the following statement: “Current economic uncertainty makes this loan request necessary to support the ongoing operations of the Applicant.”

Was this loan necessary to guarantee ongoing operations? Trinity Broadcasting of Texas began 2020 with $878 million worth of net assets. Should a non-profit this large qualify for a loan for small businesses?

Trinity Broadcasting of Texas was able to qualify for the loan because it had less than 500 employees.

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Televangelist Ernest Angley Dead at 99

Barry Bowen

Televangelist Ernest Angley, pastor of Grace Cathedral in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, died last week at 99 years of age.

Controversy surrounded the prosperity gospel preaching faith healer.

A former church member told The Akron Beacon Journal that Angley said, “It’s against God’s will for anyone to have a child.” The newspaper reported pregnant church members were pressured to have abortions and men were pressured to get vasectomies. Angley also reportedly inspected genitals of male church members.

In 2004, Angley created a shell corporation in Aruba named Crestwind Aviation to acquire a Boeing 747SP jet, one of the largest televangelist jets in the world. Its only known rival would be an Airbus used by Eduardo Manalo’s Iglesia ni Cristo. Angley’s jet would be used a couple of times a year for mission trips to Africa.

Crestwind Aviation shows up in the Offshore Leaks Database, which raises an important question for Trinity Foundation investigators. Did Angley engage in international money laundering? Aruba was a hub for this activity.

In 2019, the Akron Beacon Journal reported, “Add in landing fees, maintenance and other related costs and, if Angley takes three trips a year averaging 16,000 miles round trip, the annual operating cost is about $2.16 million.” The jet was estimated to have cost $26 million when it was purchased. Before the jet was sent to an airplane graveyard, it cost $240,000 to fill the jet’s gas tanks.

Video of the jet, which Angley named Star Triple Seven, can be viewed on YouTube.

In his autobiography Hurry Friday! Angley wrote,”Thousands attend my services in other countries, acres and acres of people in one service. Thousands are saved, healed, delivered and baptized in the Holy Ghost. From all manner of death diseases they are delivered, including HIV/AIDS. Medical evidence proves they are healed.”

If Angley could really heal people of AIDS, why didn’t he perform healing services in hospitals?

Instead, Angley became comedy fodder for comedians, talk show hosts and documentaries as Angley would repeatedly say the word “heal” with a weird accent.

Sadly, Angley’s legacy is no laughing matter. Please join us in praying for the emotional and spiritual wellbeing of Angley’s victims, family, friends and church members.

 

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