Foreign Financial Reporting: When Church and Ministry Money Travels to Foreign Countries

Researchers at the Center for the Study of Global Christianity, writing for the International Bulletin of Mission Research, estimate that $55 billion will be spent on foreign missions in 2023. That may seem like a lot, but the same researchers also estimate that Christian religious leaders will embezzle $62 billion in 2023.

Foreign mission organizations are notorious for their lack of transparency. Gospel for Asia, which raises millions of dollars to support missionaries,  doesn’t disclose to donors important financial information such as total annual revenue, total annual expenses or compensation for highly paid executives.

Compounding the problem, American tax laws are poorly understood and poorly enforced, often resulting in noncompliance. If a church operates a mission project in a foreign nation with a foreign bank account and the foreign account exceeds $10,000, the church is required by the Bank Secrecy Act to file a Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts (FBAR).

To make matters worse, if a church or ministry reports a foreign bank account, the report is confidential and cannot be revealed to church or ministry donors. Corrupt religious leaders can engage in international money laundering and the existence of their foreign bank accounts are shielded by privacy laws.

Australian Charity Rules

Some countries such as Australia have stricter laws regarding foreign reporting and foreign expenditures for churches.

In 2022, Hillsong Church employee Natalie Moses turned whistleblower. Moses served as Fundraising & Governance Coordinator for Hillsong Global Corporate Group.

According to Moses’ statement of claim, Brian Houston, the founder and former senior pastor of Hillsong “announced that $10,000 would be given to persons who were his former interns and who had sought to start a ‘Hillsong’ Church in Bucharest, Romania.”

Moses responded by informing a supervisor the direct cash payments to individuals in Romania by Australian non-profit organizations was prohibited.

To avoid violating Australian law, Hillsong Global LLC (an American non-profit limited liability company) transferred the funds. Meanwhile, Hillsong Global does not file a Form 990 disclosing its foreign spending because American churches and church integrated auxiliaries are exempted from filing the non-profit information return.

Moses raised additional concerns that Hillsong was failing to comply with Australian laws.

Australia has adopted Four External Standards which regulate foreign non-profit spending and reporting. Australian churches are not exempt from these standards.

The Australian Charities and Not-for-Profits Commission requires foreign financial records to be “complete, accurate and legible.” Australian churches and ministries should compile a list of all foreign third-party organizations they collaborate with. Non-profit organizations are expected to document criminal and illegal activities committed by employees after misconduct is discovered.

Unfortunately for Australian Christians, these complete records are not available for church donors. Instead, they must be made available to government officials that request them.

The Australian Charities and Not-for-Profits Commission provides basic financial information for Australian churches and ministries, but good luck finding Hillsong Church’s foreign missions expenditures.

(Photo: Hillsong Church Ltd. reporting no foreign expenditures for 2021.)

Continue reading “Foreign Financial Reporting: When Church and Ministry Money Travels to Foreign Countries”

Convicted Child Molester Still ‘Enthroned’ by Millions of Faithful Churchgoers

(Photo: Before his imprisonment for sex crimes, Naasón Joaquín García preached to large audiences in the United States, Mexico and in Central America.)

By Pete Evans, with Luís Treviño

A moment in time: A warm Sunday morning, spring, 2019. 

We (Luis and Pete) go to a Dallas church and realize it’s far from your “normal” sanctuary.  We are ushered into a temple and amidst the expensive architecture—probably worth millions, we immediately notice a gilded, velvet-covered throne front and center-stage, raised up several steps as if it were a true king’s throne.  On the throne are emblazoned the initials—not of Jesus Christ as one might expect—but of N. J. G., Naasón Joaquín García, the 3rd generation “anointed apostle” of the world-wide La Luz Del Mundo (LLDM—“Light of the World”) church organization.

(Photo: La Luz Del Mundo in Dallas after worship has ended.)

Little did we know at the time, that this so-called apostle (of apostasy) was already under investigation by various law-enforcement agencies in the United States for sex-trafficking, child molestation, psychological torture, statutory rape, child pornography, forcible oral copulation of a minor, control by manipulation, etc., etc.  Just a few weeks before Jeffrey Epstein was arrested on sex trafficking charges, Naasón Joaquín García was arrested when he stepped off his own private jet in Los Angeles.[1]

As obvious newcomers, including one non-Latino, we are intercepted and given special treatment and placed on a back row of wooden pews.  Friendly Hispanic ushers encourage us to use our printed bulletins, reading and singing along with the apparently poor but well-dressed and probably hard-working congregation.  The women are dressed modestly in white, wearing long skirts and transparent headdresses of different colors, and the men are dressed in formal business attire, wearing coats and ties.

The sermon and singing appear to lead to a climatic central point of the service when, row-by-row, under direction from the ushers, every single member of the congregation—except us two visitors—begins to form two single-file lines, one section for women and another for men, and pass in front of the throne depositing their tithes and offerings and returning to their seats.  We were not forced to do so.

Continue reading “Convicted Child Molester Still ‘Enthroned’ by Millions of Faithful Churchgoers”

Caller Beware: The Prayer Line Business

Prayer lines are the secret ingredient driving the financial success of televangelism.

In a recent Form 990, Christian Broadcasting Network reported, “In 2020, the prayer center department handled 184,859 outbound and 1,935,522 inbound phone calls. A total of 4,488 people prayed the prayer of salvation with our prayer center employees and 6,677 people rededicated their life to Christ.”

When viewers call the prayer lines, call center employees and volunteers manning phones collect donations and say prayers after obtaining names and addresses.

The harvesting of contact information is a critical component of fundraising. Once a viewer is added to a ministry’s mailing list, solicitation letters are soon to follow.

When a viewer requests prayer for a job or health problem, their prayer need is listed in a database which is later used for generating personalized solicitation letters.

In 1991, ABC Primetime Live broadcast an investigative report featuring a secretly recorded meeting between Jim Moore, head of Response Media, and Trinity Foundation founder Ole Anthony.

The goal of the meeting was to learn the techniques televangelists used to grow their media empires. Moore told Anthony, “Give them something free. You know, we ought to mail you the latest copy of X and get their name and address. New names is the key, new names.”

Continue reading “Caller Beware: The Prayer Line Business”

Trinity Broadcasting Network Embraces Advertising Business Model

After taking the helm of Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN) in 2015, Matthew Crouch discontinued TBN’s annual beg-a-thons,  restructured the network’s organization and made programming changes to appeal to younger audiences. The TV programs of Benny Hinn and Kenneth Copeland were removed from the network and TBN’s flagship program Praise the Lord was renamed to one word: Praise.

In 2018, TBN’s two largest non-profit organizations Trinity Broadcasting of Texas and Trinity Christian Center of Santa Ana reported no advertising revenue. In 2019, the TBN organizations reported a total of $3,368,490 in advertising revenue. In 2020, advertising revenue more than doubled to a total of $7,252,771.


(Photo: TBN advertising revenue spreadsheet compiled by Trinity Foundation)

In 2020, all TBN advertising revenue was reported as unrelated business income which is subject to possible taxation.

TBN advertisers include My Pillow and Vinia.

Donor Beware: Gospel for Asia’s Fine Print

Almost four years have passed since Gospel for Asia (GFA), the global promoter of native missionaries, settled a class action lawsuit for $37 million

GFA has finished paying back $37 million to former donors.

The settlement agreement also required GFA to “publish annual reports of all work accomplished with donated funds.”

While the 2022 annual report is not yet available, we can review the 2021 annual report.

If the annual report is accurate, GFA provided water for 39 million people, sponsored 142,000 children and taught 27,000 women to read. While the reports of charitable activities are impressive, there is no disclosure of how much these activities cost.

The GFA annual report doesn’t disclose total assets, travel costs, legal expenses or other financial numbers that cautious donors may wish to review before giving.

By claiming to be a church or association of churches, GFA also avoids filing the IRS Form 990 which discloses salaries of top ministry executives and features an itemized statement of expenses. *

Understanding Restricted Donations

GFA collects money for constructing church buildings, drilling water wells, supporting missionaries, child sponsorship and livestock. But does the money reach its intended recipient?

As required by the settlement, GFA’s website features a disclaimer which says, “Regardless of particular designations, moneys are raised for ministry purposes, and GFA retains discretion to use donated funds in any manner that serves our charitable objectives.”

Continue reading “Donor Beware: Gospel for Asia’s Fine Print”

List of 100 Highly Paid Evangelical Non-profit Executives

Each January MinistryWatch publishes a list of highly compensated religious non-profit executives. The compensation for 100 employees on the 2023 list ranges from $370,890 to $7,319,371 (David Cerullo of INSP !!).

Seven million plus dollars!!!

America needs to have a serious conversation about excessive compensation in the non-profit world. Many of the highest paid televangelists fail to make the MinistryWatch list because their compensation is secret.

The compensation data is compiled from Form 990s submitted to the IRS. Churches, synagogues and mosques are exempt from filing a Form 990.

In December, ProPublica reported the IRS had a backlog of half a million 990s to release.

Because of the IRS backlog, MinistryWatch’s list features 15 people with 2019 compensation information.

The IRS backlog also affects Trinity Foundation’s investigations adversely. Some of our investigative reports are delayed by lack of current financial data.

The MinistryWatch list provides compelling examples of nepotism in Christian ministry. The Inspirational Network and Glory of Zion International both include three family members working as highly paid executives.

In addition to compensation of executives, the Form 990 also provides a statement of expenses, which helps conscientious donors evaluate the effectiveness of the charities they support.

One of the key metrics for concerned donors is program services. This is the money spent on the mission of the non-profit organization. Program services is determined by subtracting management and fundraising expenses from total expenses.

International Religious Fraud in the News: African Ponzi Scheming Pastor Reaps 519 Years Imprisonment

Accra, Ghana; last week, 1/18/2023

Various incarnations of Ponzi schemes are not unique to America or guys like Bernie Madoff.  Many experts have told Trinity Foundation that there is more money stolen in the name of God than any other way.

After having been found guilty of 173 counts of conspiracy to commit a crime and defrauding by false pretenses, Reverend Edward Buabeng, a Ghanian pastor and overseer of Liberty Vineyard International Ministries, was sentenced to a total of 519 years—consisting mostly of 8-year terms to be served simultaneously.

The case came to its conclusion after a three-year trial, in which 12 witnesses from over 100 defrauded victims were called to testify against the accused persons.

The main complainants, John and Brenda, were promised a 40% rate of return every three months and invested an equivalent amount of US $13,000 (roughly ₵161,403.02 in Ghanian Cedi currency) into the convict’s company, Career Link Marketers Company Limited.  The legal process began when the couple were unable to collect any money back from the pastor and reported Rev. Buabeng to the police.

Overall, Reverend Buabeng received the sum of GH₵ 2 million according to one article (as of this article $162,601.60 US dollars).  He didn’t deny the allegations against him and initially told police he would refund the money.  Yet he reportedly went into hiding after failing to return the money and was eventually re-arrested, leading to his trial.

The old cliché attributed to Michael Douglas still stands—” If a deal looks too good to be true, it probably is.”

This article relied on the following three African news sources: Melanin News, How Africa News and Ghana Web.

America’s Mafia Priest Dies

When retired Catholic priest Louis Robert Gigante died in October at 90 years of age, the news of his death was missed by most of America’s religion reporters, yet there are important lessons to learn from examining Gigante’s life story.

Gigante served at St. Athanasius Church in New York City, launched the  South East Bronx Community Organization (SEBCO), a large developer of  affordable housing, and was famous for being the brother of mafia boss Vincent Gigante, who headed the Genovese Crime Family for more than 20 years.

By serving as a secular, non-order priest, Gigante avoided taking a vow of poverty. Gigante preached the weddings and funerals of mafia associates and spoke in favor of lenient sentences after mafia members were convicted of crimes.

In 1989, The Village Voice newspaper published an incredible expose of Gigante’s business practices: “A four-month Voice investigation of Gigante and SEBCO has revealed that the priest and his publicly financed developments have been a $50 million opportunity for the Mafia.”

In addition to operating the non-profit SEBCO, Gigante owned the for-profit SEBCO Management company which did business with the non-profit. This kind of business relationship is described as self-dealing and is illegal when a non-profit executive excessively profits off the non-profit organization.

Self-dealing creates conflicts of interest and opportunities for financial abuse. The Village Voice reported, “It should come as no surprise that the priest’s company has gotten every SEBCO contract.”

Continue reading “America’s Mafia Priest Dies”

Pastor Jamal Bryant Violates Johnson Amendment

Jamal Bryant, pastor of New Birth Missionary Baptist Church appears to have violated the Johnson Amendment with an Instagram post on November 28, 2022:

The Johnson Amendment, adopted in 1954,  made it illegal for non-profit organizations to endorse or oppose political candidates.

Following the fall 2022 elections, Trinity Foundation, which is a non-partisan watchdog organization, reported both Jamal Bryant and televangelist Kenneth Copeland to the Internal Revenue Service for violating the Johnson Amendment.

Copeland flew his church-owned jet to West Palm Beach, Florida, to join Donald Trump’s entourage for a political campaign event.

Bryant and his church supported Democrat candidate Raphael Warnock. Meanwhile, Copeland supported Republican candidate Mehmet Oz.

Dark Money in the Church—Waiting for Christianity’s Wake-up Call

By Pete Evans and Barry Bowen

Trinity Foundation President Pete Evans delivered the following speech during the Corruption and Impunity in God’s Name forum at the International Anti-Corruption Conference 2022 held today in Washington, D.C. The conference is a project of Transparency International which is non-profit advocating for financial transparency on a global scale.

Thanks for your introduction Hazel, I’m Pete Evans, president of Trinity Foundation in Dallas, Texas and we’ve been investigating and exposing religious fraud and excess for over 3 decades now. I’ve been a licensed private investigator for most of that time and have worked undercover for months at a time in religious organizations on 3 occasions.  We regularly provide information to journalists and governmental agencies such as the exempt organization division of the IRS.

BUT, there is a veil of financial secrecy that shrouds and protects religious organizations.

Churches, Synagogues, Mosques, and other religious entities in America do not have to report any financial information either to the IRS, the public, or their own congregations.  This is known as “church status” and their financial disclosure is only voluntary.

We’ve seen this veil of secrecy lead to massive waste and extravagance, money laundering, bulk-cash smuggling, a tremendous indifference to the poor and downtrodden, and even rape, pedophilia, or sex-trafficking by televangelists, pastors, priests, and other church leaders—all in the name of God.

In 2007, cumulative reports from Trinity Foundation spurred Senator Charles Grassley of the US Senate Finance Committee to begin investigating religious fraud and self-dealing by requesting financial records and threatening numerous subpoenas to six prominent media ministries.

The threat of public testimony into abuses of the tax code before the senate scared the televangelists and heads of religious denominations.

So what became of the inquiry?  The Senate probe caused a momentary spike in awareness but was largely ignored by the US media and the investigation eventually went nowhere.

One of several reasons for the Senate’s failure to act was that the televangelists being investigated combined their resources to hire lawyers, lobbyists, and social media experts.

For publicity purposes, the suspected media ministries created a website that claimed religious persecution.  Of course, that was never the issue, it was always only about the misuse and extravagant waste of donor money.

What will it take to bring a wake-up call for transparency to religious organizations?

In 2008, Trent Huddleston, a former accountant at Oral Roberts University, America’s university of choice for charismatic and Pentecostal Christians, sued the university for discharging him “after fifteen months of intimidation and harassment.”

Huddleston alleged that university officials ordered him “to cook the books.” Buried on page 4 of the lawsuit was the most serious allegation: more than $1 billion US dollars flowed annually through an unrestricted account.

That should have spurred on an army of investigative reporters to follow the money. But nothing came of it. Aside from a couple of articles at the Tulsa World newspaper, journalists failed to explore the scandal.

Buried in government documents, inaccessible to journalists, there may exist Suspicious Activity Reports (or SARS) to verify allegations of money laundering at Oral Roberts University and prominent Christian media ministries.

Financial institutions are required to file Currency Transaction Reports when a person deposits or withdraws $10,000 or more in cash. When individuals attempt to avoid reporting requirements by making multiple deposits or withdrawals in a short amount of time, often called “structuring,” financial institutions are required to file these Suspicious Activity Reports (or SARS).

Unfortunately for investigative reporters and private investigators the Bank Secrecy Act prohibits the release of these reports to the public.

Additional allegations of massive money laundering involving religious organizations have surfaced with little media attention.

On May 3, 2000, the United States was preparing for a possible indictment of televangelist Benny Hinn for money laundering when the government’s main witness died of a suspicious heart attack.

Benny Hinn Ministries obtained a protective order to prevent disclosure of critical information.

But sometimes there are legal ways to obtain the truth. A Freedom of Information Act Request (or FOIA request) to the FBI revealed that Hinn’s former Chief Financial Officer Gene Polino allegedly embezzled $400,000 per week at one point.

One ideal way to smuggle dark money is via private aircraft, by boat, or similar means.  It’s typically called Bulk-Cash-Smuggling which Title 31 U.S.C. § 5332 “makes it a crime to smuggle or attempt to smuggle more than $10,000 in currency or monetary instruments into or out of the United States, with intent to evade U.S. currency reporting laws” (Also, see Title 31 U.S.C. §§ 5316 and 5317).

Trinity Foundation tracks televangelist jets daily with our Pastor Planes social media accounts (Instagram and Twitter). We’ve observed flights to the Bahamas, the Cayman Islands, Nevis, and other well-known tax haven nations over the years.

One of our informants has a nickname for televangelist jets—he calls them “laundry tubes.”  The televangelist he worked for smuggled stacks of cash from country to country and then back to the US on his jet—tons of money and jewels.  When offerings were taken in other countries, this particular televangelist would personally gather some of the money and the best of the jewelry to keep for himself.

On one occasion, the cash on this jet was stacked to the ceiling of the aircraft.  On another occasion, this particular televangelist smuggled a bunch of valuable red rubies from the offering plate out of Russia on his jet and our informant was detained and questioned by Russian authorities for three days about the rubies.

Another televangelist’s jet was reportedly used for bringing hundreds of thousands of dollars into the country illegally and on one occasion gunrunning of machine guns.

In the 1990s, a DEA informant reported a pallet stacked with cash in a Mexican airport destined for Haiti.  The cash was thinly covered by televangelist Robert Tilton’s brochures.

In 2015, our small organization expanded our investigations abroad.

Shortly prior to the COVID Pandemic, Trinity Foundation reported bulk cash smuggling to the FBI by one large multi-national church with hundreds of church locations in the Western Hemisphere funneling money overseas, out of the US.

On multiple occasions IRS officials have acknowledged the dark money problem in churches. In 2005, IRS Commissioner Mark Everson sent a letter to Senator Chuck Grassley claiming because churches were not required to file an informational return, “we have little ability to monitor their operations against diversion of assets.”

In recent years, some of America’s largest religious non-profit institutions have been reclassified as churches to avoid reporting requirements.

The Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, Gospel for Asia and CRU (formerly named Campus Crusade for Christ) no longer file a Form 990 which discloses compensation for ministry executives.

Back to Senator Grassley’s already weakened 2007 inquiry, in 2011 Grassley requested the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability, known as ECFA for short, to establish a commission to study and offer solutions to abused tax code loopholes.

The ECFA requires its members to be financially transparent, but in practice, looks the other way and rarely enforces its requirements.

In this case, the ECFA commission became a textbook example of regulatory capture­­ (also called agency capture or state capture) whereby the organizations to be regulated take control of the process. Some CPAs and attorneys of the same six ministries under threat of subpoena were appointed to the ECFA task force, like foxes guarding the henhouse.

Meanwhile, the mainstream media never reported on the lobbying efforts that were taking place behind the scenes. Televangelist Benny Hinn would later tell his TV audience that he spent $5 million fighting the inquiry.

Hinn hired two former IRS Commissioners, Larry Gibbs and Fred Goldberg, to represent him during the inquiry.

Invariably, these unreported church funds make their way into the political process. Dark money buys influence.

Some televangelists also use church and ministry-owned jets to travel to political rallies and religious events with political campaigning overtones.

Last month, Kenneth Copeland flew on his church-owned jet to West Palm Beach, Florida to join Trump’s entourage in Trump’s jet flying to Pennsylvania where Copeland prayed at a campaign rally on behalf of Senate candidate Dr. Oz.

Should these aircraft receive a tax-exemption? The IRS needs to investigate and provide guidance on inappropriate uses of non-commercial aircraft.

Ministry’s dark money even reaches the politicians sometimes. According to one of our informants, a non-profit religious TV network would give money to employees to illegally donate to politicians.

So what can be done about the problems of church and ministry financial abuses?

Here’s a multi-prong approach necessary to address the growing decline of financial transparency and the increase of dark money in religious institutions.

  1. Increase financial transparency in religious institutions.
  2. Amend laws to provide greater access to financial data such as SARS.
  3. Educate the public regarding donor responsibility.

Churches and ministries must be required to file a Form 990 which discloses total revenue, total expenses and the compensation of executives.

Congress should amend both the 1974 Privacy Act and Bank Secrecy Act to allow for the release of information in the public interest.  For example, both for-profit and not-for-profit corporations should be required to submit to increased scrutiny by the public—these are not private persons, they are man-made entities.

Additionally, non-profit companies should not be allowed to form shell companies, limited liability companies, or shadow companies.

Allow journalists to obtain Currency Transaction Reports and Suspicious Activity Reports by filing FOIA requests.

Law enforcement and regulatory agencies like the IRS should provide status reports to whistleblowers. Currently, when Trinity Foundation submits a complaint to the IRS, the IRS is prohibited from revealing if an audit or criminal investigation has been launched or closed.

In the rare cases the IRS revokes the tax-exempt status of a non-profit, the IRS sends the organization a revocation letter which is confidential. These letters should be available via FOIA requests so journalists and donors can see if the organization used donations to pay any penalties.

The United States Congress could also take a cue from Australia’s external standards for non-profit organizations. Australia requires non-profit organizations, including churches, to disclose how funds are spent when they are used in foreign countries.

After Hillsong Church’s Australian leadership was informed that sending cash to Romanian individuals would need to be reported, the church sent them money anyway from Hillsong Global LLC, an American church-related company. Hillsong Global does not file a 990 which would disclose this kind of transaction.

There is complete opacity, the system is broken down, it’s not working!

With these legal changes, greater transparency would reduce the ability of churches and ministries to launder money and illegally buy political influence. The time to act is now.

If anyone wants to talk about this, I’ve got lots of examples!

(End of Speech)

APPENDIX

Here are some recent examples:

In 2019, a private jet belonging to the international leader of the Philippine-based The Kingdom of Jesus Christ Church, Apollo Quiboloy was detained for bulk-cash smuggling.  His employee, Felina Salinas, was caught with a suitcase containing more than $300,000 in Hawaii. Apollo Quiboloy, a preacher that promotes himself on social media as “the Appointed Son of God” claims over 6 million followers in over 200 countries.

In November 2021, Quiboloy was indicted by a Federal Grand Jury and is on the FBI’s most wanted list for Sex Trafficking by Force, Fraud and Coercion, and Sex Trafficking of Children by Force, Fraud, and Coercion; Conspiracy; and Bulk Cash Smuggling.

We used to call televangelist Benny Hinn the “Teflon televangelist” because of his slippery avoidance of prosecution or tax revocation by the US government.  His ministry claims to be a church and has the secretive “church status”.

However, Brazilian televangelist Edir Macedo, may be the greasiest, slimiest tele-preacher.  Macedo, perhaps the wealthiest televangelist in the world, was arrested in August 2009 in Brazil for siphoning billions of dollars from mostly poor followers to buy TV stations, businesses, and jewelry for himself.    He was charged along with nine others for massive money laundering through fake companies but was never convicted.

Macedo’s church (but not Macedo) was accused again of money laundering in 2020.  According to Brazilian news site Poder360, in one fiscal year, May 2018 to April 2019, at least 5.9 billion reals–approximately $1.093 billion in US dollars–moved through church bank accounts in a questionable manner.

Malawi televangelist Shepherd Bushiri, who claims to walk on air, was arrested two years ago in South Africa for money laundering the equivalent of over $6 million dollars.  Bushiri skipped bail and fled to Malawi where he enjoys protection from the government. Pretoria, South Africa’s News 24 has reported the South African government faces a January 25, 2023 deadline to complete its investigation. Then  a final extradition hearing should be held.

 

More on Hinn

Hinn’s former attorney Larry Gibbs works for Miller & Chevalier, a law firm that specializes in “thwarting investigations.” It’s no joke, the law firm website says, “Given the stigma of being accused of criminal activity, clients seek our early and rapid intervention to thwart investigations before they become public.”

Hinn’s other former attorney Fred Goldberg was the IRS Commissioner that granted the Church of Scientology its tax exemption.

It’s likely that Gibbs or Goldberg met with Senator Grassley on Hinn’s behalf, but neither registered as lobbyists.

Hinn’s Ministry with its church status files no Form 990 and does not disclose how much money the organization spends on legal expenses.

Jim Bakker

While not a recent example, many people have forgotten that as televangelist Jim Bakker’s media empire collapsed, journalists reported the existence of two sets of books: The fictitious numbers and the real numbers.

More on Politics:

In 2020, TV preacher Robert Morris flew to Washington, D.C. in Daystar Television’s Gulfstream G5 jet for the National & Global Day of Prayer and repentance featuring a prayer proclamation from Donald Trump.

Daystar’s jet and televangelist James Robison’s jet traveled to California where Robison and Daystar president Marcus Lamb (and family) attended a political fundraising event at the Ritz Carlton in Dana Point.