(Photos: Kenneth Copeland, Creflo Dollar, Bill Winston)
In 2006, three American televangelists registered four offshore companies in the Bahamas with Trident Corporate Services. Three of the four corporate filings occurred precisely a week apart. The purposes for the four corporate entities are unknown.
While offshore companies may have a legitimate purpose, they are frequently used for tax evasion and to hide assets when, for instance, a rich husband expects a possible divorce.
Offshore corporate registrations are a critical component of international money laundering.
In December 2024, the IRS launched an investigation into Trident Corporate Services’ parent company Trident Global Trust. The purpose of the IRS investigation is to identify Americans who failed to report income generated in offshore locations during the years 2014 through 2023.
Judge John P. Cronan approved an ex parte order, allowing the IRS to obtain banking and communication records for clients of Trident Trust Global, a firm registering companies and trusts around the globe, including in the Bahamas, which doesn’t have a federal income tax.
The Independent Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), which operates the Offshore Leaks Database, has also investigated Trident Trust Global’s clients.
Trinity Foundation investigators searched this database for companies with ties to prominent religious leaders, discovering that televangelists Kenneth Copeland, Creflo Dollar and Bill Winston registered four companies in the Bahamas with Trident Corporate Services, one of Trident Trust Global’s subsidiaries or affiliate companies.
February 24, 2006 – Bill and Veronica Winston registered Dominion International Foundation, Inc. (Status unknown.)
March 16, 2006 – Kenneth Copeland’s church registered Pitcherman Foundation Limited. (Status is shown as “Struck off” in January 2011.)
March 23, 2006 – Creflo Dollar, Shannon Johnson and Bill Winston registered YBC Limited. (Status is shown as “Struck off” in February 2009.)
(Screenshot: The ICIJ maps the relationships of officers and shareholders, when they are known.)
March 30, 2006 – Creflo Dollar and Michael O. Carte registered The Change Association Limited. (Status is shown as “Struck off” in February 2009)
If illegal activity was performed by the televangelist-owned offshore companies, alleged crimes would not be investigated because the statute of limitations expired on the 2006 offshore company operations.
Trinity Foundation’s investigations have failed to identify any ministry performed in the Bahamas by Kenneth Copeland, Creflo Dollar or Bill Winston.
Of the three televangelists, Winston was the only one to operate a ministry filing a Form 990. Bill Winston Ministries did not report any foreign bank accounts or related foreign organizations from 2006 through 2009, when Dominion International Foundation, Inc. was an active corporation.
(Screenshot: Bill Winston Ministries 2009 Form 990)
The televangelists are not under investigation for these foreign registrations and have not been accused of committing financial crimes with offshore accounts.
The Grassley Inquiry
In 2007, Senator Grassley and the United States Senate Finance Committee launched an inquiry into the finances of six prominent TV ministries (including Kenneth Copeland and Creflo Dollar), requesting financial records, board minutes and explanations for how compensation of key employees was determined.
The following requests were made to World Changers Church International where Creflo Dollar serves as senior pastor and Creflo Dollar Ministries:
“A list of all domestic and overseas bank accounts and investments of WCCI, CDM, and any integrated auxiliaries and related entities for years 2004 to present.”
“Explain the procedures for handling cash received during crusades, meetings or conferences held outside of the United States, including if bank deposits are made prior to returning to the United States.”
Creflo Dollar’s church resisted providing any information to the Senate Finance Committee, according to a Senate report, ” Despite repeated communications with WCCI and their attorneys, WCCI did not provide responses to any of the questions and was, therefore, the least cooperative.”
Meanwhile, Kenneth Copeland Ministries reported its statement to Grassley in a public letter. “The Church explained to Senator Grassley that Pitcherman, Inc. is a dormant, inactive entity, wholly owned by the Church, which was incorporated, but never capitalized.”
Foreign Corporations Outside the Bahamas
Trinity Foundation has also found religious leaders with corporate filings in other tax haven nations.
Stichting Morris Cerullo World Evangelism Aruba was incorporated in Aruba in 1993. Televangelist Morris Cerullo died in 2020.
In 1995, SEBCO Holding Inc. was registered in Panama. The holding company was likely tied to Catholic priest Louis Gigante who served as president of the South East Bronx Community Organization (SEBCO). Louis Gigante’s infamous brother Vincente Gigante was head of the Genovese crime family.
Unless there is another ministry of the same name, Lysa TerKeurst’s ministry Proverbs 31 incorporated in the Cayman Islands.
On Thursday, January 30, 2025, the Trinity Foundation sent emails to Kenneth Copeland Ministries, Creflo Dollar Ministries, Bill Winston Ministries and Proverbs 31 Ministries. Each ministry was asked the purpose of the foreign corporate registration and if they conducted any ministry in the Bahamas or Cayman Islands.
If any ministry provides a response to the questions, they will be added to this article.