Private jets, 13 mansions and a $100,000
mobile home just for the dogs: Televangelists
'defrauded tens of million of dollars from
Christian network'
By Nina Golgowski
PUBLISHED: 16:21 EST, 23 March 2012 | UPDATED: 16:22 EST, 23 March 2012
Two former employees of the world's largest Christian television channel
Trinity Broadcasting Network are accusing the non-profit of spending $50
million of its funding on extravagant personal expenses.
Among purchases, the network founded by Televangelists Paul and Jan Crouch,
is accused of misappropriating its 'charitable assets' toward a $50 million jet, 13
mansions and a $100,000-mobile home for Mrs Crouch's dogs.
Their granddaughter, Brittany Koper, 26, recently filed her allegations in court
after a brief appointment as the network's chief finance director in July.
Accused: Brittany Koper, center, recently filed a suit accusing the Trinity Broadcasting Network,
its founders Janice Crouch (left) and Paul Crouch Sr (far right), in squandering $50 million of its
funding
She claims she was fired in September after discovering the 'illegal financial
schemes' according to the lawsuit obtained by the Los Angeles Times, and
consequently reporting them to Mr Crouch.
Her lawsuit follows a second by another former employee and Koper in-law,
Joseph McVeigh, the uncle of Mrs Koper's husband, Michael Koper, who
detailed the opulent spending by the Christian network.
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According to Mr McVeigh's accounts filed in his lawsuit, the network used their
collections for side-by-side mansions in Florida, as well as in Texas, Tennessee
and California.
The network's $50 million luxury jet was purchased through a sham loan while
Mrs Crouch's personal jet, a Hawker, totalled $8 million, according to his suit.
Dog house: Mrs Koper claims she was fired after reporting financial irregularities in their
spending which according to one of two suits filed accuses Mrs Crouch of spending $100,000 on
a mobile home for her dogs
The 13 properties listed in the suit were also referred to as 'guest homes' or
'church parsonages' while their directors also received $300,000 to $500,000 in
meal expenses, as well as the use of chauffeurs.
The suit also accuses the network of using funds to cover up sex scandals
according to the Times' review of the suit.
CLAIMED EXPENDITURES
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$100,000-mobile home for Mrs Crouch's dogs
$50 million luxury jet purchased through a sham loan
$8 million personal Hawker jet for Mrs Crouch
13 properties listed in the suit as 'guest homes' or 'church parsonages' in
Florida, Texas, Tennessee and California
$300,000 to $500,000 meal expenses for network directors, as well as the
use of chauffeurs
In a reverse lawsuit filed by debt-collection company Redemption Strategies last
year, the Kopers have been accused of forging documents to obtain items such
as several vehicles, jewelry, a boat, motorcycle, and life insurance. The debt
collection company was registered with the state by a TBN attorney one day
before it filed suit against Mr Koper.
They accuse Mr McVeigh of also receiving thousands of dollars from the nonprofit without their authorization.
That lawsuit against Mr McVeigh and Mr Koper was later dropped by the court,
but not before Mrs Koper and two in-laws were added as defendants.
Mrs Koper countersued, alleging that TBN's attorneys formed Redemption
Strategies to retaliate against her for whistleblowing.
Her suit doesn't list TBN as a defendant, but it alleges that Mrs Koper was fired
and made to turn over her house, condominium, life insurance policy, car,
furniture and jewelry as 'an act of Christian contrition' when she complained
about the financial misdeeds at TBN.
In the similar suit filed by Mr McVeigh, he alleges that TBN attorneys also
targeted him as part of a campaign of retaliation for his reporting of their lavish
spending.
TBN attorney Colby May called the McVeigh's lawsuit a 'tabloid filing' and said
the allegations in both cases were 'utterly and completely contrived.' TBN
suspects McVeigh, who claims he received a $65,000 loan from the family
empire, was working with the Kopers to steal money from the ministry, Mr May
said.
Attacks: The family feud could draw further scrutiny of TBN after its previous trouble with
allegations of a homosexual encounter by Mr Crouch and a five-year battle with the FCC
The network's spending is in line with its mission to spread the gospel
throughout the world, Mr May said, and the Crouches travel by private jet
because they have had 'scores of death threats, more than the president of the
United States.'
The ministry keeps large amounts of cash in reserve because incurring debt goes
against the Biblical exhortation to 'owe no man any thing,' he said.
'The answer is, there is no fire there,' Mr May said. 'They pay as they go and
every now and then one of the things that they pay as they go on is the
acquisition of a broadcast facility and that's a multi-million dollar transaction.'
The outbreak of legal skirmish offers a rare window into the secretive world of
the sprawling religious non-profit and exposes a family feud that could draw
more outside scrutiny of TBN. Attorneys from both sides say they have
contacted police and the Internal Revenue Service.
Growth: The network, whose headquarters is pictured, is seen on every continent but Antarctica
24 hours a day, seven days a week, raking in $92 million in donations in 2010 and $175 million
in tax-free revenue
The Crouches founded TBN in 1973 and grew it into an international Christian
empire that beams prosperity gospel programming — which promises that if the
faithful sacrifice for their belief, God will reward them with material wealth —
to every continent but Antarctica 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
It has 78 satellites and more than 18,000 television and cable affiliates and owns
seven other networks, as well as its headquarters in Costa Mesa in Orange
County, an estate outside Nashville called Trinity Music City, USA and the
Holy Land Experience, a Christian amusement park in Orlando.
On any given day — or night — viewers from the United States to India can
watch Christian-inspired news updates, documentaries, movies, talk shows and
sermons by preachers such as Benny Hinn, T.D. Jakes and Dr. Creflo Dollar
without leaving their armchairs.
Expenditures: Additional claims detail the purchase of two jets at a cost of $50 million and $8
million each, and 13 mansions across the U.S. reported as 'guest homes' or 'church parsonages'
The lawsuit attention comes at a bad time for TBN, which has seen viewer
donations drop steeply.
TBN raked in $92 million in donations in 2010 and cleared $175 million in taxfree revenue, but its net income plummeted from nearly $60 million in 2006 to a
loss of $18 million in 2010, the most recent year available. Donations fell by
nearly $30 million in the same period — a hit the network blames on the bad
economy.
At the same time, Mrs Koper's father — the eldest Crouch son — resigned
abruptly as vice president and chief-of-staff late last year. The unexplained
departure of Paul Crouch Jr. roughly coincided with his daughter's legal battle
and came just months after he launched iTBN, a project to expand the network's
online and mobile reach.
TBN places a premium on privacy and it's almost impossible to divine what is
going on behind the scenes. Yet televangelist empires built largely on charisma
often encounter choppy waters as their founding personalities age.
Needs: The attorney for Mrs Crouch, seen shielded by security in New York, said the Crouches
travel by private jet because they have had scores of death threats, more than the president of the
United States
'It's true that in these large ministries, they do become family enterprises ... and
in many ways that can be a most precarious problem for them,' said David E.
Harrell, a professor emeritus of American religion at Auburn University, who
has written about well-known televangelists. 'Business squabbles, if they're
complicated with family squabbles, can get nasty indeed.'
Mr May dismissed the idea of family turmoil and said the reason behind the
legal fight was simple: Mrs Koper and her husband stole from the network.
'They're attempting to create a diversion and to create as much public spectacle
as they can in the vain hope that this will all get resolved and that's simply not
going to happen,' he said.
TBN's reach and programming are expansive, but what is more impressive is the
amount of money it receives from viewers — even in a downturn.
Sex scandals: The suit also accuses the network, whose headquarters is pictured from the
roadside, of using funds to cover up additional sex scandals according to the Los Angeles Times'
review of the suit
During TBN's Praise-A-Thon earlier this month, a preacher exhorted viewers to
bellow 'Fear not!' three times, count down from 10 and then rush to the phone
with donations. In exchange, he said, they would receive a miracle from God
'about this time tomorrow.' Within seconds, all 200 phone lines were busy.
Ministry watchdogs have long questioned how TBN — which declared more
than $800 million in net assets in 2010 — spends that wealth.
TBN files reports with the IRS, but the Crouches run nearly two dozen other
organizations that are harder to track and they operate extensively overseas, said
Rusty Leonard, who founded Wall Watchers, an organization that monitors the
financial transparency of church ministries to which its members donate.
Wall Watchers gives TBN an 'F' for financial transparency and keeps them on
its list of the 30 worst ministries.
Lawsuits: In a reverse lawsuit filed against Mrs Koper and her husband, they have been accused
of forging documents to steal from the network themselves, whose Texas location is shown, but
that case was dropped by the court
'They could run a loss like the one they ran last year for an awfully long time
before they would run out of money,' Mr Leonard said. 'They're basically taking
money from old people and putting it in their pocket and living the high life.'
TBN is no stranger to outside scrutiny.
In 1998, the elder Crouch secretly paid an accuser $425,000 to keep quiet about
allegations of a homosexual encounter. Crouch Sr. has consistently denied the
allegations, which were first reported by the Los Angeles Times, and has said he
settled only to avoid a costly and embarrassing trial.
In 2000, after a five-year battle, a federal appeals court overturned a ruling by
the FCC that found Mr Crouch had created a 'sham' minority company to get
around limits on the number of TV stations he could own.
With their termination from the network, both Mr MacLeod and Mrs Koper plan
to file a wrongful-termination suit according to the Times
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2119493/Private-jets-13-mansions-100000-mobile-home-just-dogs-Televangelists-defrauded-tens-million-dollars-Christiannetwork.html#ixzz2MtA695Qi
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