Luke 6:38
• Wishful Thinking
Christians belief in the impossible has made them easy prey for Christian scam artists.
"Give and it shall be given unto you" is a passage from the Gospel of Luke that is often used in promoting religious investment fraud.
The SEC says that Great Ministries International used that and other messages from the Bible to convince churchgoers that their investment program was "anointed." More than 90,000 investors handed over a total of $580 million. When the bogus investment ring was busted, the leaders were reported to have said that regulators were trying to discredit and demonize their efforts.
"I've been a securities regulator for 20 years, and I've seen more money stolen in the name of God than in any other way," said Deborah Bortner, former president of the North American Securities Administrators Association.
George Chamberlin, North County Times: Investors will do well to avoid the religious scams
The Los Angeles Times has more on Gregory Setser whose gift for manipulating Christian greed makes him the Christian fraudster of 2003.
Setser at one point offered to pay $4 million to buy an interest in a Gulfstream G3 private jet from televangelist Benny Hinn's church and touted investments in an African diamond mine he said was owned by President Bush's family, according to evidence filed by the SEC.
"He's a Burl Ives-type character, very disarming, jolly, overweight, with a kind of chuckle in his voice as he talks," said Middlebrook, an Irving, Texas, attorney whose clients include Hinn, a Texas-based faith healer; Marilyn Hickey Ministries in Denver; and Reinhard Bonnke's Christ for All Nations in Orlando, Fla., all of which had dealings with Setser.
Big Spending Led to Suspicion of Scheme Targeting Ministries
Comments
Posted by: Turi Smith-Olawumi | October 1, 2005 6:41 PM