Well, let's see: He pilfers at least 12 mil...
...has to pay back $4.7 mil of that...
...which leaves pilfer "earnings" of at least $7.3 mil...
...And in exchange for that $7.3 mil...
...he does three years' prison time...
...Which means, in effect, that the church is paying him over $2.4 mil a year for three years to sit in jail and probably write his next book (& sermons for when he gets out)...
Sounds pretty cushy to me.
No, he doesn't. From the story:
"He received a suspended sentence of three years"
Suspended means you don't go to prison if you don't get caught again during the 5 year probation. So he keeps most of the money, doesn't do any time, and the punishment is that he can't steal again until 2019.