Posted on 02/07/2008 6:47:05 PM PST by NormsRevenge
TULSA, Okla. - More than $1 billion a year was inappropriately funneled through Oral Roberts University, a lawsuit by a former senior accountant at the scandal-plagued school alleges.
Trent Huddleston claims in a lawsuit filed Thursday in Tulsa County District Court that he discovered an "unrestricted" account used to funnel "unusually large" sums of money through the university each month — which would exceed $1 billion on an annual basis — that wasn't used for any legitimate university purpose.
He says he was discharged because school officials feared he would reveal that the account existed.
Huddleston, who was hired in 2006 and spent 15 months at the school, also alleges former ORU board members participated in funneling the money for their eventual personal use, "and thus, the foxes were watching the hen house."
Named as defendants are Richard Roberts, the school's former president, and his wife, Lindsay, along with former regents and well-known televangelists.
The lawsuit offers no specific details on how the alleged funneling took place, and Huddleston's attorney, Gary Richardson, said he wasn't able to disclose information to support his client's claims Thursday.
"The lawsuit speaks for itself," Richardson said. "There was money coming in and going out in that account that in a period of one year's time would exceed $1 billion."
University spokesman Jeremy Burton dismissed any wrongdoing late Thursday, saying allegations of inappropriately funneling money through accounts had "no basis in fact." John Tucker, an attorney for ORU, said the petition appeared to be "grounded in fantasy."
Huddleston's lawsuit, the latest to hit the scandal-plagued school, amended a complaint he filed in late November against ORU.
The initial complaint alleged Huddleston was ordered to help Richard and Lindsay Roberts "cook the books" by hiding improper and illegal financial wrongdoing from the authorities and the public.
It also claimed that he was directed against his will to falsely list thousands of dollars as expenses rather than assets — which were spent remodeling the home of Richard and Lindsay Roberts — in order to defraud the Internal Revenue Service and other agencies.
He claimed nearly $123,000 in expenditures were paid by the university and Oral Roberts Ministries for remodeling the home. He said more than $40,000 of university and ministry money went for a new swimming pool and nearly $5,000 was spent on a pool table.
Roberts resigned as president days after Huddleston's lawsuit was filed amid allegations he misspent school funds to bankroll a lavish lifestyle at a time when the school faced more than $50 million in debt. Roberts has repeatedly denied wrongdoing.
The allegations of lavish living first surfaced in a wrongful termination lawsuit filed against ORU last October by three former professors.
It accused Richard Roberts of spending school funds on shopping sprees, a stable of horses for his family and a Bahamas trip for his daughter and her friends aboard a university jet. The school recently settled with one of the professors, resulting in his reinstatement at the school.
Last fall, Oklahoma City businessman Mart Green, founder of a Christian bookstore and office supply chain, stepped in to help bail the school out of the financial muck, donating $70 million.
In January, Green took over as chairman of a new board of trustees, replacing the school's old panel of 21 voting regents as a result of his donation.
Burton, speaking late Thursday on behalf of the new trustees board, said it was "committed to resolving outstanding litigation against the university brought under the former administration."
A campus security car stops below the large praying hands at Oral Roberts University in Tulsa, Okla. on Friday, Oct. 5, 2007. More than $1 billion a year was inappropriately funneled through ORU, a lawsuit by a former senior accountant at the scandal-plagued school alleges. (AP Photo, FILE)
The really scary thing is the huge numbers of people who are naive enough to be surprised by this, who will be voting next November.
Never trust a TV preacher. Mountebanks, swindlers, thieves and liars, one and all.
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