Posted on 10/20/2022 12:02:15 AM PDT by Morgana
A New Orleans pastor has pled guilty to money laundering.
U.S Attorney Duane A. Evans announced that Charles J. Southall III, 64, has pled guilty to one count of money laundering and obtaining over $889,000 through fraud.
Southall faces a maximum of 10 years in prison, up to three years of supervised release, up to a $250,000 fine, and a $100 mandatory special assessment fee if found guilty.
(Excerpt) Read more at wdsu.com ...
Too many pastors are functionally unconverted.
If you ‘tested’ a hundred ministers, more than 90-percent would tell you that they aren’t that financially literature and have zero knowledge over money-laundering schemes.
I’d be asking who the church money-handler really is, and discount the minister as the guy who came up with the idea. My humble guess...whoever it is...they’ve paid the regional prosecutor to zero-in on the minister and let the real guilty party walk away.
Ask any inmate and they will tell you that God is in prison.
They had to go to prison to find God!
Per another article:
“According to court documents, SOUTHALL has served as the Executive Pastor of First Emanuel Baptist Church (FEBC) since about 1989. FEBC maintained houses of worship in New Orleans, Louisiana, and Baton Rouge, Louisiana, owned multiple parcels of real property in New Orleans, and created housing ministry entities to provide affordable housing to low-income New Orleans residents as well as to receive income from renting some of the properties FEBC owned. As Executive Pastor, SOUTHALL led and counseled the FEBC congregation, participated in the administration and operation of charitable organizations affiliated with FEBC, including its housing ministries, and solicited donations purportedly for specific repair, developmental, and charitable projects and tithes in support of FEBC and its mission. SOUTHALL received a salary in accordance with the terms of his employment contract, as well as monetary gifts from the FEBC congregation throughout the year.
Exploiting his position as Executive Pastor, SOUTHALL defrauded FEBC and some of its members in several ways. First, SOUTHALL solicited tithes and donations from several members and then improperly diverted the money to his personal use. For example, SOUTHALL solicited a $10,000 tithe from Victim A in July 2019, the proceeds of which he deposited into his personal financial accounts and used to pay for personal expenses. Between August 2016 and July 2020, SOUTHALL solicited multiple donations from Victim B ostensibly for various charitable purposes and the improvement of FEBC’s New Orleans building. SOUTHALL improperly diverted approximately $106,408.38 of the funds Victim B donated to FEBC to financial accounts under SOUTHALL’S personal control and to pay for SOUTHALL’S personal expenses unrelated to FEBC or its mission without the knowledge or authorization of Victim B.
Second, SOUTHALL diverted approximately $150,000 of income that resulted from the rental of properties owned by FEBC and its affiliated housing ministries to his personal use and benefit without the knowledge or authorization of FEBC.
Third, SOUTHALL developed and implemented a scheme to defraud FEBC by causing real properties owned by FEBC to be sold and diverting a portion of the profit from the sale of the real properties to and for SOUTHALL’S personal benefit without the knowledge or authorization of FEBC or the FEBC Board of Trustees. In total, SOUTHALL improperly caused approximately $537,805.51 of profit from the sale of FEBC-owned real properties located on Amelia Street, Fourth Street, and Baronne Street to be diverted to SOUTHALL’S personal benefit improperly and without authorization.
Additionally, SOUTHALL and others created the Spirit of Excellence Academy for the purpose of operating a charter school in New Orleans. In about 2013, SOUTHALL secured funding to create an affiliated school in Baton Rouge. Although Spirit of Excellence received funding in the form of grants and loans, the Baton Rouge school never opened. According to rules promulgated by the State of Louisiana, Board Members of charter schools were prohibited from receiving compensation for providing services to the school other than for reimbursement of actual expenses. As President of the Board of Directors of Spirit of Excellence Academy, SOUTHALL submitted financial statements that represented he had no personal or financial interest with Spirit of Excellence Academy.
Notwithstanding these representations, in about September 2013, SOUTHALL hired Person A to be employed and compensated by Spirit of Excellence Academy for consulting work related to the creation of Spirit of Excellence Academy – Baton Rouge. Between about September 2013 and September 2017, Spirit of Excellence Academy paid Person A approximately $220,600, all of which was deposited into a financial account SOUTHALL and Person A jointly controlled. SOUTHALL regularly diverted a portion of the funds paid to Person A to SOUTHALL’S personal use, including by transferring some of the funds from one or more of the accounts he controlled jointly with Person A to other financial accounts under SOUTHALL’S sole control or by causing the funds to be used to pay SOUTHALL’S personal credit card bills. In total, between about September 2013 and September 2017, SOUTHALL improperly caused approximately $85,351.97 of the funds paid to Person A by Spirit of Excellence Academy to be diverted to SOUTHALL’S personal benefit and use in the manner described above.
In total, SOUTHALL obtained approximately $889,565.86 through his fraudulent schemes. SOUTHALL then engaged in a series of financial transactions using the proceeds of the criminally derived proceeds he obtained that included: negotiating a check in the amount of $11,841 to purchase tickets; using funds originating from the sale the Fourth Street property in the amount of $100,000 to open and fund a JPMC individual investment account for himself; negotiating a cashier’s check in the amount of $95,000 to purchase a vehicle; and negotiating a cashier’s check in the amount of $10,764.11 for the down payment of another vehicle.
As part of his guilty plea, SOUTHALL agreed to pay restitution to Spirit of Excellence Academy or its designee in the amount of $85,351.97, to FEBC in the amount of $687,805.51; to Victim A in the amount of $10,000; and Victim B in the amount of $106,408.38.”
As a Forensic CPA, I did fraud audits in many churches over the years. This is far more common than most are aware.
If done properly, it is totally legal. Ask Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton or Senator Warnock. Or Obama’s pastor in Chicago.
I was surprised years ago when I was looking for a charity to donate disaster relief monies. I pulled the 990 IRS Tax filing for Shepherd’s Purse and found that Graham was taking out over $600,000 per year in salary.
Shepherd’s Purse is a plant.
I am surprised he is taking that much! Salvation Army is not a group that does that...so they say.
So he gets to keep 2/3 of the money?
Beware of false profits.
Do you mean “Samaritan’s” Purse?
Yes. Thank you for the correction.
That was quite a few years ago. Even before his father died that I checked their tax return.
Shepherd’s Purse is a weed or wild plant that is very high in Vitamin C.
Out of curiosity, I looked up their 990 again. Here is what it said.
IRS filing requirement
This organization is not required to file an annual return with the IRS because it is a church.
Franklyn Graham now gets about $730,000 per year. ($670,731 salary and $69,973 Other (probably housing allowance))
the Ulitimate Money Laundering is still The Ukraine ~ and at least 10% to The Big Guy...
EXACTLY
Sounds like an off-the-wall “Baptist” church. In the organization of Baptist churches I know, the pastor has absolutely nothing to do with the finances. The Trustees handle that.
The pastors don’t even know who the “big givers” are to keep them from favoring some members/families over others.
Is this a black church? I didn’t watch the video and I didn’t see it in the transcript.
It is.
—-> and found that Graham was taking out over $600,000 per year in salary.
The board voted for this. He didn’t “take it out” on his own.
That said, I think it is excessive.
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