[Hpn] HOMELESS-SCAM: Greater Ministries bilked millions, say prosecutors in Tampa FL USA prosecutors in Tampa FL USA

[Tom Boland]

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FWD  Associated Press - AP Wire Service - Jan 22, 2001

TAMPA CHURCH USED RELIFION TO BILK MILLIONS, PROSECUTORS ALLEGE

TAMPA, Fla. (AP) _ Greater Ministries International promised
heavenly rewards to those who gave the church money, but it was
nothing more than a scheme to make church founders rich,
prosecutors told jurors Monday.

Defense attorneys countered that donations _ more than $100
million from 18,000 people worldwide _ were given freely by the
faithful wanting to express their religious beliefs. The money went
to helping the downtrodden, attorneys said.

Five church elders, including church founder Gerald Payne, face
federal fraud charges in connections with the church's Bible-based
fund-raising appeals.

Donors were promised a 200 percent return on their money, but
prosecutors charge that church elders bilked investors and were
planing to use the money to create their own armed Caribbean island
nation.

``Gerald Payne and the elders appealed to people's religious
beliefs and they appealed to their greed,'' said Assistant U.S.
attorney Jay Hoffer. ``This plan, program or scheme was about
misrepresentation, greed and fraud.''

Payne; his wife, Betty Payne; pastor Haywood ``Don'' Hall; David
Whitfield and Patrick Henry Talbert are being tried on a series of
fraud and money laundering charges.

Prosecutors say the scheme, which began in 1993 and ended in
1998, promised that parishioners of the Tampa-based church could
double cash investments of $250 or more in 17 months.

Investigators estimated as many as 18,000 people invested as
much as $100 million, a sum the church said came from shrewd deals
in gold and platinum mines and overseas banks paying generous
interest.

When the FBI raided church headquarters in 1999, authorities
said they found plans for building an arsenal of grenade launchers,
armor-piercing bullets and plastic explosives. The elders also were
considering buying a Caribbean island to set up an enclave of
church faithful.

The church has been sued by attorneys general and securities
commissions in several states, including Pennsylvania, Ohio and
Colorado.

Hoffer told jurors that Greater Ministries elders traveled
nationwide to promote their program, skimming 5 percent from every
donation as ``gas money.''

Dubbed by church elders at times as ``Christian's Social
Security'' or ``God's transfer of wealth from heathens to the
righteous,'' the program collapsed in September 1998.

Betty Payne's attorney, Anne Borghetti, told jurors that the
Paynes were only doing God's work.

Attorneys for Gerald Payne and Whitfield reserved their opening
statements until after the prosecution rests.

``Gerald Payne had a dream in which God told them to start the
program and do God's work,'' Borghetti said. ''... In order to do
God's work, they needed funds.''

Borghetti said that the church counseled people, provided food
and shelter for the homeless, ran thrift stores, supported
missionary work and even had programs to help ex-convicts obey the
court's rules of their probation.

People who came to the Greater Ministries meetings were moved,
and voluntarily donated money, said John Kingston, Talbert's
attorney.

``The Supreme Court has said over and over and over and over
that how you give to a church is your free expression,'' Kingston
said.

``Your government is trying to regulate what happens in church.
Patrick Talbert thought he was doing God's work. He wouldn't have
defrauded a flea.''

People were told not to invest if they were simply looking to
earn more money, said Sharon Samek, who represents Hall. She
described Hall as a deeply religious man who was holding revivals
at the age of 18.

``Don Hall was guided by his faith,'' Samek said. ``He told
listeners not to believe in him, but to believe in God.''

AP-ES-01-22-01 1759EST
Received  Id AP101022244FAF7C on Jan 22 2001 17:06

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