"Private jets, 13 mansions and a $100,000 mobile home just for the dogs: Televangelists 'defrauded tens of million of dollars from Christian network'"

dailymail.co.uk

"Two former employees of the world's largest Christian television channel Trinity Broadcasting Network are accusing the non-profit of spending $50 million of its funding on extravagant personal expenses.

Among purchases, the network founded by Televangelists Paul and Jan Crouch, is accused of misappropriating its 'charitable assets' toward a $50 million jet, 13 mansions and a $100,000-mobile home for Mrs Crouch's dogs.

Their granddaughter, Brittany Koper, 26, recently filed her allegations in court after a brief appointment as the network's chief finance director in July... 

She claims she was fired in September after discovering the 'illegal financial schemes' according to the lawsuit obtained by the Los Angeles Times, and consequently reporting them to Mr Crouch.

Her lawsuit follows a second by another former employee and Koper in-law, Joseph McVeigh, the uncle of Mrs Koper's husband, Michael Koper, who detailed the opulent spending by the Christian network...

According to Mr McVeigh's accounts filed in his lawsuit, the network used their collections for side-by-side mansions in Florida, as well as in Texas, Tennessee and California.

The network's $50 million luxury jet was purchased through a sham loan while Mrs Crouch's personal jet, a Hawker, totalled $8 million, according to his suit...

The 13 properties listed in the suit were also referred to as 'guest homes' or 'church parsonages' while their directors also received $300,000 to $500,000 in meal expenses, as well as the use of chauffeurs.

The suit also accuses the network of using funds to cover up sex scandals according to the Times' review of the suit...

The lawsuit attention comes at a bad time for TBN, which has seen viewer donations drop steeply.

TBN raked in $92 million in donations in 2010 and cleared $175 million in tax-free revenue... the most recent year available...

During TBN's Praise-A-Thon earlier this month, a preacher exhorted viewers to bellow 'Fear not!' three times, count down from 10 and then rush to the phone with donations. In exchange, he said, they would receive a miracle from God 'about this time tomorrow.' Within seconds, all 200 phone lines were busy...

Ministry watchdogs have long questioned how TBN — which declared more than $800 million in net assets in 2010 — spends that wealth.

TBN files reports with the IRS, but the Crouches run nearly two dozen other organizations that are harder to track and they operate extensively overseas, said Rusty Leonard, who founded Wall Watchers, an organization that monitors the financial transparency of church ministries to which its members donate...

TBN is no stranger to outside scrutiny.

In 1998, the elder Crouch secretly paid an accuser $425,000 to keep quiet about allegations of a homosexual encounter. Crouch Sr. has consistently denied the allegations, which were first reported by the Los Angeles Times, and has said he settled only to avoid a costly and embarrassing trial."