TBN’s Family Feud Gets Awkward

http://marcusyoars.com/?p=110

TBN’s Family Feud Gets Awkward

It’s easy to take potshots at the Trinity Broadcasting Network given some of the crazy on-air antics that rival YouTube’s most viral videos these days. But the latest allegations involving TBN founders Paul and Jan Crouch are more than just a “he said, she said” case; they’re down-right weird, considering it’s the Crouches’ granddaughter filing suit.

While it should be noted the lawsuit isn’t directly against TBN, the allegations of $50 million in misused donations say enough.

I’ll blog later on this as we find out more from both sides, but for now, here’s the story our news editor just posted.
———–

TBN Founders’ Granddaughter Claims Misuse of ‘Charitable Assets’

By Jennifer LeClaire

In what may appear to outsiders as a family feud, Brittany Koper is alleging that Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN) founders Paul and Jan Crouch have illegally tapped into “charitable assets” totaling more than $50 million for personal use.

But TBN’s attorney tells Charisma News that Koper—the Crouches’ granddaughter—is making “absurdly ridiculously, untrue statements.”

Koper is the daughter of Paul Crouch Jr., who served as chief financial officer at TBN until he resigned in September. At that time, younger Crouch moved into a position as director of project development at The Word Network. He declined to comment.

Koper alleges she discovered foul financial moves when she took the reigns of TBN’s finance department—and that she was instructed to keep it confidential. Koper claims she refused to cover up the alleged financial impropriety and was therefore wrongfully terminated.

“Following her appointment, Ms. Koper was specifically instructed to falsify public financial disclosures, to falsify government records, and to otherwise cover up conduct of the TBN Companies and their directors that Ms. Koper reasonably believed to be unlawful,” her lawyer argued in the complaint, which was filed in an Orange County, Calif., court.
Although it appears to be a family disturbance, Koper is not actually suing TBN. Instead, she’s making these claims as part of a lawsuit against her former attorneys at Davert & Loe. Koper is accusing the law firm of breaching its duties, professional negligence, sexual assault and inflicting emotional distress.

“Ms. Koper sought the defendant attorneys’ legal advice about these matters. In response, the defendant attorneys acknowledged that the conduct in question was unlawful but nevertheless advised, encouraged and instructed Ms. Koper to perform and cover up such unlawful activities within the TBN Companies,” the suit claims.

Colby May, TBN’s legal counsel and national spokesperson, has reviewed Koper’s lawsuit. While the suit makes assertions about financial improprieties at TBN, May says no misappropriation has taken place at the Christian broadcasting network.

“The reality is Ms. Koper is very much in hot water, shall we say, for her own misappropriation of monies and, in fact, we believe embezzlement of monies,” May told Charisma News.

“We filed all necessary documents with the Internal Revenue Service before any lawsuits were filed to alert the IRS that we believe illegal activity has taken place.”

May notes that the embezzlement did not occur at TBN, but rather from a separate tax exempt organization called International Christian Broadcasters. ICB, May explains, is primarily funded from personal contributions from the elder Crouch. May says Koper and her husband confessed to embezzling a “significant amount of money” from the organization, and ICB worked through Davert & Loe to seek restitution. Koper could not be reached for comment.

“Ms. Koper is making some flat out absurdly, ridiculously, untrue statements,” May says. “Frankly, in my estimation and view this is all a classic try-to-cover-your-tail-feathers maneuver way after the fact and way after Ms. Koper and her husband made their mea culpa and confessed to their illicit activity.”

But Koper’s attorney, Tymothy MacLeod, is pushing hard against TBN and its founders. In fact, this isn’t the first time he’s been part of a lawsuit that involves TBN. He represented Brian Dugger in a discrimination lawsuit the homosexual broadcast engineer brought against TBN in 2009.

“Observers have often wondered how the Crouches can afford multiple mansions on both coasts, a $50 million jet and chauffeurs,” MacLeod said, according to The Orange County Register. “And finally, with the CFO coming forward, we have answers to those questions.”

TBN Still in the Legal Hot Seat

http://www.onenewsnow.com/Legal/Default.aspx?id=1540924

TBN still in legal hot seat

Becky Yeh - OneNewsNow California correspondent - 2/23/2012 3:45:00 AM

The woman suing attorneys who work with the world's leading Christian broadcasting network is continuing to push her allegations.

As previously reported on OneNewsNow, Brittany Koper, the granddaughter of Trinity Broadcasting Network's (TBN) Paul and Jan Crouch, is accusing the network of handing out over $50 million in charitable assets. Koper's lawsuit is against two former TBN lawyers, accusing them of negligence and breaking their "fiduciary duty and other transgressions."

According to the plaintiff's attorney, Tymothy MacLeod, Koper has filed additional reports with the Orange County district attorney, the police, and the California State Bar. MacLeod also tells The Orange County Register that his client's report to the Internal Revenue Service will be available shortly.

Koper allegedly discovered illegal financial decisions made by the company, but she was told to fabricate public disclosures and to cover up tracks. She asserts that the two attorneys named in the suit encouraged her to do as she was told. Those individuals, including Douglass S. Davert of Long Beach, filed a lawsuit against Koper while they were representing her, but that case was dismissed last month.

The Davert & Loe attorneys maintain that Koper's allegations are fiction and without merit, and they have vowed to defend themselves. MacLeod says Koper was fired for inside whistleblowing.

TBN's 2nd Lawsuit (Text, 19 pgs): McVeigh v. TBN Operatives

http://taxdollars.ocregister.com/files/2012/02/McVeigh-complaint.pdf


Joseph McVeigh v. Trinity Christian, International Christian, and Davert & Loe.  McVeigh is an uncle of Brittany Kober, Grand-daughter of TBN's Paul Crouch.   The issue: malicious prosecution, request for declaratory relief and a jury trial.

As noted, this may lead directly to another lawsuit, directly against TBN.  At this point, these two lawsuits are aimed at TBN operatives and lawyers. 

TBN Lawsuit (OC Reg, 2/24/12): Attorney Responds to TBN Response

Paul Crouch, Founder of Trinity Broadcasting
Network, Financier, and Renaissance Pope
in all His Majesty's Glory.  Like that classy
tie?  Paul is a premier scholar and learned man.

http://taxdollars.ocregister.com/2012/02/24/kopers-lawyer-responds-to-tbns-response/149742/

The two sides accusing one another of various transgressions at Trinity Broadcasting Network continue to wage a battle of words.

Colby M. May, attorney for Trinity Christian Center of Santa Ana, responded to the latest lawsuit filed in Orange County Superior Court here, calling it ”absurd and contrived” and asserting that the Crouches’ granddaughter, Brittany Koper, and her family were the ones engaging in financial misdeeds.

To which Tymothy MacLeod, attorney for the Crouches’ granddaughter and her uncle by marriage, said this:

"(A)gain TBN’s real response to your article and our lawsuit isn’t Mr. May’s quote but in their subsequent retaliatory misconduct:

“Several weeks ago, we received a message purportedly handed down directly from TBN’s in-house counsel, John Casoria. We were preparing the prior malpractice suit against Doug Davert (Tustin’s former mayor) and his law firm for simultaneously suing and representing Ms. Koper in the same and related legal matters. This is as clear-cut a case of legal malpractice as you could ever expect to see. The message we received, however, warned us that, as the weeks passed, TBN would continue to terminate employees close to Ms. Koper until she stops her whistle blowing and agrees to “walk away” from her lawsuit. True to their word, TBN has already fired Ms. Koper, her father, her husband, his father in turn, Ms. Koper’s brother, and Ms. Koper’s good friend, who was also the new HR director at TBN. Yesterday, we filed a new lawsuit on behalf of yet another victim of TBN’s malicious campaign of intimidation and retaliation aimed at silencing Ms. Koper, this one on behalf of her husband’s uncle who was falsely and vindictively sued by Davert & Loe on contracts that they admitted, in writing, did not exist. In retaliation for filing that malicious prosecution lawsuit against TBN and its attorneys, TBN promptly responded by firing Ms. Koper’s young sister, who worked part time in TBN’s “Gold, Frankincense & Myrrh Gift Shop” in Costa Mesa. TBN sent us further word that they will continue to execute hostages at TBN, so to speak, until Ms. Koper agrees to keep quiet about what she learned as TBN’s chief financial officer and corporate treasurer. We are told that the next employee to be fired at TBN, unless Ms. Koper abandons her allegations against TBN, is Ms. Koper’s mother. Time will tell, because Ms. Koper will not be intimidated by such ultimatums, any more than she has been dissuaded from doing the right thing by armed thugs or by Matthew Crouch’s threats.

“TBN’s spokesman, Colby May, continues to throw stones recklessly inside TBN’s crystal cathedral, but Mr. May needs to be reminded that all of the so-called “embezzlement” allegations against Ms. Koper and her family were dismissed in both state and federal court, with no finding of liability or wrongdoing whatsoever by Ms. Koper. Nor has Ms. Koper ever admitted to embezzlement, as Mr. May has repeatedly and falsely asserted in press reports. Quite to the contrary, it is Ms. Koper who is blowing the whistle on massive allegations of financial improprieties by TBN’s directors. TBN and Colby May’s childish “I know you are, but what am I?” reaction in the press to these allegations is simply evasive of the real legal questions involved in the legal malpractice and malicious prosecution lawsuits that have been filed thus far. We look forward to meeting TBN in court on these charges, and in the additional law suits that we have been retained to file in the upcoming days.”

We’ll keep you posted.

TBN Granddaughter Not Backing Down in Suit Against TBN-Operatives (OC Reg, 2/17/12)

http://taxdollars.ocregister.com/2012/02/17/crouch-granddaughter-not-backing-down/149135/

We told you last week that the granddaughter of Trinity Broadcasting Network’s Paul and Jan Crouch has accused the world’s largest Christian broadcaster of unlawfully distributing charitable assets worth more than $50 million to the company’s directors.

The charges were leveled in a federal lawsuit filed by Crouch granddaughter Brittany Koper against her former lawyers, who also do legal work for Trinity. One of those lawyers said her charges were “outright fiction and wholly without merit;” and an attorney for Trinity said it’s actually Koper who committed financial misdeeds at TBN, and she’s trying to divert attention by filing this suit (more on that below).

On the day we first reported this story, Paul Crouch and his son Matt were having a live chat on TBN’s “Behind the Scenes.” Paul Crouch said, “God help anyone who would try to get in the way of TBN, which was God’s plan. … I have attended the funerals of at least two people who tried.”

Koper, however, does not appear to be backing down.

Her attorney, Tymothy MacLeod, said that she has filed reports with the Orange County District Attorney’s office, the police, and the California State Bar detailing her accusations. “We have engaged accounting and audit consultants who inform us that Ms. Koper’s report to IRS investigators should be ready for submission this upcoming week,” he told us by email.

The attorneys Koper is suing, Davert & Loe, sued Koper — their client — while they were representing her, her suit says. They charged Koper and her husband with myriad financial improprieties, but that suit was dismissed last month.

Davert & Loe have engaged legal counsel through their malpractice insurance carrier to fight Koper’s suit, MacLeod said.


“We are uncertain what kind of defense the Davert & Loe Lawyers expect to present in this case,” MacLeod told us my email. “Secretly suing your own client while representing her as counsel of record in ongoing litigation, let alone giving her legal advice concerning the subject matter of the adverse lawsuit you have secretly filed, is what we call a ‘per se’ violation of professional responsibilities. We hope that this open and shut case of legal malpractice will be quickly resolved, so we can focus more intently on the larger issues here: namely Ms. Koper’s reported allegations of unlawful distributions by the directors TBN, one of the largest tax-exempt religious nonprofits in the nation.”

We asked Davert & Loe for comment, and heard back from Colby M. May, an attorney for Trinity Christian Center and International Christian Broadcasters, Inc. (Trinity does business as TBN.)


May stressed that Koper’s suit is against her attorneys, not against Trinity or TBN.

“(B)ecause you continue to report the false assertion made by Ms. Koper that Trinity’s directors have ‘diverted’ charitable assets, I am advising you of the following: (1) Ms. Koper has admitted several times to having embezzled and misappropriated money; (2) Ms. Koper’s (and her husband’s) bad conduct and activities were reported some months ago to the IRS and all required returns have been submitted; (3) in recognition of her misconduct and bad acts, Ms. Koper has made partial restitution, it was only after she and her husband fled to New York that these efforts ceased; (4) Ms. Koper’s suit against Davert & Loe, and her outrageous, false, and unsubstantiated assertions about TBN made in that suit, are a vain attempt to divert attention from her embezzlement and misconduct; and (5) at no time have any charitable assets of Trinity or ICB been ‘diverted’ to any director, period.”

And contrary to MacLeod’s statement, Koper’s suit does not present any “larger issues,” May said.
To that, Koper’s attorney MacLeod responded, “Mr. May is throwing stones inside a crystal cathedral. Ms. Koper has done the right thing by coming forward.”

Trinity Christian Center is a nonprofit in the eyes of Uncle Sam, which means it doesn’t pay taxes on its income. It reported revenue of $175.6 million, expenses of $193.7 million, and net assets of $827.6 million at the end of 2010, according to its tax returns. Its highest-paid officer was Paul Crouch, with compensation of $400,000.

TBN Cover-ups of Salacious Sexual/Criminal Scandals (Update: OC Register 2/23/2012)

http://taxdollars.ocregister.com/2012/02/23/suit-cover-ups-of-sexual-and-criminal-scandals-at-tbn/149534/

Suit: ‘Cover-ups of sexual and criminal scandals’ at TBN

February 23rd, 2012, 9:36 pm posted by Teri Sforza, Register staff writer

UPDATED

 

Jaw-dropping details about alleged financial digressions at Trinity Broadcasting Network were made in a lawsuit filed Thursday – including the purchase of a $50 million jet through “a sham loan to an alter ego corporation” for the personal use of the Crouches; a $100,000 motor home purchased by Trinity as a mobile residence for Jan Crouch’s dogs; “multiple residential estates” falsely reported as guest homes or church parsonages to avoid income disclosures; meal expenses of up to a half-million dollars per company director; “personal chauffeurs compensated with Trinity funds under the guise of medical payments;” and “multiple cover-ups of sexual and criminal scandals.”

The suit was filed in Orange County Superior Court by Joseph McVeigh against Trinity Christian Center of Santa Ana (which does business as Trinity Broadcasting Network, the largest Christian broadcaster in the world), its International Christian Broadcasting arm, attorneys Davert & Loe (who do legal work for Trinity) and others.
McVeigh accuses Trinity and its lawyers of malicious prosecution in connection with a loan he received through Trinity companies.

So who is McVeigh? He is the uncle, by marriage, of Crouch granddaughter Brittany Koper — who sued Davert & Loe in federal court last month. Koper accused the world’s largest Christian broadcaster of unlawfully distributing charitable assets worth more than $50 million to its principals — and of firing her as its finance director, and beginning a campaign of “malicious retaliation” against her and her family (including McVeigh), for refusing to go along with the scheme.

Trinity paints a very different picture — saying it was Koper and her husband who committed financial misdeeds at Trinity.

‘ABSURD AND CONTRIVED’

While Trinity has not been served “with this absurd and contrived suit, it is nothing more than a tabloid pleading,” said Trinity attorney Colby M. May in an email. “No matter how hard Ms. Koper and her husband try to divert attention from their embezzlement and misappropriation of money, it won’t work (regardless of how many Uncle McVeighs they marshal). As I previously reported to you in the context of Ms. Koper’s suit against Davert & Loe (of which neither TBN and ICB are not parties), the outrageous, false, and unsubstantiated assertions about TBN and ICB, which are embellished in Mr. McVeigh’s suit, are untrue. The claims are nevertheless being echo-chambered in the continuing vain attempt at diversion.

“I simply remind you of the following: (1) Ms. Koper has admitted several times to having embezzled and misappropriated money; (2) the IRS was months ago informed of Ms. & Mr. Koper’s conduct, and they face considerable fines and excise by the IRS; (3) in recognition and admission of their misconduct and dishonest acts, Ms. & Mr. Koper have made partial restitution, but that stopped when they fled to New York, and (4) at no time have any charitable assets of the Trinity Christian Center of Santa Ana Inc. or International Christian Broadcasters been ‘diverted’ to any director, period (except, of course, whatever Mr. & Ms. Koper diverted and embezzled).”

UPDATE: To which Tymothy MacLeod, attorney for Koper and McVeigh, said this by email:

“TBN’s spokesman, Colby May, continues to throw stones recklessly inside TBN’s crystal cathedral, but Mr. May needs to be reminded that all of the so-called ‘embezzlement’ allegations against Ms. Koper and her family were dismissed in both state and federal court, with no finding of liability or wrongdoing whatsoever by Ms. Koper. Nor has Ms. Koper ever admitted to embezzlement, as Mr. May has repeatedly and falsely asserted …. Quite to the contrary, it is Ms. Koper who is blowing the whistle on massive allegations of financial improprieties by TBN’s directors. TBN and Colby May’s childish ‘I know you are, but what am I?’ reaction in the press to these allegations is simply evasive of the real legal questions involved in the legal malpractice and malicious prosecution lawsuits that have been filed thus far. We look forward to meeting TBN in court on these charges.”

For MacLeod’s full statement, click here.

SALACIOUS DETAILS

McVeigh’s suit says that Koper was promoted to finance director because Trinity wanted somebody within the family who would keep its “financial ‘skeletons’ safely in the ‘closet.’”

The suit then delves into much more detail regarding the “unlawful and unreported income distributions to Trinity Broadcasting’s directors” than Koper’s suit does, including:

• “Multiple jet aircraft, including a $50 million ’Global Express‘ luxury jet aircraft purchased for the personal use of the Crouches through a sham loan to an alter ego corporation set up by the directors of Trinity Broadcasting in Florida, as well as an $8 million Hawker jet aircraft purchased by Trinity Broadcasting for the personal use of director Janice Crouch;
• “Multiple motor vehicles, including a $100,000 motor home purchased by Trinity Broadcasting as a mobile residence for director Janice Crouch’s dogs; the latest Bentley recently purchased by Trinity Broadcasting for director Paul Crouch, Sr.; the most recent Denali purchased by Trinity Broadcasting for director Janice Crouch; a new Suburban recently purchased by Trinity Broadcasting for director Matthew Crouch; and numerous other vehicles;
• “Multiple residential estates falsely reported as ‘guest homes’ or ‘church parsonages’ to avoid income disclosures, even though they are maintained by Trinity Broadcasting for Paul Crouch, Sr.’s personal use in Newport Beach, California; another mansion purchased by Trinity Broadcasting for the personal use of Paul and Janice Crouch in Nashville, Tennessee; residential property purchased by Trinity Broadcasting Florida for the personal use of Paul and Janice Crouch in Miami, Florida; residential property purchased by Trinity Broadcasting for the personal use of Paul and Janice Crouch in Irving, Texas; two homes purchased by Trinity Broadcasting for the personal use of Matthew Crouch in Irving, Texas, although one of the homes is used by his sons; three more homes purchased by Trinity Broadcasting for Matthew Crouch’s personal use in Costa Mesa, California (adjacent residential properties occupied by Matthew Crouch, his wife, and his two sons); a cabin in Lake Arrowhead, California purchased by Trinity Broadcasting and reserved solely for the personal use of Trinity Broadcasting board members; another mansion purchased by Trinity Broadcasting San Marcos for Janice Crouch’s personal use in Newport Beach, California; and two more mansions next door to one anothcr that were purchased by Trinity Broadcasting Florida for the personal use of Paul Crouch, Sr. and Janice Crouch in Windermere, Florida.
• “Multiple other perquisites, including meal expenses on the order of $300,000 to $500,000 per year for each director of Trinity Broadcasting; hundreds of thousands of dollars in additional credit card reimbursements for each director; personal chauffeurs compensated with Trinity Broadcasting funds under the guise of “medical payments”; fictitious ‘rent’ (and expenses) and other ‘donations’ paid to Paul and Janice Crouch for the fictitious use of a home owned by those directors in Newport Beach, California (even though the residence sits empty); and tens of thousands of dollars in ’redecorating’ expenses paid each year for such items as stain removal in the Crouch mansions;
• “Multiple backchannel distributions, kickbacks, and related schemes, such as tens of millions of dollars distributed through a company owned by TBN director Matthew Crouch, called Gener8xion Entertainment; a revocable trust account scheme by which Trinity Broadcasting’s directors were paid returns above market rate on invested funds, with Trinity Broadcasting paying the difference as undisclosed distributions to the directors; fraudulent accounting schemes by which Trinity Broadcasting luxury assets (such as the $50 million jet aircraft used by Paul Crouch Sr.) are falsely held on the books of other corporations controlled by Trinity Broadcasting’s same directors; falsely reporting income received and controlled by Trinity Broadcasting as income purportedly received and controlled by third-party corporations to avoid financial disclosures and adverse tax consequences; routine assignment of sham ‘business purposes’ to the use of Trinity Broadcasting’s luxury assets (such as frequent vacations around the world on corporate jets); and fraudulent donation and kickback schemes involving third party ‘ministries’ and entities owned or controlled through Trinity Broadcasting’s directors; and
• “Multiple cover-ups of sexual and criminal scandals, including the cover-up and destruction of evidence concerning a bloody sexual assault involving Trinity Broadcasting and affiliated Holy Land Experience employees; the cover-up of director Janice Crouch’s affair with a staff member at the Holy Land Experience; the cover-up of director Paul Crouch’s use of Trinity Broadcasting funds to pay for a legal settlement with Enoch Lonnie Ford (a former TBN employee who said he had a homosexual affair with Paul Crouch); the cover-up following director Matthew Crouch’s exposure of his genitals to cleaning staff on multiple occasions; under-the-table payments to avoid liability and punitive damages in the ongoing David Rhodes wrongful death suit, including payments funneled through All American TV, Inc., a nonprofit corporation controlled by Trinity Broadcasting’s general counsel, John Casoria; falsification of records transmitted to the South Coast Air Quality Management District in California; and the list continues.

(Note: The bolding of names and numbers is our style here on Watchdog, and is not in the suit itself.)
Trinity Christian Center is a nonprofit in the eyes of Uncle Sam, which means it doesn’t pay taxes on its income. It reported revenue of $175.6 million, expenses of $193.7 million, and net assets of $827.6 million at the end of 2010, according to its tax returns. Its highest-paid officer was Paul Crouch, with compensation of $400,000.

Koper (right), the Crouch granddaughter, has filed reports regarding all this with the Orange County District Attorney’s office, the police, and the California State Bar detailing her accusations, her attorney, MacLeod, has said. She is submitting a report to the Internal Revenue Service as well.

This is not the last of it, either.

“This is the second of four lawsuits that we have now been retained to file by individuals who continue to come forward in connection with the alleged public policy violations at TBN,” MacLeod told us by email. “There is much more to be said on these important issues, and we look forward to getting each of these cases on file on behalf of our clients.”

We’ll keep you posted.

More nonprofits:

• Koper's lawyer responds to TBN's response
• Suit: ‘Cover-ups of sexual and criminal scandals' at TBN
• Crouch granddaughter not backing down
• ‘God help anyone who would ...get in the way of TBN'
• Suit: TBN board diverted millions from ‘charitable assets'
• Charities get extra time to file taxes from IRS
• Americans are most generous in the world, survey finds
• IRS yanks nonprofit status of 3,200 O.C. charities
• O.C. animal group: No bad fundraisers
• OC: Worst homeless charity in America?

More OC Watchdog:

• Koper's lawyer responds to TBN's response
• Suit: ‘Cover-ups of sexual and criminal scandals' at TBN
• ‘Threat of an IED being detonated aboard an aircraft is very real'
• Prop. 13 squeeze spawned redevelopment monster
• Redevelopment's demise to shift $5 billion to schools, others
• How to keep circumcision bans off the ballot
• One of four dogs never leaves O.C. shelter
• Brown's pension reform would help schools, cities, more than state
• Crouch granddaughter not backing down
• Attention, online shoppers: You owe state $1.1 billion

Posted in: Churches • Justice • Nonprofits