We’ve been telling you about the charges leveled by the
granddaughter of Trinity Broadcasting Network’s Paul and Jan
Crouch, who accused
the world’s largest Christian broadcaster of playing fast and loose with the
ministry’s millions – and then provided internal
documents to back up her claims.
Trinity accused her of the true financial
misdeeds, called her assertions nonsense, and
tried to keep the internal documents she possessed under wraps. They were
stolen, and may have been altered, Trinity says.
We’ve been bringing you stories based on Brittany
Koper‘s 180-page declaration (Confidential
memo: ‘TBN practices … violate the IRS Code’ and Extravagant
spending a pervasive issue for Trinity, internal review says) for the
past few days, but we hadn’t posted the full Koper document, as it’s quite
large.
There have been repeated requests for it from various
corners over the past week, and so, after wrestling with Adobe Acrobat and
WordPress, we’ve broken it into pieces. You can read the documents yourself by
clicking on the links below (and if you don’t see the document on the first
try, hit “reload,” and that usually does the trick):
- Pages
1-34 from Brittany Koper Declaration
- Pages
35-69 from Brittany Koper Declaration
- Pages
from Pages 70-104 from Brittany Koper Declaration
- Pages
105-130 from Brittany Koper Declaration
- Pages
131- 157 from Brittany Koper Declaration
- Pages
158-180 from Brittany Koper Declaration
There have been a great deal of jaw-dropping allegations
in suits related to this one, including that Trinity purchased 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 ahalf-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.”
(Details in Suit:
‘Cover-ups of sexual and criminal scandals’ at TBN)
Koper also
accused the world’s largest Christian broadcaster of unlawfully distributing
charitable assets worth more than $50 million to the company’s
directors.
Trinity Christian Center, which does
business as TBN, is a nonprofit in the eyes of Uncle Sam, which means it
doesn’t pay taxes on its income. It reported
- revenues
of $175.6 million (including donor contributions of $92.5
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.
Losing its tax-exempt status has been the big concern
voiced in the documents Koper furnished — which could cost Trinity tens of
millions of dollars each year if it came to pass.
Jan Crouch has called TBN Jesus’ TV station, and thanked
its donors for keeping it on the air.
More Trinity:
- Suit
alleges TBN covered up rape of 13-year-old
- From
beloved granddaughter to exiled accuser: Brittany Koper and TBN
- Settlement
reached in TBN age discrimination case
- TBN
suit: Senior workers ‘too old, too sick, and too lazy'
- Relatives
threatened to ‘destroy' Crouch granddaughter
- TBN
extravagance? Read internal memos for yourself
- TBN
to judge: Stop Watchdog blogger
- Extravagant
spending a pervasive issue for Trinity, internal review says
- Confidential
memo: ‘TBN practices ... violate the IRS Code'
- ‘Christian
sympathy' and ethical violations in Trinity fight?
No comments:
Post a Comment