For anyone that thinks that corruption never enters religious businesses, read this fascinating article from the Nashville Tennessean, about a multi-million dollar Christian broadcasting empire.
- Rob
Trinity Broadcasting embroiled in family feud
Allegations of lavish spending, theft fly within Christian media power
Televangelists Paul and Jan Crouch, who transformed the former Twitty
City in Hendersonville into the Trinity Music City USA religious
entertainment complex, are no strangers to controversy.
The
couple, who own the multimillion-dollar Christian media empire Trinity
Broadcasting Network, fought an 11-year battle to avoid paying property
taxes on the entertainment complex after buying it in the mid-1990s.
As
that battle raged, a gay staff member alleged he had an affair with
Paul Crouch, and the Crouches ran into conflict with the FCC over rules
governing how many television stations they can own.
Now, they are being attacked by members of their own family.
Their
granddaughter, Brittany Koper, recently filed court papers in Costa
Mesa, Calif., that include allegations of $50 million in financial
shenanigans at the world’s largest Christian broadcasting network.
Her
suit was followed by another from a Koper in-law, who detailed opulent
spending at the network on items such as private jets, mansions in
California, Tennessee and Florida and a $100,000 mobile home for Jan
Crouch’s dogs.
The network has 78 satellites and more than 18,000 television and cable
affiliates and owns seven other networks, as well as its headquarters in
Costa Mesa in Orange County and the Holy Land Experience, a Christian
amusement park in Orlando, Fla.
FULL STORY: http://www.tennessean.com/article/20120323/NEWS01/303230068/Trinity-Broadcasting-embroiled-family-feud?odyssey=mod|newswell|text|News|s
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