Police have launched a fraud investigation after the Prosperity Gospel Church was discovered to have misplaced tens of millions in investments managed by a footballer who has now been discovered responsible of fraud.
Kingsway Worldwide Christian Middle has misplaced £3.9m of a £5m funding it made with ex-Charlton Athletic footballer Richard Rufus in what the Charity Fee known as “mismanagement”. The Metropolis of London Police are actually investigating the alleged fraud, as reported by the Guardian.
Richard Rufus was discovered responsible in 2015 of working a Ponzi-style scheme between 2007 and 2011 that noticed him lose or embezzle £8m from numerous buyers.
Rufus was a key member of the KICC, a predominantly African and Caribbean church the place members are inspired to tithe recurrently. The church acquired £5.8 million in donations in 2015. The pastor of KICC is Nigerian evangelist Matthew Ashimolowo, a prosperity gospel pastor with a web price of $6-10 million, in line with Forbes.
In 2009, church trustees agreed to offer Rufus £5 million to take a position after he promised a return of 55 per cent a yr. On the time, nationwide rates of interest had been under one %. Church investments included tens of millions from churchgoers, supplemented by grant support from the federal government.
A 2015 Charity Fee report stated KICC “didn’t train adequate care” when giving cash to Rufus. The trustees believed that Rufus' “private assure makes this funding as protected as any,” however they didn’t test Rufus' funding historical past or {qualifications}, nor did they dispute the excessive rate of interest that was promised.
KICC stated the trustees “acted in good religion and had no purpose to imagine that the funding on behalf of the charity would go badly”. Not one of the trustees who had been a part of the choice are actually trustees.
In 2015, it was reported that Rufus had accepted greater than £16 million in investments between 2007-2011 in an unauthorized breach of economic laws. He misplaced 5 million kilos in change buying and selling and used greater than 3 million for his “personal functions”.
A police spokesman stated: “Detectives from the London Police are finishing up an investigation into the fraudsters.”
That is the second investigation KICC has confronted from the Charity Fee. In 2005, church pastor Ashimolowo needed to pay again £200,000 after it was revealed he had used church property to purchase a £13,000 Florida timeshare and spent £120,000 on his personal birthday events, together with £80,000 on a automotive. Ashimolowo is the 'founder, visionary and senior pastor' of KICC who additionally travels the world preaching the gospel of prosperity, sharing how God desires folks to be wealthy and educating concerning the 'irrevocable legal guidelines of wealth creation'.
The church stated Ashimolowo was conscious of the funding with Rufus however was not a part of the funding resolution itself as he isn’t a board member.
“Pastor Ashimolowo just isn’t one of many trustees was not a part of the choice to make the funding that went incorrect and that neither the church nor its trustees have been charged or investigated by UK authorities for wrongdoing,” they stated.
