Florida evangelist arrested for fraud, money laundering

A board member of a Florida televangelists organization has been arrested in a massive scheme that defrauded churches, religion organizations and their leaders out of more than $160 million, federal officials said.

According to the Associated Press, Torsten Thomas Henschke, 48, and four others tied to the International Product Investment Corporation, Inc. (IPIC) were taken into custody on securities fraud and money laundering charges, federal prosecutors said Nov. 18 after unsealing an indictment.

Henschke is a German citizen described as the international director of IPIC Atlantic who recently began promoting an initial public offering by IPIC.

He is a minister and member of the board of directors for Christ for all Nations, the Orlando, Fla. –based ministry of televangelist Reinhard Bonnke, according to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) complaint.

Bonnke draws hundreds of thousands of people to his international crusades, and his followers claim he has raised people from the dead.

At the center of the IPIC scandal is Gregory Earl Setser, 47, a self-proclaimed former minister accused of exploiting his connections to highly visible evangelical Christians.

Setser, who recently moved to Alta Loma, Calif., was president, CEO and chairman of IPIC and three related companies, according to the indictment.

Setser, a self styled former minister and apostle of the Christian faith, is “robbing Peter to pay Paul but only after taking a massive cut for himself, his family and his affiliates,” SEC attorney Toby Galloway said in a 23-page complaint.

Since July 2000, Setser and his associates, on behalf of IPIC and the Home Recovery Network Inc., have raised more than $160 million by fraudulently offering and selling unregistered securities to members of evangelical Christian congregations, the complaint said. Federal documents did not identify the alleged victims.

Setser used his relationship with retired charismatic preacher Ralph Wilkerson, an early investor, to meet new prospects and sell IPIC securities, Galloway said.

(EP)