Securities regulators have warned that religious-based investment scams have risen dramatically.
“I’ve been a securities regulator for 20 years, and I’ve seen more money stolen in the name of God than in any other way,” said Deborah Bortner, president of North American Securities Administrators Association and director of securities for Washington state, in a statement.
In the past three years, securities regulators in 27 states have taken action against hundreds of individuals and companies that used spiritual or religious beliefs to gain the trust of investors.
Nationwide, more than 90,000 investors were swindled.
The association cited the cases of Greater Ministries International Church, the Baptist Foundation of Arizona and the IRM Corp. as key examples of fraudulent mixture of religion and money.
A 1989 survey conducted by the association and the Council of Better Business Bureaus found that 15,000 investors nationwide lost $450 million to religious-based scams in the previous five years. In comparison, the Baptist Foundation of Arizona raised more than $590 million from more than 13,000 investors nationwide.
The foundation was shut down in 1999 by state regulators, and three of its officials pleaded guilty to fraud charges in May.
The IRM-Corp. was shut down in May 1999 after more than 2,400 investors in the state lost in excess of $80 million. The corporation raised about $400 million from investors in at least five states, the association said. (RNS)
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