Grifting 101: Fundies and Their Grifted Loot

[Gobsmacked]

I can't find Jody's thread so I'm bunging this here. Jody is begging for £5,000 to renew their visas. If he doesn't get it they have to leave Scotland on 19 September. 

He has suggested that 10 churches back home give him 500.00 each. The third mission in a tent has been held in Dumfries with a pastor imported from the states somewhere. The 'church ' has gained some new folks so he needs 10 new chairs to accommodate them. He is hoping to rent a larger room that requires lots of renovation work. 

 

[Gobsmacked]

It's 10th September today. I've checked Jody's Twitter. No up-date on his grifting for a visa renewal situation as yet. He may have found out about my detective work and opened a secret Twitter? 

He has Five days left to grift £5,000.

Edited September 10, 2019 by Gobsmacked
Missed a word

[Gobsmacked]

........Bad news. Jody has successfully grifted the required £5,000 for their visas. They can now stay for a further two years before another major grifting takes place. He is going to spread the gospel to Dumfries and beyond in this great land. His words. The great land full of Pagans, Witches and the Edinburgh Festival which Jody thinks takes place in Glasgow- where he didn't stay or Dundee where he didn't stay. Noooo he shelped off to Dumfries on the Borders. Cosied up with a church in Carlise ENGLAND before finding an empty shop space with 10 less chairs than he requires  in Dumfries. Oh Joy. He has held 3!!! Wow 3!!! Tent revivals in Dumfries. He never showed us how full the Tents were. Just filmed from the back so we couldn't really see. I'm getting John Shrader vibes from Our Jody. Lazy man with family can't be bothered to work a full day so will grift and hold 'church ' twice a week. Try out local delicacies ( he has lost weight due to walking around his small town) so that's something. 

I am not a fan of Jody. No doubt one of his flock is still reading here!!!! I'll wait with baited breath......

[47of74]

I saw this the other day on YouTube where a pastor (not entirely sure if he's fundy or not) had to give a deposition about his spending habits.

Dude was spending more on clothes in one year than I have my entire life.  And I've been buying my own clothes for about 30 years now.  

[Howl]

 

[NachosFlandersStyle]

Has anyone listened to the No Compromise podcast from NPR? It follows a group of extremist gun-rights "activists" who are mostly just scamming people on facebook, and surprise surprise, they are hella fundie. The Dorr Brothers are among 11 children raised in a tiny farm town on the IA-MN border, and they now claim to have founded "grassroots" groups in not only those states but in Missouri, Ohio, Wyoming, Georgia, and a bunch more (cue Facebook Live videos claiming to be "right here in the statehouse fighting for you" from a guy who's actually chilling in a different state). They have secured donations from hundreds of thousands of people promising to lobby against "gun-grabbing" legislation that often doesn't even exist, and then they sell their members' data to other political firms. Right now they're branching out into anti-vax stuff too, naturally. As the reporters detail, one of the brothers was involved in a bribery scandal involving a mailing list of homeschool families in 2012. Oh, and of course they have a MediCorps-esque "disaster relief" operation.  Highly recommend the podcast. 

https://www.npr.org/podcasts/510356/no-compromise

https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/social-media/conservative-activist-family-behind-grassroots-anti-quarantine-facebook-events-n1188021

https://www.sixbrothersdisasterrelief.com/about/

https://www.dorrbrotherscams.com/

Edited October 25, 2021 by NachosFlandersStyle
typo

[Red Hair, Black Dress]

On 10/24/2021 at 10:17 PM, NachosFlandersStyle said:

Oh, and of course they have a MediCorps-esque "disaster relief" operation. 

Oh law -- it's the return of Bradrick!

[Howl]

On 10/24/2021 at 9:17 PM, NachosFlandersStyle said:

They [Dorr brothers] have secured donations from hundreds of thousands of people promising to lobby against "gun-grabbing" legislation that often doesn't even exist, and then they sell their members' data to other political firms. Right now they're branching out into anti-vax stuff too, naturally. As the reporters detail, one of the brothers was involved in a bribery scandal involving a mailing list of homeschool families in 2012.

These guys are seriously cynical but brilliant criminal scum bags--probably millionaires at this point. 

On the other hand, they are doing some serious damage while fundraising:  From the Exposing the Dorr Brothers Scam website linked by @NachosFlandersStyle

Quote

Why do they always attack the most ardent pro-life and pro-2nd Amendment legislators?

Why do they always attack the most effective pro-life and pro-2nd Amendment advocate groups?

I do love this, though.  They're utilizing proven reich-wing strategy (TBH, it's a science by this point) of separating marks from their money by fear mongering, only doing it by attacking right-wing groups and legislators.  I'd expect at some point they'll get on the wrong side of the IRS, but might be slippery enough to avoid prison.  

******************************

From the Aunt Crabby tweet I posted up thread: "Lakewood Church will repay the $4.4 million PPP loan it received in 2020"

Lakewood Church made a LOT of money investing that $4.4 million while they had use of it for a year. 

 

Edited December 27, 2021 by Howl

[47of74]

A bishop and his wife were robbed in the middle of a live stream service.

Quote

A bishop based in New York didn’t receive sympathy from everyone after he was robbed by armed individuals in the middle of a livestreamed service, losing around $1 million in jewelry that he and his wife were wearing at the time, according to the New York Police Department.

Some reports have said that the total dollar amount of the stolen jewelry was only $400,000, but even that is far too much money to be draping on yourself in this economy and when you’re claiming to be speaking for this religion.

The bishop has been the subject of scrutiny over his wealth in the past. Headlines describing him as “flashy” don’t do the man justice, with the New York Post reporting that items stolen included $75,000 Rolex and Cavalier watches, and an Episcopal ruby and diamond ring and a pair of earrings that each cost $25,000.

He has also been seen driving a Rolls Royce and often in high-end clothing, and his net worth is estimated to be at least $2 million — though it would seem that it must be considerably more than that—other reports put his worth at closer to $6 million.

It is not cool at all that this happened, especially with there being a baby involved.  Glad no one was hurt.  But still lots of people tested negative for sympathy, myself included.

I'm not sure if he's a fundie or not but I'd hazard a guess he's not a bishop in the Roman, Orthodox, Episcopal/Anglican, or other mainline churches.  Otherwise his high spending lifestyle would've probably gotten him summoned to the ecclesiastical woodshed by now. 

 

[Bluebirdbluebell]

1 hour ago, 47of74 said:

A bishop and his wife were robbed in the middle of a live stream service.

It is not cool at all that this happened, especially with there being a baby involved.  Glad no one was hurt.  But still lots of people tested negative for sympathy, myself included.

I'm not sure if he's a fundie or not but I'd hazard a guess he's not a bishop in the Roman, Orthodox, Episcopal/Anglican, or other mainline churches.  Otherwise his high spending lifestyle would've probably gotten him summoned to the ecclesiastical woodshed by now. 

His church is called the Leaders of Tomorrow International Churches. It's seems to be a one-off church in NYC. This is from their website.

Quote

"The Bible, the Scriptures, both Old and New Testaments, are the inspired Word of God without error in the original writings, and are the complete revelation of His will for the salvation of men, and the divine and final authority for all Christian faith and life.”

 

[JermajestyDuggar]

When it comes to very rich people being robbed, I have empathy for the feelings of violation and trauma involved. But I don’t much feel bad about the actual stuff they lost. Because I know it can be pretty easily replaced. 

[47of74]

On 7/27/2022 at 1:54 PM, Bluebirdbluebell said:

His church is called the Leaders of Tomorrow International Churches. It's seems to be a one-off church in NYC. This is from their website.

 

Even the parts that contradict each other? 

There's something to be said for hierarchical churches like the Episcopal church.  Too often people call themselves clergy such as priests, bishops and the like and people follow them automatically.  With no vetting by anyone.  Hell, you can buy all the gear online to present yourself as a member of the clergy from places that aren't going to check credentials.  At least with the more hierarchical churches like the Episcopal or fornicate even the Roman church these are people who have been more or less vetted by church bodies and approved.  When I was looking to make my escape all those years ago from the Roman church I mainly looked at hierarchical churches like the Episcopal church or the ELCA Lutherans where they were part of a larger body and not doing their own thing.

[47of74]

And it looks like this story might be going a bit further too

Quote

When a story begins with a pastor, an armed robbery in the pulpit and $1 million worth of ice, it’s headed to bad places. So of course it wasn’t long before a little digging into the background of the Right Rev. Robbery Aintwright Bishop Lamor Whitehead of Brooklyn’s Leaders of Tomorrow International Churches turned up a lawsuit claiming that $90,000 in retirement money from a member of his flock ended up in Whitehead’s personal collection plate instead.

The lawsuit claims that Whitehead lured saved saint-turned-victim 56-year-old Pauline Anderson into a relationship of trust as she recovered from major surgery, then made off with her hard-earned nest egg. Adding another layer to the cake, Whitehead was also running for office to becomeBrooklyn borough president at the time (he lost). The lawsuit was filed last September in New York Supreme Court in Kings County.

Anderson says her son, Rasheed, hooked up a prayer call with Whitehead in April of 2020. By July of that year, they were on the phone again, this time because Anderson wanted to buy a house. Whitehead, the lawsuit claims, counseled Anderson on raising her credit score and identifying a target property—all things a licensed Realtor, various TikTokers and Zillow might be more qualified to do than a preacher. Later that month, the Andersons’ pastor made his move during a three-way call with Primerica, the financial institution where Pauline Anderson had her life savings.

On that call, Mr. Whitehead directed Ms. Anderson and the TransAmerica representative in moving $100,000.00 from her IRA into Ms. Anderson’s personal checking account. 15. Mr. Whitehead did this for the purpose of perpetrating the fraud and conversion that will be set forth in further detail below.

 

[47of74]

 

[Howl]

Just encountered a fabulous twitter feed: 

@pastorplanes

"An investigative project of Trinity Foundation bringing transparency to churches, ministries and Christian universities using privately-owned aircraft."

Yup, gives daily updates on which ministry planes are flying here, there and everywhere on other people's money. 

Note that Samaritan Purse's Gulfstream (Flight E) had to go to Anchorage, Alaska for some reason and Flight A on right side is Living Word Christian Center's (Bill Winston) Gulfstream G4 returning to Chicago from *checks notes*  London.

A quick internet search brings up purchase and operational costs: 

A new Gulfstream G450 will currently cost between $38m to $43m. A pre-owned model will typically cost anywhere in the $14m to $35m range.

Total Annual Costs

$6,810,475  (book depreciation)  $4,221,475 (market depreciation) 

Costs per hour: $16,100 to $9,980

Hmmmm, first class tickets all the way across county, from NYC to LA could be under $500 and sometimes as little as $200. 

...

Edited September 1, 2022 by Howl

[47of74]

[Howl]

Apparently RC Jr + Lisa Sproul have been gifted a farmstead with a house, only 8 miles out in the country from their current house.  It sounds like it's now theirs, "debt free". 

They will be breaking ground soon on a "resource" center.  

I posted details (there aren't a lot of them) over on the Spanky Sproul 5 thread.