Payne, Gerald - Greater Ministries Internationa...

Gerald Payne

THE CON: Preying on his victims’ religious faith, Gerald Payne peddled an investment scheme he said was anointed by God. He took retirement funds, mortgages and credit card advances – as long as they came to him in cash.

THE DAMAGE: $448 million

THE OUTCOME: The con racked up $448 million and defrauded more than 18,000 investors across the country. Payne received 27 years in prison, while his wife, Betty, got 12. Five others, including an accountant and several church leaders, were also sent to prison.

"Wolf in sheep's clothing"

Gerald Payne had a great pitch for his con: he told people it was God’s plan for them to become rich. Starting with the congregation of his Greater Ministries International Church in Florida, Payne cultivated a dedicated base of investors. Over the course of six years, he took his con across state lines and swindled thousands of people, many of whom were Christian fundamentalists and members of Mennonite and Amish communities.

If pressed about the details, Payne said he invested in gold and silver mines and high-interest foreign debt. But the details didn’t interest those w ho bought into the Greater Ministries’ “Double Your Money Gift Exchange” program. They made cash gifts to the church and expected to receive those gifts back – doubled and with God’s blessings – in less than two years. To grow the con, Payne recruited a cadre of so-called church elders who received a five percent commission, known as “gas money,” for roping in new investors. At the time of the con’s collapse, the elders had pocketed about $22.4 million in gas money.

The IRS first took notice of Payne in 1994; he had cashed $1.5 million in checks in increments of less than $10,000 to avoid federal reporting laws. An investigation kicked into gear, which led regulators to a crooked bank in Colorado where the Gerald and Betty Payne had $20 million in a checking account. Authorities seized the Best Bank of Boulder in 1998. Investigators in California, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Alabama began looking into the Greater Ministries International Church. Meanwhile, Payne sued the executives of BestBank for more than $70 million, charging them with fraud and criminal conspiracy.

Soon enough, Payne's own trial began; the judge described him as a “wolf in sheep's clothing” and deemed his actions “absolutely despicable.” Though Payne argued that his First Amendment rights as a church group were being violated, the judge sentenced him to 27 years. During her sentencing, Betty Payne earned the judge's ire by disturbing the court and insisting that she and her husband were being unfairly persecuted. After her outburst, the judge tacked an additional 16 months onto her sentence, giving her 12 years and seven months in federal prison.

http://www.thehallofinfamy.org/inductees.php?action=detail&artist=gerald_payne