(TJVNEWS) An ugly legal dispute has arisen between members of President Trump’s evangelical outreach team, as was reported in the Washington Post this week.
Allegations are flying between Mike Evans, a Texas author and Christian Zionist activist and Jentezen Franklin, a Georgia megachurch pastor over what appears to be a multimillion-dollar Holocaust fundraising scam. Both leaders have appeared at Trump campaign events and are vocal advocates for the president’s re-election.
The WaPo reported that in 2017, both clergymen had initiated a fundraising project to help provide financial support for Holocaust survivors living in Israel. It was reported that millions of dollars were raised for the cause. Churches United with Israel, Inc., and its founder, Michael Evans, of Tarrant County, Texas, allege that Jentezen Franklin and the Free Chapel Worship Center, Inc., based in Hall County, Ga., reneged on an agreement to share the funds collected to aid survivors in Israel.
“We regretfully have not been given any options, in that Franklin has used our work to fundraise and has refused to send the money,” Evans wrote The Washington Post on Wednesday, alleging Franklin acted “exploitatively” toward survivors.
The Atlanta Jewish Times reported that the suit was initially filed on July 7th in the Gainesville Division of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia.
The Churches United projects in Jerusalem included: building a kitchen to prepare meals for Holocaust survivors, implementing a program to feed and distribute meals from that kitchen, building a community center for survivors, and creating a “dedicated center where Israeli Defense Forces and Holocaust survivors could meet and provide mutual support.”
As was reported by the AJT, according to the suit, Franklin proposed that he would “solicit donations for the projects and promised that 100% of the funds [he] collected would be remitted to Churches United.” In exchange, Evans would “introduce Franklin to dignitaries and persons of influence in Israel and vouch for Franklin’s credibility and integrity” and “provide Franklin with contact information for donors who contribute to Churches United.”
The AJT explained that the suit says that Franklin advertised that donors of $1,000 or more would have their names displayed on a wall in Jerusalem and that those giving $10,000 or more would have a star by their name. In August, Franklin delivered to Evans a list of 4,215 donors of at least $1,000 and 32 donors of at least $10,000. Evans claims that the minimum donations totaled at least $4.53 million, but that Franklin turned over only $1.2 million.
