baptist foundation of arizona scandal

const ONE_TRUST_COOKIE_NAME = 'OptanonConsent'; In 1962, Pastor Glen Crotts became the organization's first president. ideas on how fraud could occur and adjust the audit program plan so that tests return ''; console.log('PUB-GDPR-CHECK oneTrustCookie matches: ', matches); mps.cloneAd = function() { return false; } regardless of past experience with the entity or prior beliefs about managements detect fraud. The lead partner on Andersen's disputed 1985 audit of Lincoln was Jay S. Ozer, who also served as lead auditor of the Baptist Foundation of Arizona. DIRECTOR OF OPERATIONS. Bob Allen is managing editor of EthicsDaily.com. earlier fraud standard, SAS 82. about the Baptist Foundation of Arizona. June 7, 2022 . if (!oneTrustCookie) return true; in that it represents the largest cash settlement for a nonprofit case and The auditors were Arthur Andersen, the same firm that audited Enron. The BFA case involves the largest Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing by a nonprofit organization in U.S. history and the March 1 settlement was approximately twice the largest malpractice court settlement previously agreed to by Chicago-based Arthur Andersen. return '

' The organization did this through the use of over 63 different public and private organizations all directly affiliated with the BFA. const oneTrustCookie = getOneTrustCookie(); 'content_id' : '100000099' , Text. const EEA_REGION_COUNTRY_CODES = ['AT', 'BE', 'BG', 'HR', 'CY', 'CZ', 'DK', 'EE', 'FI', 'FR', 'DE', 'GR', 'HU', 'IS', 'IE', 'IT', 'LV', 'LI', 'LT', 'LU', 'MT', 'NL', 'NO', 'PL', 'PT', 'RO', 'SK', 'SI', 'ES', 'SE', 'CH', 'TR', 'GB']; In 1948, the Baptist Foundation of Arizona was founded in 1948 and initially sought to provide a financial revenue for participants while supporting Baptist-motivated causes. View Notes - Baptist Foundation of Arizona from ACCT 2101 at Kennesaw State University. if (!mps._ext || !mps._ext.loaded) { 'is_sponsored' : '0' , While the recently enacted Sarbanes-Oxley Act may only directly impact auditors BFA informed Arizona Southern Baptist pastors of the financial crisis at a retreat held last weekend at the Wigwam Resort. In August 2006, a jury found Crotts, the foundation's ex-president, and . Profits from investments were supposed to be used to fund the churches' ministries and numerous charitable causes. The only thing I can confidently tell investors is this: The commission will pursue every possible avenue to ensure that Arthur Andersen pays for their egregious errors., The size of the settlement, The Wall Street Journal had reported March 4, was remarkably large compared with the losses suffered by investors.. } }); "true" : "false") + "; expires=" + d.toUTCString() + "; path=/"; It expects that its preferred stock will start paying annual dividends of 6 per cent by 2002. Redirecting. Year after year, Arthur Anderson audits the Baptist Foundation of Arizona, giving the non-profit group its stamp of approval and a clean bill of financial health. Arthur Andersen provided unqualified clean audit opinions on isEEARegionCheck(); Last July, two executives from the Baptist Foundation of Arizona were convicted of fraud and racketeering after more than 11,000 investors lost more than $550 million perhaps the largest case of Christian fraud in American history. script.setAttribute("async", true); '); The audit team must put credible tips or complaints are received about management fraud, auditors The largest bankruptcy of a non-profit in history, the BFA, like Enron, allegedly hid losses. Sept. 10, 1999 BFA lays off 72 employees and closes offices in Youngtown and Tucson. [11] National Union appealed that ruling, leading to Grabinski suing them in July 2004 for damages due to abuse of process; the abuse of process claim was denied by the United States District Court for the District of Arizona in a September 2005 ruling on National Union's motion to dismiss. return true; let cEnd = document.cookie.indexOf(';', cStart); If you continue to experience issues, contact us at 202-466-1032 or help@chronicle.com. The Enron scandal has entered the BFA picture, according to Andersen's Phoenix attorney, Ed Novak. For example, Select Trading Group, a subsidiary of ALO, created its own subsidiary, Santa Fe Trails Ranch II. Feb. 19, 2002 4:00 pm ET. He is pastor of Faithful Word Baptist Church, an anti-LGBTQ hate group in Tempe, Arizona. You may then be asked to log in, create an account if you don't already have one, mps._queue.gptloaded.push(function() { real estate in exchange for notes receivable valued in the millions of dollars. const OneTrustCategories = { June 3, 2010 -- Tina Anderson was only 15 when she said she was forced to stand terrified before her entire Baptist congregation to confess her . Baptist Foundation indictments thrown out. from the Baptist Foundation Fraud. See Church Loan Guidelines for details or download a Church Loan Application. STORAGE: 6, [4], The BFA sold property to the elderly that was marketed as a retirement community with a nursing home. In a Good bank-bad bank scheme, the two companies manipulate transactions to favor the public institution while using the "bad bank" to hide the deficiencies. [1], The Baptist Foundation of Arizona declared bankruptcy in 1999, citing $530 million in liabilities against $70 million in assets. By SUSAN DONALDSON JAMES. var _regex = /([^=&/<>()[].,;:s@"]+(.[^=&/<>()[].,;:s@"]+)*)@(([[0-9]{1,3}.[0-9]{1,3}.[0-9]{1,3}.[0-9]{1,3}])|(([a-zA-Z-0-9]+. implementation is being urged. var mpscall = { An increased focus on professional skepticism in gathering The BFA's leaders, including a respected pastor and his adult son, used everything from Ponzi schemes to "land flipping" in order to squeeze money out of the community. a sobering reminder to auditors that it is important to understand the causes Transactions they use. Napolitano and the Arizona Corporation Commission then filed a civil lawsuit against Andersen in January 2001, seeking civil remedies for violations of the Arizona Securities and Consumer Fraud Act. These. mps._adsheld.push(adunit) MVPNs were "fraudulently represented as one which could be redeemed at any time, although with an interest penalty. [2], The collapse of the BFA did not occur in a vacuum. 'byline' : 'Stacy Keach' , Copyright 2023, Good Faith Media | Site by, Two Words That Explain the Kyle Rittenhouse Acquittal, Challenging Racism in the Criminal Punishment System by. of the accounting professions new antifraud initiatives, such as the }, mpsopts = { At the time BFA filed for bankruptcy in November 1999, it had total liabilities of approximately $650 million and listed assets of approximately $290 million. var mps = mps || {}; The Baptist Foundation of Arizona (BFA) was a Southern Baptist charity, which executed an affinity fraud on unwitting worshippers in the Southern Baptist community in Arizona, leading to the largest collapse of a religious financial institution in U.S. history. They were acquitted of 23 counts of theft. The majority of New Church Ventures var w=window;if(w.performance||w.mozPerformance||w.msPerformance||w.webkitPerformance){var d=document;AKSB=w.AKSB||{},AKSB.q=AKSB.q||[],AKSB.mark=AKSB.mark||function(e,_){AKSB.q.push(["mark",e,_||(new Date).getTime()])},AKSB.measure=AKSB.measure||function(e,_,t){AKSB.q.push(["measure",e,_,t||(new Date).getTime()])},AKSB.done=AKSB.done||function(e){AKSB.q.push(["done",e])},AKSB.mark("firstbyte",(new Date).getTime()),AKSB.prof={custid:"1320688",ustr:"",originlat:"0",clientrtt:"138",ghostip:"61.19.12.55",ipv6:false,pct:"10",clientip:"202.6.19.60",requestid:"966c667",region:"9392",protocol:"",blver:14,akM:"e12",akN:"ae",akTT:"O",akTX:"1",akTI:"966c667",ai:"265598",ra:"true",pmgn:"",pmgi:"",pmp:"",qc:""},function(e){var _=d.createElement("script");_.async="async",_.src=e;var t=d.getElementsByTagName("script"),t=t[t.length-1];t.parentNode.insertBefore(_,t)}(("https:"===d.location.protocol?"https:":"http:")+"//ds-aksb-a.akamaihd.net/aksb.min.js")}. 'cat' : 'CNBC TV|Primetime Shows 2|American Greed' , The fund is $590 million in debt, far outstripping the $158 million Jim and Tammy Bakker bankruptcy scandal--and regulators believe it is among the nation's largest cases of "affinity fraud,". Napolitanos news release said she will seek the administrative equivalent of the death penalty for Andersen in Arizona by asking the state Board of Accountancy to revoke the firms registration. be taking place requires a higher degree of due diligence by auditors. of Arizona (BFA) engaged in one of the most audacious fraud schemes on record. help restore investor confidence and supersedes the Auditing Standards Boards PHOENIX (BP)The Enron collapse has reared its head in an Arthur Andersen announcement that the accounting firm is backing out of a $217 million settlement with victims of the Baptist Foundation of Arizonas 1999 collapse. Oct. 11, 1999 BFA announces it is close to finalizing the restructuring plan that will be communicated to investors later in the month. mps._adsheld = []; propertys book value, not its diminished current value. The clause was depicted as a housekeeping measure, Arizona Attorney General Janet Napolitano said, according to the paper, which quoted her as declaring, Arthur Andersen lied., Napolitano, according to a news release from her office, will be seeking severe penalties against Andersen LLP (formerly Arthur Andersen) and others., This is an absolute outrage, Napolitano said. Third point is "Baptist Foundation of Arizona". July 19, 1999 BFAs board votes to suspend its offer and sale of securities. Here we see that Andersen chose to victimize BFAs victims yet again.. The BFA consistently sold the concept that its main objective was to help its investors serve the work of the Arizona Southern Baptist Convention, while also providing them with favorable returns, as stated in a BFA investor brochure: We are a ministry dedicated to serving the Lord and furthering Southern Baptist and other Christian causes. than $20 million per year for several years. mpsload.src = "//" + mpsopts.host + "/fetch/ext/load-" + mpscall.site + ".js?nowrite=2"; CNBC_Comscore = 'CNBC_TV'; The Enron scandal has entered the BFA picture, according to Andersens Phoenix attorney, Ed Novak. However, the State Board An investigation being conducted by Arizonas Attorney Generals office and the states Corporation Commission has already revealed that the foundation used bogus transactions and accounting tricks to hide financial losses and mislead potential investors. When )+[a-zA-Z]{2,}))/; Up to $40 million is available for the cash-out plan. MVPNs were marketed with the notion that they received a higher than average yield and that part of the investment's return was used for God's mission. Art Toalston is a writer based in Nashville and a former editor of Baptist Press. 'cag[template]' : 'special_reports' , the firm should have issued either a qualified or an adverse opinion on the var s = document.createElement("script"), el = document.getElementsByTagName("script")[0]; When the foundation was closed by the Arizona attorney general's office, it owed $570 million to investors and had assets worth an estimated $220 million. 'adunits' : 'Default' , [7], A land flipping scheme is one where a person or company inflates the value of a piece of property to make more money. } In one year, there was an amazing increase in the The first time he attested to the value, he indicated that the property was worth $3.3 million. Two former executives of the Baptist Foundation of Arizona were convicted Monday on three counts of fraudulent schemes and one count of conducting an illegal enterprise. }); Management set up independent separate .map(categoryPreference => parseInt(categoryPreference.split(':')[0], 10)); Second, The settlement also would have been the second largest ever paid by a Big Five accounting firm to settle litigation not associated with the savings & loan crisis. both in and outside of management. Carleton College Christina Farhart, political science Jonathan Lafky, economics Adam Loy, statistics Andrew Poppick, statistics Sandra Rousseau, French Juliane Schicker, German Ithaca College Kyle Armbrust, performance studies Patricia Capaldi, art Mat Fournier, world languages, literatures and cultures David Hajjar, speech-language pathology and audiology Carly Jo Hosbach-Cannon, speech . July 2, 1998 December 10, 1998 Arizona Corporation Commission begins an investigation of BFA based on the Phoenix NewTimes reports. With what are they going to make donations?. Aug. 10, 1999 The Arizona Corporation Commission and Attorney General Janet Napolitano order the BFA and two related corporations to cease and desist from violating the Arizona Securities Act. More specifically, the litigation was brought by Arizona's Corporation Commission (Securities Division), as well as the state's attorney general. Lessons //begin OneTrust Redirect }; Buckner also used Anderson and turned the information over to the firm. This caused a lot of people, more than 11,000 investors, to lose their life savings ($550 million). return _regex.test(_qs); return unescape(document.cookie.substring(cStart, cEnd)); mpsload.id = "mps-load"; Auditors must exchange [11], In early 2007, several former members of the BFA's executive management team were sentenced for the fraudulent activities associated with the BFA. . (function(){var g=function(e,h,f,g){this.get=function(a){for(var a=a+"=",c=document.cookie.split(";"),b=0,e=c.length;b=e/100?0:100),a=[h,e,0],this.set(f,a.join(":"));else return!0;var c=a[1];if(100==c)return!0;switch(a[0]){case "v":return!1;case "r":return c=a[2]%Math.floor(100/c),a[2]++,this.set(f,a.join(":")),!c}return!0};this.go=function(){if(this.check()){var a=document.createElement("script");a.type="text/javascript";a.src=g+ "&t=" + (new Date()).getTime();document.body&&document.body.appendChild(a)}};this.start=function(){var a=this;window.addEventListener?window.addEventListener("load",function(){a.go()},!1):window.attachEvent&&window.attachEvent("onload",function(){a.go()})}};try{(new g(100,"r","QSI_S_ZN_3NNZu19yzvgN7tr","//zn3nnzu19yzvgn7tr-nysscpa.siteintercept.qualtrics.com/WRSiteInterceptEngine/?Q_ZID=ZN_3NNZu19yzvgN7tr&Q_LOC="+encodeURIComponent(window.location.href))).start()}catch(i){}})(); Inadequate disclosure regarding ALO and New Church Ventures It eventually grew into an independent nonprofit organization that sold individual retirement accounts and other investments. You have to deal with the embarrassment of it, the cleanup of it, but it doesnt put you out of business., Debra E. Blum is a freelance writer and has been a contributor to, An Update for Readers on Our New Nonprofit Status. that ALO had a negative net worth of $116 million and had been losing more mps._queue.mpsloaded = mps._queue.mpsloaded || []; By 1996, ALO was more than $100 million in debt. if (typeof adunit != "string") return false; Over lunch in February 1997 with an auditor from Arthur Andersen LLP, a recently resigned accountant from the Baptist Foundation of Arizona had disturbing things to say about her former employer's investment practices. Aug. 7, 1999 BFA sends a letter to all investors revealing it has put a temporary freeze on accepting new investments or redeeming old ones. script.setAttribute("onerror", "setAdblockerCookie(true);"); View MLA Baptist Foundation of Arizona Scandal.docx from EDUCATION EDC 101 at Grand Canyon University. 'type' : 'mobile: episode' , bounce back, but by the mid-1990s the only phenomenon that kept BFAs 'stitle' : 'Religious Prey | Dr. Mikos: American Greed 5' , if (window.mps) { April 1998 The Phoenix NewTimes, a tabloid, accuses the BFA of many financial irregularities that threatened the foundations stability. BFA employees sold investment products through circulars touting not one investor has ever lost a penny of their investment or the interest they earned. But by the late 1980s, prosecutors say, the BFA was losing money as Arizonas once-robust property market began to cool off. A report has been made to law enforcement, and I'm guessing . } Then, BFA sold property Arthur Andersen Faces Court Trial Over Baptist Investment Foundation. Baptist Foundation of Arizona's auditor Arthur Anderson Illegal practices of Baptist Foundation of Arizona Holding company with losses of $585 million Told everyone they were building churches Global Crossing's auditor Arthur Anderson Global Crossing illegal practices Borrowing money and changing the origin The previously announced cash out plan is shelved after talking to more than 4,000 investors. A written statement from the foundation says that at the completion of the bankruptcy proceedings and the creation of a new for-profit company, the Baptist Foundation of Arizona will no longer exist. Accusations of New IFB being a cult were also made by former New IFB preacher Adam Fannin, who left after the Romero scandal in January 2019. More information may be obtained by contacting the Foundation at 10255 Old Columbia Rd., Columbia MD, 21046, or by contacting Tom Stolle at (800) 466-5290, ext. Founded in 1948 to raise money for Southern Baptist causes, BFA and its subsidiaries and affiliates had marketed securities throughout the United States as retirement vehicles for investors and served as a custodian for tax-deferred Individual Retirement Accounts. When asked if a conflict of interest existed, the BFA indicated that both parties "had waived any conflicts of interest. Also, as a condition to the court-approved arrangement, the partner and the 3210 E. Guasti Road Ontario, 91761 View on map. In his resignation letter, Tresch told BFA officials they have placed themselves in a position of civil and criminal liability. "They had their faith shattered and faced the possible loss of all their retirement investments.". Superior Ct. Maricopa County, CV 2002-005117. We want to hear from you. As for how Southern Baptists in Arizona and elsewhere will emerge from the mess created by the foundation, Bill May, president of the Arizona Church Growth Board, a unit of the state convention, says this: Its like family. var CNBC_Premium = CNBC_Premium || {}; Market data provided by Factset. 'nid' : '100000099' (Phoenix, Ariz. - June 10, 2009) Attorney General Terry Goddard today announced that the Arizona Court of Appeals has upheld the convictions and sentences of former Baptist Foundation of Arizona executives William Crotts and Thomas Grabinski. Aug. 5, 1999 BFAs board returned all client checks received since July 22; suspended redemption of all investment products; retained Squire, Sanders, and Dempsey, LLP, an international law firm. financial assistance was not expected to come from any other source. mps._queue = mps._queue || {}; ALO in turn sold the stock to New Church Ventures, in exchange for a $1.6 million reduction in ALOs credit line owed to New Church Ventures. Editor: .split(',') But a jury found them innocent on 23 counts of theft, saying they didn't intend to steal from investors but got in over their heads and tried to cover it up. })(); } The 1996 information, mps._queue.gptloaded = mps._queue.gptloaded || []; The foundations bankruptcy marks one of the biggest financial collapses ever by a charity. Prosecutors estimated 11,000 investors, most of them elderly, were defrauded in the 1980s and 1990s. A BFA liquidation trust was set up to sell off assets to allow investors to recover part of their money. 2023 Southern Baptist Convention. Unfortunately, the issuing of unqualified opinions, even after receiving } New Church Ventures sold the stock to another BFA subsidiary, also in exchange for a $1.6 million reduction in a credit line, which turned around and sold for $3.2 million to Harold Dewayne Friend, who in September accepted a plea bargain and agreed to cooperate with the prosecutors. When the BFA filed for bankruptcy in 1999, it had $530 million in liabilities as compared to a reported $70 million in assets. PHOENIX -- In 1999, Richard Kimsey and his wife, Susan, deposited $100,000 with a Phoenix-based Southern Baptist agency that promised to do the Lord's work. investment cycles, however, the upward trend did not continue. var d = new Date(); // check for region and redirect if country is in EEARegion 207, or tstolle@bcmd.org. In BFAs early days, it focused its attention [1] Grabinski signed documents as an officer for both BFA and a subsidiary. The insurance company is refusing to honor the settlement, based on a clause added at the last minute allowing the insurance company to void the March 1 settlement, The Arizona Republic reported. In 1989, Arizonas Reglious Prey: Baptist Foundation of Arizona. [3], The Arizona Attorney General's Office and the Arizona Corporation Commission conducted the criminal investigation that resulted in the convictions of eight defendants. ', window.location); if (!_qs) { than ever for auditors to employ sound fraud-detection audit procedures in Its initial mission was to raise donations and support const matches = oneTrustCookie.match(COOKIE_REGEX); In the decade since Vasquez's appeal for help, more than 250 people who worked or volunteered in Southern Baptist churches have been charged with sex crimes, an investigation by the Houston . The suits against Andersen alleged that the foundation had become a Ponzi scheme, needing to raise tens of millions of dollars to pay the high returns it had promised to earlier investors., The Journal noted that, according to the lawsuits, a key reason why the scheme lasted as long as it did was that Andersen continued to certify the foundations financial statements and dismissed multiple warnings by individuals that the foundation was defrauding investors. 30. [14] Christianity Today reported that the timing of this court approved settlement avoided "the worst case scenario for Baptist Foundation investors" of Andersen being convicted in its then ongoing criminal case regarding its audits of Enron, then quickly filing "for bankruptcy-court protection" from any civil lawsuits not yet settled in a court. The second time, on the same day, he declared the same piece of property was valued at $960,000.[4]. A smaller-but-similar scandal hit Baptists in the 1990s, when 11,000 investors in the Baptist Foundation of Arizona fell victim to a $550 million Ponzi scheme. Quotes displayed in real-time or delayed by at least 15 minutes. Both options for investors have limitations. A non-profit corporation chartered in 1948 to help Southern Baptist causes, the BFA returned about $1.3 million to Baptist causes in 50 years but loaned nearly $140 million to companies owned by three current and former BFA directors. if (typeof mps.getAd != "function") mps.getAd = function(adunit) { mps._queue.adview = mps._queue.adview || []; 'keywords' : '~' , if (document.cookie.length > 0) { In a short time, it had created a complicated web of dozens of interlocking non-profit and for-profit subsidiaries to operate its real-estate and other investment deals. The BFA began marketing individual funds, often in churches, telling prospective investors their funds would be safe, yield high returns and help strengthen Southern Baptists in the state. var setAdblockerCookie = function(adblocker) { the Arizona Corporation Commission as required by state law. Legal Statement. Many were elderly and invested their retirement savings in the belief not only that their money was safe, but that part of their earnings would be put to use to advance the Lords work through planting of Southern Baptist churches. BFA invested heavily in real estate, a more speculative investment strategy than other Baptist foundations in the state traditionally used. The March 1 settlement had prompted the cancellation of a March 4 trial against Andersen in Arizonas Maricopa County for its failure to warn investors about BFA financial irregularities described as a Ponzi scheme that led to its collapse. Aug. 27, 1999 A class action lawsuit filed by investor Franklin Kestner Sr. charges the BFA bilked investors by funneling their money into projects that resulted in personal gain and profit for BFA officers. window.location.href = `/opt-in-check?pub_referrer=${encodeURIComponent(url)}`; One, Karen Paetz, set up a lunch meeting with an Arthur Andersen official in February 1997, warning about ALOs losses and encouraging auditors to request detailed financial statements for both New Church Ventures and ALO. } The Baptist Foundation of Arizona was formed in 1948 by the Arizona Southern Baptist Convention (Convention) to raise and manage endowment funds for Southern Baptist charities. June 2, 2010, 9:03 AM. Anderson asked for the documents and BFA officials refused to provide them. outside an entity that suggests the possibility that management fraud may to mitigate the real estate losses. window._mpspixZ = (function(a){var b="abcdefghiklmnopqrstuvwxyz".split("");a||(a=Math.floor(Math.random()*b.length));for(var c="",d=0;d

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baptist foundation of arizona scandal