Trinity Foundation

(Trinity Foundation President Pete Evans reviewing documents obtained from dumpster diving in 1996.)

Inspired by the FBI’s Vault, a collection of more than 6,000 government documents, Trinity Foundation has created the File Vault, a document library, to expose the techniques that televangelists use to defraud their donors, to avoid financial transparency, and to avoid legal accountability.

We want donors to see with their own eyes how the scams work by publishing documents of historical importance. In 1987, televangelist Oral Roberts claimed that God commanded him to raise $8 million or God would take his life. Before making the announcement on television, Roberts sent a fundraising solicitation letter to his large mailing list.

Mailing lists are one of the biggest fundraising tools of religious broadcasters. Five of Oral Roberts’ 1987 fundraising letters are published in the File Vault including the letter in which Roberts announced the $8 million threat from God, and the countdowns to his death IF sufficient funds weren’t raised.

Continue reading “File Vault Exposes Tricks of Televangelists and Some Megachurches”

David E Taylor, a self-proclaimed prophet and faith healer on the WORD Network has FINALLY been arrested for an elaborate human trafficking and money laundering scheme.  Why say “FINALLY”?  Taylor’s abusive and deceptive tactics can be traced back at least two decades.

Beginning seven years ago Trinity Foundation sent reports about David E Taylor to the IRS Exempt Organization Division. Our first report was delivered in 2018 when we recommended Taylor’s organizations lose their tax exempt status and again in 2019 in a report titled “Recommendation to File Criminal Charges Against David E. Taylor and Revoke the Tax-Exempt Status of 3 Organizations:  Joshua Media Ministries Inc. (JMMI), Kingdom of God Global Church, & Kingdom Family Church)”.

A ten-count indictment was filed July 23^rd, 2025 in a Michigan U.S. District Court charging Taylor and his Executive Director Michelle Brannon, Taylor’s enforcer, with “Conspiracy to Commit Forced Labor” and “Money Laundering Conspiracy”.

This was a coordinated investigation by the FBI and the Criminal Investigative Division of the IRS which included raids in Detroit, Houston, and Tampa as well as coordinated efforts in St. Louis and Charlotte.  SWAT teams were dispatched to the church’s 28,000 square foot parsonage (includes guest house) in Tampa and to Taylor’s “JMMI” headquarters in Houston which formerly was a 67-room hotel.

Fox news Houston’s report mentioned some people were taken out in handcuffs and others simply walked out.  Detroit’s local TV news 4 report mentioned the disturbing allegations in the indictment.

The deeply disturbing allegations in the indictment include severe punishment exacted by Taylor and Brannon when unpaid call center workers did not meet their quota of donation money raised, such as withholding meals, forced fasting, forced diets of peanut butter and jelly, forced labor until 4 am, mandated sleeping in a garage, begging for forgiveness on one’s knees, and physical abuse, etc.

Eight victims were listed as witnesses in the indictment, with names redacted and Trinity Foundation believes more will come forward following these arrests.

The U.S. Department of Justice summarized the indictment in a press release earlier this morning:  “Two Self-Professed Religious Leaders Who Used Physical and Psychological Abuse to Coerce Victims to Solicit Tens of Millions in Donations Federally Charged and Arrested”

Our 2019 report stated, “Taylor’s money-raising tactics cross state lines and go all over the US via his internet website, mass emails, the US postal service, and television.”

Trinity Foundation is preparing to launch a document library later this week and we’re calling it the “Vault”, featuring our investigative reports, church and ministry governance documents, financial reports, fraudulent fund-raising letters / mail marketing, and much more.  We want people to see with their own eyes the methods corrupt religious leaders employ.

(Photo: Pixabay/Squarefrog)

On May 10th, Gateway Church in Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas, obtained a protective order to keep certain information secret by invoking the Defend Trade Secrets Act.

Gateway Church is facing a class action suit filed by former donors seeking a return of their donations based on allegations the church leadership lied about how much money it was giving to missions.

According to the Gateway Church protective order, “‘Confidential Information’ shall include, but shall not be limited to, information that concerns or relates to (1) sales, marketing, manufacturing, or research and development; (2) financial performance; (3) manufacturing or other costs of doing business; (4) licenses or other confidential agreements; (5) technical details of products or methods of doing business and/or marketing; and/or (6) personally identifiable information.”

Pete Evans, President of Trinity, says, “It’s pure insanity! Previous court cases have invalidated church trade secrets.”

In 1986, while deciding a case involving the Church of Scientology, the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that religious teachings weren’t subject to laws protecting trade secrets, citing California trade secrets legislation.

In the ruling, Judge Harry Pregerson explained, “We hold that the California courts would conclude that sacred Scriptures do not meet the definition of a trade secret under California law.”

Source: Los Angeles Times

Continue reading “Gateway Church Invokes the Defend Trade Secrets Act to Hide Information from Public”

Snake image from Pixabay, screen shot of Benny Hinn on Daystar, Joni Table Talk

Teflon televangelist Benny Hinn is back in the international crusades numbers game again.

From July 30, 2025: “Beloved Partner… Right now, our ministry is making preparations for a massive tent revival in England, where we expect tens of thousands (really??) to gather for a divine encounter with Jesus. Simultaneously, I’m about to depart for Ghana, where I will minister to over 25,000 pastors (is that true??), equipping them to carry the fire of the Gospel to their nations.”

AND from June 30, 2025, “My Precious Partner (if he only knew)… What we have just witnessed in Uganda is nothing short of a divine visitation—a historic moment in the Kingdom of God. Over the course of three unforgettable nights, more than 1.5 million people attended (who was doing the counting??), and one single service drew a staggering crowd of 700,000 hungry souls (you don’t say… ??) crying out to the Lord. The atmosphere was saturated with worship, miracles, and the unmistakable presence of the Holy Spirit…  Over 15 million people watched (if truth be told, how many??) the crusade via television and social media platforms.”

Background and Broken Promises

Before 1991 Benny was already performing healing “crusades” to sold-out crowds in auditoriums and other churches, and soon thereafter, not just in America but in other countries around the world.

Inside Edition did an exposé about Hinn in 1993.  Hinn promised Trinity Foundation president Ole Anthony and Inside Edition cameras he would have medical verification of the healings before televising testimonials (he didn’t) and he said he would stop driving a Mercedes Benz and start driving a Honda (he didn’t).

He told his congregation “I think I’m going to stop preaching healing and start preaching Jesus.” (he didn’t) A month later he also said, “Preachers who live in big houses and drive big cars have to reexamine their calling.  Some of God’s saints lived in caves!”  (he never stopped living in mansions, either).

False Prophecies: Hinn made several unfulfilled prophecies during the 1990s, including predictions about the timing of Fidel Castro’s death and the destruction of the homosexual community in America.

After working undercover in Hinn’s ministry and conducting nighttime dumpster diving at his brother Chris Hinn’s travel agency, Trinity Foundation and Pete Evans assisted CNN with an exposé about Hinn in 1996-1997.

In April 2001, HBO aired a documentary entitled A Question of Miracles that focused on Hinn and another televangelist. The film’s director, Antony Thomas, said they did not find any cases where people were actually healed by Hinn (Wikipedia).

In November 2004, a a Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) television show The Fifth Estate did a special titled “Do You Believe in Miracles” on the apparent transgressions committed by Hinn’s ministry.  In particular, the investigation highlighted the fact that the most desperate miracle seekers who attend a Hinn crusade—the quadriplegics, the brain-damaged, virtually anyone with a visibly obvious physical condition—are never allowed on stage (also cited by Wikipedia).

In 2002 and 2004, Trinity Foundation assisted Dateline NBC with exposés on Hinn, highlighting his ostentatious preaching/“healing” and his lavish lifestyle.

In 2017, Hinn’s nephew Costi Hinn criticized Benny’s prosperity gospel –the lavish mansions, the expensive cars, etc. and later came out with a book titled God, Greed, and the (Prosperity) Gospel with more details on the topic.

In September 2019, Benny Hinn said he no longer believed in prosperity theology and decided to stop teaching it. (he didn’t)

We have more to say about Hinn.  Next month’s Trinity Foundation video will focus on Hinn and we hope to unveil our “Vault” project with court documents, government reports, and documents we’ve found in the trash over the years.

(Screenshot: Right to left, documentary filmmaker Nathan Apffel, Trinity Foundation president Pete Evans and Trinity Foundation staff investigator Barry Bowen discuss Samaritan’s Purse’s Alaskan operations in Episode Two.)

Trinity Foundation collaborated with filmmaker Nathan Apffel on a seven-part documentary series called The Religion Business, which was released this week.

The wide-ranging documentary focuses on religious fraud and offers a withering examination of the failures of megachurch/ prosperity gospel ministries with contributions from scholars, legal experts and journalists.

The series is available for purchase on the film’s website before reaching Amazon, Apple TV and Roku streaming platforms in two weeks.

Filmmaker Nathan Apffel grew up attending a non-denominational church, was part of the church group, and in his adulthood began to seriously question how and why churches operate the way they do: “I need to ask the toughest questions of my own faith. You might ask, ‘Why?’ Because I hold my faith institution to the highest standards and judgment begins with the Church. All I can say for the moment is good intentions can have devastating consequences. The wolves will feed, the saints will sacrifice, and rivers of endless money will flow.”

Continue reading “Documentary Series “The Religion Business” Exposes Corruption in Megachurches and Ministries”

(Photo: Sammy-Sander/Pixabay)

Trinity Foundation has identified more than 60 religious non-profit organizations with assets totaling almost $1.8 billion that have stopped filing Form 990 information returns with the IRS.

990s disclose program services expenses and other important financial information, helping informed donors evaluate the effectiveness of non-profit organizations.

Program services are determined by subtracting fundraising and management expenses from total expenses to derive the amount spent on the non-profit organization’s mission.

When Charity Navigator rates non-profit organizations, it deducts points for charities that spend less than 70 percent on their mission.

As an example, in 2023 Hal Lindsey Website Ministries program services expenses reached only 55.96 percent, and as a result they received 7 points out of 25 from Charity Navigator. That year Hal Lindsey’s wife Jo Lynn Lindsey received $1,238,924 in compensation which was almost a third of the ministry’s spending and more than half the ministry’s revenue. The ministry had $23 million in assets at the end of 2023, including more than $3 million in cash.

Following Hal Lindsey’s 2024 death, Trinity Foundation reported, “From 2013 to 2023, Hal and his wife JoLynne Lindsey received $18.5 million of compensation from Hal Lindsey Website Ministries. During those eleven years, the ministry spent only $1,105,360 in charitable assistance to groups and individuals.”

However, American churches and related organizations classified as integrated auxiliaries are not required by law to disclose program services expenses or billions of dollars of assets to their donors or to the IRS.

Therefore, if Hal Lindsey Website Ministries was a church and didn’t file 990s, donors would have no way of knowing about the massive accumulation of wealth from ministry donations.

Continue reading “Dark Money: Billions of Dollars of Ministry Assets No Longer Reported to IRS”

(Screenshot: Garth Coonce, founder of TCT Ministries, died in 2023. Coonce acquired a beach condo from Dove Communications for $100.)

In a rare disciplinary action, the IRS has revoked the tax exemption of religious cable TV broadcaster Dove Communications, Inc. after ministry leadership engaged in excess benefit transactions and other misconduct.

The IRS announcement was reported in the latest issue of the Internal Revenue Bulletin which also revealed that Center of New Life Philosophy  Church & Education (Akron, Ohio), Praise Place (Kentwood, Michigan), and Live Ministries (Rocklin, California) lost their tax exemptions due to violations of the United States tax code.

Dove Communications is an affiliate organization of TCT Ministries, based in Marion, Illinois, which broadcasts the cable channel TCT.

Normally, the reason for the revocation would be a secret because IRS revocation letters sent to penalized non-profit organizations are subject to government secrecy due to the 1974 Privacy Act. Investigative reporters are unable to obtain IRS revocation letters with Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests.

However, TCT Ministries disclosed in their 2022 and 2023 Form 990s that ministry leadership engaged in excess benefit transactions and litigation exposed some of the ministry’s financial abuses.

In January of 2024, MinistryWatch reported, “TCT Ministries, a nonprofit, faith-based television network, has sued four of its board members for abusing their board positions and violating their fiduciary duties for their own financial benefit.”

Continue reading “IRS Revokes Tax Exemption of Religious Broadcaster”