Televangelists Paul and Jan Crouch have faced plenty of mountains building their religious broadcast empire – among them allegations of a homosexual tryst and a prolonged battle with the Federal Communications Commission – but the most recent attack on the founders of Trinity Broadcasting Network comes from their own flesh and blood.
Their granddaughter, Brittany Koper, recently filed court papers that include allegations of $50 million in financial shenanigans at the world's largest Christian broadcasting network. Her suit was followed by another from a Koper in-law, who detailed opulent spending at the network on items such as private jets, mansions in California, Tennessee and Florida and a $100,000 mobile home for Jan Crouch's dogs.
The lawsuits came after Koper's husband was accused by a debt collection company of embezzling more than $1 million from TBN. The debt collection company that filed the lawsuit later added the Crouches' granddaughter and two of her in-laws as defendants.
The outbreak of legal skirmish offers a rare window into the secretive world of the sprawling religious non-profit and exposes a family feud that could draw more outside scrutiny of TBN. Attorneys from both sides say they have contacted police and the Internal Revenue Service.
The Crouches founded TBN in 1973 and grew it into an international Christian empire that beams prosperity gospel programming – which promises that if the faithful sacrifice for their belief, God will reward them with material wealth – to every continent but Antarctica 24 hours a day, seven days a week. It has 78 satellites and more than 18,000 television and cable affiliates and owns seven other networks, as well as its headquarters in Costa Mesa in Orange County, an estate outside Nashville called Trinity Music City, USA and the Holy Land Experience, a Christian amusement park in Orlando.
The lawsuit attention comes at a bad time for TBN, which has seen viewer donations drop steeply. TBN raked in $92 million in donations in 2010 and cleared $175 million in tax-free revenue, but its net income plummeted from nearly $60 million in 2006 to a loss of $18 million in 2010, the most recent year available. Donations fell by nearly $30 million in the same period – a hit the network blames on the bad economy.
TBN referred requests for comment to its attorney, Colby M. May
A similar suit filed by Michael Koper's uncle, Joseph McVeigh, alleges that TBN attorneys also targeted him as part of a campaign of retaliation.
McVeigh's suit names TBN as one of seven defendants and alleges that TBN bought a $50 million luxury jet through a sham loan; owns an $8 million Hawker jet for Jan Crouch's personal use; bought a $100,000 RV for Jan Crouch's dogs and has 13 mansions and homes around the U.S. for the Crouch family's use.
TBN attorney May called the McVeigh's lawsuit a "tabloid filing" and said the allegations in both cases were "utterly and completely contrived." TBN suspects McVeigh, who claims he received a $65,000 loan from the family empire, was working with the Kopers to steal money from the ministry, May said.
The network's spending is in line with its mission to spread the gospel throughout the world, May said, and the Crouches travel by private jet because they have had "scores of death threats, more than the president of the United States."
The ministry keeps large amounts of cash in reserve because incurring debt goes against the Biblical exhortation to "owe no man any thing," he said.
Haggai 1:3-4
Then the Lord sent this message through the prophet Haggai: “Why are you living in luxurious houses while My house lies in ruins? Now therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts; Consider your ways.
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