Raided local church accused in multimillion-dollar scheme

AUGUSTA, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) – Extra particulars are popping out after the FBI raided a department of the Home of Prayer church in Augusta final summer season.

In June, the FBI served a search warrant on the Meeting of Prayer church on Outdated Tobacco Highway simply exterior Gate 5 of Fort Gordon. On the similar time, the company served search warrants at a sister church within the Savannah space. Comparable raids passed off at church services elsewhere within the U.S.

On the time, authorities saved a decent lid on why they executed search warrants.

EARLIER COVERAGE:

An investigation from the Division of Justice discovered the FBI and Division of Veterans Affairs accuse the Home of Prayer Bible Seminary made quite a few false statements to the VA to determine it as an academic spiritual faculty to safe common funds.

A nonprofit stated it had been warning about these services for years.

Veterans Schooling Success, a nonprofit that helps veterans discover academic alternatives, says the Home of Prayer church buildings dedicated fraud by taking GI Invoice funding and never offering a correct training in return.

The church claimed to offer seminary education, and had greater than 300 veterans enrolled for practically a decade.

They have been paid roughly $16 million from the VA for tuition, stipends and housing. The VA despatched direct funds to the seminary for tuition totaling roughly $7 million.

The tutorial providers weren’t carried out to the usual required by the VA.

HOUSE OF PRAYER ALLEGATIONS:

Investigators accuse the so-called seminary of:

• Overstating and in any other case misrepresenting the variety of hours of instruction.
• Misrepresenting the {qualifications} of school members of the seminary.
• Misrepresenting the ability places of scholars.
• Misrepresenting the ability places of school members.
• Misrepresenting the time intervals over which college members labored for the seminary.
• Misrepresenting the programs taught by college members.
• Misrepresenting the programs accessible.
• Misrepresenting the style of instruction.
• Misrepresenting the standard of instruction.
• Misrepresenting the character of the training program, together with the necessities to efficiently full this system.

The investigation seized greater than $150,000 from accounts by South Georgia and First Residents Financial institution and Belief.

Some critics of the Home of Prayer, which opens church buildings close to Military posts, declare it’s a cult that targets veterans, defrauding them of their GI Invoice cash.

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