Tag Archives: sentenced

CHC Stands With The Convicted David Yonggi Cho: “We Stand By Him In This Time Of Need”

25 Tuesday Feb 2014

Posted by in C3 & Pringles Associations

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The scriptures say,

“But now I am writing to you not to associate with anyone who bears the name of brother if he is guilty of sexual immorality or greed, or is an idolater, reviler, drunkard, or swindler—not even to eat with such a one. For what have I to do with judging outsiders? Is it not those inside the church whom you are to judge? God judges those outside. “Purge the evil person from among you.” 1 Corinthians 5:11-12

This scriptural instruction was given to the church to deal with immoral members. If you think this form of church discipline on members is severe, how serious do you think church discipline would be on Christian leaders caught in criminal activity?

Who knew that CHC would reject God’s Word and rather defend a pastor convicted of criminal activity? There is something seriously wrong when CHC defends a criminal in Christian leadership rather then defending God’s Word.

Will Phil Pringle and C3 stand by Yonggi Cho in this time of need as well?

A commentor from CHC confessions published a statement from CHC regarding David Yonggi Cho’s sentence,

Dear Church Family,

Re: News Of Dr Yonggi Cho’s Court Case

Some of you might have heard about Dr Yonggi Cho’s son being sentenced to three years’ jail. Dr Cho has been issued a fine and a five-year probation but he will not be jailed.

We are saddened by this news and our thoughts and prayers are with Dr Cho and his family as they go through this difficult time.

Dr Cho is the Senior Pastor Emeritus of Yoido Full Gospel Church. He has always been a great friend of our church and he has done innumerable good works for the Kingdom of God. We stand by him in this time of need.

The church leadership echoes the sentiments of a senior Yoido Full Gospel Church leader who says: “I have worked for Pastor Yonggi Cho for 40 years that I can say, Pastor Cho is living a very modest way in good example, and he usually gives away all the substances or personal donations that are given to him. Please consider what he has done for good, and please do not judge him by what his son did.”

Please join us in prayer for Dr Cho and his family.

In Christ,

The CHC Management Board

FAQ

It was reported in the Korean press on 20 February 2014 that Dr Yonggi Cho’s son has been sentenced to three years’ jail. Dr Cho has been fined US$4.7m and given a five-year probation but he will not be jailed.

Dr Cho is the Senior Pastor Emeritus of Yoido Full Gospel Church in South Korea, which has over 800,000 members and is widely considered as the world’s largest Christian congregation. According to a report in Korea Joong Kang Daily, during the 90-minute sentencing on 20 February, the courtroom was packed with church members, “a testament to the influence the Cho family wielded in the mega-church.”

While there has been talk of an appeal, Dr Cho has decided to accept the judgment of the court as an appeal may force him into an adversarial stance against his son, says a senior elder of the church and a close personal friend to Dr Cho.

What was the case all about?

According to News 1 Korea, a Korean internet news portal, in September 2011, 30 elders of Yoido Full Gospel Church made a formal complaint that Dr Cho and his son had misused over 20 billion won (US$18.7m) of church money to purchase shares of stock. The police began investigations in December 2012.

According to Korea Joong Kang Daily’s report on 21 February, Dr Cho stood trial on charges that he ordered church officials in 2002 to purchase 250,000 shares of stock for I-Service, a company owned by his oldest son Cho Hee-jun, 49, at a price four times higher than market value, causing the church to lose 13.1 billion won.

Prosecutors argued that Dr Cho’s son had asked his father to purchase the shares at a much higher cost to recoup the 20 billion won he lost in stock investments two years earlier — a claim the court accepted.

Why does Dr Cho face penalties?

News 1 Korea says that the court judge stated that the reason for the penalty was due to the specific evasion of taxes amounting to 3.5 billion won (US$3.3m). But it also stated that this had something to do with wrong advice given by the accounting firm.

The court judge read out the statement that although the crime was initiated by the son, he couldn’t have caused the church such a big loss without Dr Cho’s help, due to the latter’s position in the church.

We understand from very reliable sources that Dr Cho had no personal gain from any of the investments.

Is it true Dr Cho will be jailed?

The two largest Korean newspapers The Chosun Ilbo and Joong Ang Ilbo have both reported that Dr Cho will not be jailed. He is under probation for five years, which we understand to mean that he will be under the watch of the authorities.

According to Korea Joong Kang Daily’s report, the judge explained: “Considering how the defendant has led his life in tumultuous times, and contributions he has made to society as a religious man, the court has decided to suspend his prison term for five years.”

What did Dr Cho’s son do?

According to news reports, Dr Cho’s eldest son Cho Hee-jun, who has been in jail twice before, apparently lost that sum while serving as chairman of the newspaper Kookmin Ilbo, when he collected billions of won in donations from readers and church members to help cover the newspaper’s operating costs.

While delivering the three-year prison term, the judge rebuked him for attempting to shift the responsibility for his unethical business practices onto his father and other senior church members.

Korea Joong Kang Daily reported that the judge said of Cho Hee-jun: “The defendant’s behavior is subject to and deserves criticism.”

Cho Hee-jun was taken into custody immediately upon being sentenced.

What should we do now?

Dr Cho has been such a friend and mentor to our church. We are grateful to God that there is no jail term for Dr Cho. Let us pray for him, Dr Kim Sung-hae and their family in this challenging time.

We understand that Yoido Full Gospel Church should be issuing a formal statement in the coming days. That statement will be posted here in due time.

Updated as at 22 February 2014

Special Notices
22 Feb 2014
Re: News Of Dr Yonggi Cho’s

Source: Grace Tan, CHC Confessions, Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/CHCConfessions/posts/755571817795531?comment_id=7568643&offset=0&total_comments=38, Comment made on the 22/02/2014. (Accessed 24/02/2014.)

We thought it worth publishing the updated version,

We understand that Yoido Full Gospel Church should be issuing a formal statement in the coming days.
That statement will be posted here in due time.

Dear Church Family,

Re: News Of Dr Yonggi Cho’s Court Case

Some of you might have heard about Dr Yonggi Cho’s son being sentenced to three years’ jail. Dr Cho has been issued a fine and a three-year prison term which has been suspended for five years.

We understand that a suspended sentence is a sentence given after the formal conviction of a crime that the convicted person is not required to serve. We also understand Dr Cho has been issued a conditionally suspended sentence. This type of sentence withholds execution of the penalty as long as the defendant exhibits good behavior.

We are saddened by this news and our thoughts and prayers are with Dr Cho and his family as they go through this difficult time.

Dr Cho is the Senior Pastor Emeritus of Yoido Full Gospel Church. He has always been a great friend of our church and he has done innumerable good works for the Kingdom of God. We stand by him in this time of need.

The church leadership echoes the sentiments of a senior Yoido Full Gospel Church leader who says: “I have worked for Pastor Yonggi Cho for 40 years that I can say, Pastor Cho is living a very modest way in good example, and he usually gives away all the substances or personal donations that are given to him. Please consider what he has done for good, and please do not judge him by what his son did.”

Please join us in prayer for Dr Cho and his family.

In Christ,

The CHC Management Board

FAQ

It was reported in the Korean press on 20 February 2014 that Dr Yonggi Cho’s son has been sentenced to three years’ jail. Dr Cho has been issued a fine and a three-year prison term which has been suspended for five years.

We understand that a suspended sentence is a sentence given after the formal conviction of a crime that the convicted person is not required to serve. We also understand Dr Cho has been issued a conditionally suspended sentence. This type of sentence withholds execution of the penalty as long as the defendant exhibits good behavior.

Dr Cho is the Senior Pastor Emeritus of Yoido Full Gospel Church in South Korea, which has over 800,000 members and is widely considered as the world’s largest Christian congregation. According to a report in Joong Ang Daily, during the 90-minute sentencing on 20 February, the courtroom was packed with church members, “a testament to the influence the Cho family wielded in the mega-church.”

While there has been talk of an appeal, Dr Cho has decided to accept the judgment of the court as an appeal may force him into an adversarial stance against his son, says a senior elder of the church and a close personal friend to Dr Cho.

What was the case all about?

According to News 1 Korea, a Korean internet news portal, in September 2011, 30 elders of Yoido Full Gospel Church made a formal complaint that Dr Cho and his son had misused over 20 billion won (US$18.7m) of church money to purchase shares of stock. The police began investigations in December 2012.

According to Joong Ang Daily’s report on 21 February, Dr Cho stood trial on charges that he ordered church officials in 2002 to purchase 250,000 shares of stock for I-Service, a company owned by his oldest son Cho Hee-jun, 49, at a price four times higher than market value, causing the church to lose 13.1 billion won.

Prosecutors argued that Dr Cho’s son had asked his father to purchase the shares at a much higher cost to recoup the 20 billion won he lost in stock investments two years earlier — a claim the court accepted.

Why does Dr Cho face penalties?

News 1 Korea says that the court judge stated that the reason for the penalty was due to the specific evasion of taxes amounting to 3.5 billion won (US$3.3m). But it also stated that this had something to do with wrong advice given by the accounting firm.

The court judge read out the statement that although the crime was initiated by the son, he couldn’t have caused the church such a big loss without Dr Cho’s help, due to the latter’s position in the church.

We understand from very reliable sources that Dr Cho had no personal gain from any of the investments.

Is it true Dr Cho will be jailed?

The two largest Korean newspapers The Chosun Ilbo and Joong Ang Daily have both reported that Dr Cho will not be jailed.

According to Joong Ang Daily’s report, the judge explained: “Considering how the defendant has led his life in tumultuous times, and contributions he has made to society as a religious man, the court has decided to suspend his prison term for five years.”

What did Dr Cho’s son do?

According to news reports, Dr Cho’s eldest son Cho Hee-jun, who has been in jail twice before, apparently lost that sum while serving as chairman of the newspaper Kookmin Ilbo, when he collected billions of won in donations from readers and church members to help cover the newspaper’s operating costs.

While delivering the three-year prison term, the judge rebuked him for attempting to shift the responsibility for his unethical business practices onto his father and other senior church members.

Joong Ang Daily reported that the judge said of Cho Hee-jun: “The defendant’s behavior is subject to and deserves criticism.”

Cho Hee-jun was taken into custody immediately upon being sentenced.

What should we do now?

Dr Cho has been such a friend and mentor to our church. Let us pray for him and his family in this challenging time.

We understand that Yoido Full Gospel Church should be issuing a formal statement in the coming days.

That statement will be posted here in due time.

Updated as at 23 February 2014

Source: CHC, http://www.chc.org.sg/, Updated as at 23 February 2014. (Accessed 23/02/2014.)

proof_CHCChoUpdate_23-02-2014

Ps David Yonggi Cho of Yoido Full Gospel Church Sentenced “Three Years In Prison, Suspended For Five Years, And … To Pay 5 billion Won”

21 Friday Feb 2014

Posted by in C3 & Pringles Associations

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The golden prosperity triangle is falling. While Phil Pringle’s protege Kong Hee is still going through court procedures of mishandling church funds of up to $40 million US, their mentor David Yonggi Cho has been sentenced “to three years in prison, suspended for five years, and ordered… to pay 5 billion won (US$4.67 million) in fines”.

Don’t forget that Cho said earlier in the investigations that he, “denied the allegations, calling them a smear campaign by a very small group of people in his church. ‘The truth will reveal itself during the prosecutors’s investigation. Those who filed the complaint will have to take responsibility accordingly.”

Not only did David Yonggi Cho smear his elders (what Kong Hee and Phil Pringle would call critics), he relies on the courts to reveal “the truth” rather deal with it biblically within the church. We have see this similar behaviour in the C3 movement and CHC. It is of our opinion that events like these reinforce the obvious factor that such men like Phil Pringle, Kong Hee and David Yonggi Cho do not behave honestly in the church.

And for teachers who always teach on faith, where is it now?

The Hankyoreh reports,

Yoido Full Gospel church leaders found guilty of tax evasion

yonggi cho jailed

Yoido Full Gospel Church senior pastor David Yonggi Cho is surrounded by supporters and bodyguards as he leaves Seoul District Court in Seocho district after being sentenced to three years in prison, suspended for five years, and ordered him to pay 5 billion won (US$4.67 million) in fines, Feb. 20. Cho’s bodyguards kept reporters away from Cho, struck a female reporter and destroyed a camera belong to KBS. (by Kim Bong-gyu, staff photographer)

Senior pastor David Yonggi Cho gets lighter sentence on account of his religious activities

On Feb. 20, Hon. Cho Yong-hyun with the 23rd criminal division of the Seoul District Court sentenced David Yonggi Cho, 78, senior pastor of Yoido Full Gospel Church, to three years in prison, suspended for five years, and ordered him to pay 5 billion won (US$4.67 million) in fines. Cho was charged with causing around 13.1 billion won in damages to his church and evading approximately 3.5 billion won in taxes in the process (embezzlement as defined in the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Economic Crimes). In addition, Pastor Cho’s oldest son Cho Hee-jun, 49, former chairman of the Yeongsan Christian Culture Center, was given a three-year prison sentence and taken into custody.

“The criminal activity would have been impossible without the approval of Pastor Cho, who had ultimate decision-making authority,” the court ruled. “By condoning the documents that were being written while he was the head of the church, he was largely responsible for these crimes.”

The court also took into consideration the fact that Pastor Cho has contributed to social welfare over the years as a religious figure, which it explained as the reason for his lenient sentence.

The court sentenced Cho Hee-jun to actual time in prison, regarding him as the mastermind behind most of the crimes, including dereliction of duty.

Cho was indicted in 2013 on charges of professional negligence and tax evasion. At the request of his son, Cho allegedly had Yoido Full Gospel Church purchase 250,000 shares of stock in I-Service held by the Yeongsan Christian Culture Center at 86,984 won per share, even though the shares were only worth 34,386 won each, resulting in a 13.1 billion won loss for the church. When a gift tax was imposed on the church’s expensive stock purchase, Cho allegedly submitted documents to the tax authorities depicting the transaction as a normal loan, evading 3.5 billion won in taxes.

Source: By Kim Mi-hyang, Senior pastor David Yonggi Cho gets lighter sentence on account of his religious activities, The Hankyoreh, http://www.hani.co.kr/arti/english_edition/e_national/625270.html, 21/02/2014. (Accessed 21/02/2014.)

Related articles:

David Yonngi Cho Church Fraud Investigation? (Part 1)

David Yonngi Cho Church Fraud Investigation? (Part 2)

David Yonggi Cho Church Fraud Investigation? (Part 3)

David Yonggi Cho Church Fraud Investigation? (Part 4)

David Yonggi Cho Church Fraud Investigation? (Part 5) – Sex Scandal Included?

C3 Asheville Scandal – While Dean’s Playing Slick, Nick’s In The Knick (Part 7)

27 Wednesday Nov 2013

Posted by in C3 & Pringles Associations, C3 Asheville Scandal

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If you are not familiar with the C3 Asheville scandal, please update yourself with our articles here:

C3 Asheville Scandal – C3 Pastor Facing Prison (Part 1)
C3 Asheville Scandal – C3 Pastor “Pleads Guilty In Bank Fraud Case” (Part 2)
C3 Asheville Scandal – Sweetmans Do Nothing Against Fraudulent C3 Pastor? (Part 3)
C3 Asheville Scandal – Four “People… Have Pleaded Guilty” Including “[C3] Minister… Nicholas Dimitris” (Part 4)
C3 Asheville Scandal – C3 ‘Pastor’ Nick Dimitris: The Liar (Part 5)
C3 Asheville Scandal – Massive Financial Judgment Against C3 Asheville Pastor Nick Dimitris (Part 6)

A few years ago Nick Dimitris stated,

“Emily and I want to update you on some news about our family and the circumstances that has arisen. Over two years ago we purchased property from some folks who are currently under a federal investigation in pursuit for multiple proprieties. These individuals and the bank that provided the financing were allegedly involved in illegal behaviour.

Although we had no knowledge of their misbehaviour, we’ve been required to participate with the federal government in this case since we were the buyers. This has put us in a very difficult position and cooperation was not an option in the matter. Our testimony now is a very critical part of the case against these individuals.

You may have seen information about this in the media. And if so, please realise that the media is very good at misconstruing facts, which is misleading at best. Nevertheless, it sells papers. We cannot control what the media does or how they represent the circumstance.  But let me assure you church, the facts of the matter have been given to our overseers and a team of leaders within the church.”

Moving along, the Citizen-Times reports,

ASHEVILLE — Three men were sentenced to federal prison Tuesday for their roles in an elaborate scheme to obtain more than $23 million in illegal loans to forestall failure of the bankrupt Seven Falls development.

Robert Craig Gourlay, David G. Smith and Nicholas Dimitris conspired with developer Keith Vinson in a case that Judge Martin Reidinger described at the hearing as “a scourge on this community.”

“This is a case where the concerted actions of a few people brought down two banks,” the judge said in U.S. District Court in Asheville. “Not only was it serious wrongdoing, it was very harmful wrongdoing.”

Reidinger sentenced Gourlay, chief credit officer at Pisgah Community Bank, to 15 months in prison. Smith, a loan officer with the bank, received nine months. Dimitris, a minister and real estate investor, got 12 months.

Seven Falls filed for bankruptcy in 2009. The luxury development was planned to accommodate 900 homes and an Arnold Palmer-designed golf course on 1,400 acres, potentially adding $1.25 billion to Henderson County’s tax base.

Prosecutors said Vinson had “straw borrowers” take out illegal loans to buy lots in hopes of preventing foreclosure. Vinson was unable to borrow more money because of rules designed to limit banks’ exposure to any one borrower.

Gourlay and Smith authorized loans involving millions of dollars to straw borrowers, while Dimitris served as such a borrower on loans made by the bank, receiving kickbacks in return, according to criminal complaints filed in 2011.

The three are among 10 codefendants who reached plea deals with prosecutors, leaving only Vinson to stand trial. He was convicted by a jury last month on all 13 counts he was charged with, including conspiracy to commit bank fraud, conspiracy to defraud the United States, misapplication of bank funds, wire fraud and money laundering.

Reidinger ordered Vinson held without bond until sentencing. He faces up to 30 years in prison, according to prosecutors.

The judge said that in sentencing of Gourlay, Smith and Dimitris, he took into account their cooperation with the government in the case against Vinson. Gourlay and Dimitris testified at the trial.

But Reidinger pointed out that Bank of Asheville and Pisgah Community Bank failed as a result of the scheme. Such crimes serve to undermine the banking system, he said.

“When citizens don’t have confidence in the banking system, the economy collapses,” the judge said.

Prosecutors said Vinson began Seven Falls with a $25 million bank loan to be repaid with money from the sale of lots. He ran out of money in 2008, when the economy tanked and sales dried up. That’s when Vinson and his fellow conspirators came up with a “lot loan scheme” involving straw borrowers.

Former Bank of Asheville President George Gordon “Buddy” Greenwood pleaded guilty to bank fraud charges and was sentenced in May 2012 to four years in federal prison. According to court records, Greenwood was involved in illegal loans to Vinson totaling nearly $6.8 million.

Vinson and six other codefendants, including former Pisgah Community Bank President Thomas “Ted” Durham Jr., await sentencing.

Source: Clarke Morrison, 3 get prison in Seven Falls case – Three men get terms for conspiring with Vinson in loan scheme, http://www.citizen-times.com/article/20131127/NEWS01/311270022/3-get-prison-Seven-Falls-case?nclick_check=1, 26/11/2013. (Accessed 27/11/2013.)