W. Virginian pleads guilty in Greater Ministries case

Tampa Tribune/April 7, 2001
By Michael Fechter

A West Virginia resident becomes the eighth Greater Ministries leader declared guilty of fraud.

Jim List used to say that gold could be extracted from cow dung. He also used to say he could help Greater Ministries International make billions of dollars mining in Africa. Friday, he told a federal judge in Clarksburg, W.Va., that he was guilty of fraud.

List helped solicit money to Greater Ministries' money-doubling financial program, one that prosecutors call a classic Ponzi scheme. The group told investors it could double their money in 17 months or less fueled by lucrative returns in international mining and banking ventures.

Those ventures either didn't exist, or in List's case, wound up losing money. When the program collapsed in 1998, thousands of people throughout the country lost as much as $200 million.

List, a New Zealand native, opened a ministry in Bridgeport, W.Va. He touted the church's financial success - and offered his theory on cows - in soliciting local churchgoers into the program. The pitch focused on Luke 6:38, which says "Give and it shall be given unto you" in equal measure. It targeted conservative Christians, especially Mennonites and Seventh-day Adventists, in all 50 states.

Prosecutors say List earned at least $160,000 in commissions on the money he brought in. He pleaded guilty to one count of mail fraud and one count of filing a false tax return. Each count carries a maximum five-year prison sentence.

He is scheduled for sentencing in June. Prosecutors may ask for reduced prison time based on List's cooperation in related investigations. Five church leaders, including founder Gerald Payne and his wife, Betty Payne, were convicted of conspiracy, money laundering and fraud by a Tampa jury March 12. They are jailed without bail pending sentencing.

In addition to soliciting investors, List was a key player in Greater Ministries' failed attempt to corner the gold and diamond-mining markets in Liberia.

The group lost about $10 million shipping equipment and cash to the West African nation, never generating a profit despite repeated boasts by representatives there that their concessions were laden with precious minerals. Court records in Tampa indicate List won't be the last person charged. Two other elders, Andrew John Krishak and James Chambers, entered guilty pleas last fall. Their sentencing is being delayed while they meet with law enforcement officials. An FBI agent from Los Angeles wants to meet with Chambers, his attorney, Chandler Muller, wrote in court papers.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert Mosakowski asked U.S. District Judge James D. Whittemore to delay Krishak's sentencing, saying Krishak "is scheduled to be debriefed by law enforcement agents conducting a related investigation within the next few weeks." He's also scheduled to be questioned by the lawyer representing creditors with claims against Greater Ministries and "by representatives of another federal agency."

Meanwhile, another Greater Ministries elder faces one felony charge for an unrelated program. Paul Bennett is accused of selling $290,000 worth of unregistered securities to 22 investors in a program called Florida 200 Limited Partnership. He was arrested in December and faces trial in May. Bennett allegedly solicited money for the partnership in 1996-97.

Like Greater Ministries, he offered a 200 percent return, but his payout was supposed to come in two months, according to an affidavit by state Department of Banking and Finance investigator Mary Delano. "Investors received no funds," she wrote.

Bennett also was an elder with Greater Ministries, which the IRS called the largest Ponzi scheme it has investigated. It is certainly the largest seen in West Virginia, where about 150 investors sent $2 million to the Tampa church, said state Securities Commissioner Glen B. Gainer III.

"They were in very fertile ground and they were very persuasive. Getting behind the pulpit carries a lot of weight," he said. "It seems like there's a lot more of it going on than ever before and churches are a lot more targeted," Gainer said.