JOIN US MAY 20-21 FOR RESTORE CONFERENCE

Mary
DeMuth

Scot
McKnight

Screenshot 2023-01-13 at 1.50.18 PM

Naghmeh
Panahi

Reporting the Truth.
Restoring the Church.

Investment Adviser Sentenced in $3.5 Million Fraud with Texas Megachurch Pastor

By Julie Roys
Pastor Kirbyjon Caldwell
Pastor Kirbyjon Caldwell preaches at his megachurch, Windsor Village Church in Houston, Texas.

A Louisiana investment adviser was sentenced Tuesday to six years in prison for his part in a $3.5 million fraud that involved Texas megachurch pastor, Kirbyjon Caldwell.

The adviser, Gregory Alan Smith, was also ordered to pay nearly $3.6 million restitution and a $100,000 fine, said Acting U.S. Attorney Alexander C. Van Hook in a news release.

Caldwell is the former senior pastor of Windsor Village United Methodist Church, a 14,000-member megachurch in Houston, Texas. Caldwell also served as a spiritual advisor to Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama. 

According to the release, Smith persuaded multiple victims to invest approximately $3.5 million with his co-defendant, Pastor Caldwell. Specifically, Smith convinced the victims to invest in historical Chinese bonds, which he promised would yield exponential returns. However, Van Hook said the bonds were issued by the former Republic of China prior to losing power to the communist government and held no value.

Smith, Caldwell, and others divided the $3.5 million gained in the scheme, Van Hook said. Smith got more than $1 million, which he used to pay down loans, buy two luxury SUVs, make a down payment on vacation property and maintain his lifestyle, according to prosecutors.

Your tax-deductible gift helps our journalists report the truth and hold Christian leaders and organizations accountable. Give a gift of $30 or more to The Roys Report this month, and you will receive a copy of “Even If He Doesn’t: What We Believe about God When Life Doesn’t Make Sense” by Kristen LaValley. To donate, click here.

Caldwell used about $900,000 to maintain his lifestyle and to pay down personal loans and mortgages, prosecutors said in an earlier news release. That release also noted that Caldwell had made partial restitution to the victims and agreed to pay the remaining $1.95 million before sentencing.

“This case proves that even those you trust to have your best interest at heart sometimes may not,” Van Hook said. “The victims in this case thought their trusted advisor and friend would never lead them astray but sadly, he was merely a con man who led them down an unwanted path.”

Caldwell, like Smith, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud in March and prosecutors dropped other counts against both men.

U.S. District Judge S. Maurice Hicks Jr. said Smith will be on supervised probation for three years after he gets out of prison.

Caldwell is scheduled for sentencing Dec. 3.

Despite his crime, Caldwell is still prominently featured on his church’s website remains a “lay preacher” at Windsor Village. After Caldwell’s guilty plea in March, the church announced that Caldwell’s wife, Suzette Caldwell, would serve as interim senior pastor.  

The Associated Press contributed to this article.

SHARE THIS:

GET EMAIL UPDATES!

Keep in touch with Julie and get updates in your inbox!

Don’t worry we won’t spam you.

More to explore
discussion

6 Responses

  1. I hope he “socially distances” himself from the offering plate! And it doesn’t shock me at all that he is still associated as a ministry-provider. It should, but it doesn’t.

  2. Wash, rinse and repeat. This whole mega church movement over the last 30 years must at some point implode on itself. I have to wonder how much of this it will take before folks wake up and realize these guys are nothing more than carnival barkers. Breaks my heart esp for those on the margins of Christianity wondering if ‘we’ really are that different from the world.

Leave a Reply

The Roys Report seeks to foster thoughtful and respectful dialogue. Toward that end, the site requires that people register before they begin commenting. This means no anonymous comments will be allowed. Also, any comments with profanity, name-calling, and/or a nasty tone will be deleted.
 
MOST RECENT Articles
MOST popular articles
en_USEnglish

Donate

Hi. We see this is the third article this month you’ve found worth reading. Great! Would you consider making a tax-deductible donation to help our journalists continue to report the truth and restore the church?

Your tax-deductible gift helps our journalists report the truth and hold Christian leaders and organizations accountable. Give a gift of $30 or more to The Roys Report this month, and you will receive a copy of “The Atlas Factor: Shifting Leadership Onto the Shoulders of Jesus” by Lance Ford.