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Dr. Boyce Watkins recently outlined the latest controversy rocking Bishop Eddie Long's New Birth Missionary Church: Long accused finacier Ephren Taylor of defrauding his members of $1 million in investments, which Taylor then denied via a public statement. It turns out that the terms of the opportunity that Taylor brought to New Birth members, which Long endorsed, involved investing in a company selling gambling machines that has been charged for operating
an illegal venture. The web site Goddiscussion.com has the details:
Atlanta's Fox 5 aired an extensive investigative report last week about the latest controversy swirling around Bishop Eddie Long of New Birth Missionary Baptist Church, a mega-church based in Atlanta.
Earlier this month, Long posted a YouTube video asking that Ephren Taylor of Capital City Corporation reimburse Long's New Birth Missionary parishioners for $1 million in investments that they had made. Taylor shot back with a press release saying that parishioners had already been contacted regarding reimbursements and that Long was engaged in character assassination.
According to the Fox 5 investigation, Long allegedly told his congregation that everything Taylor said was based "on the word of God." Trusting churchgoers thought that their investments would be sound, based on their pastor's endorsement.
Taylor allegedly said that when he was in high school, he created a $3.5 million dollar company that was a website that sold job postings for high school kids. His new idea, which he sold as an investment opportunity to Long's congregation, was sweepstakes video game machines. While the paperwork stated that there was no guarantee about investment returns, investors from the church received certificates of guarantees that promised that they would receive revenue that was equal to or greater than the amount invested.
The company that sold the game machines was indicted for operating an illegal gambling enterprise. Last September, Fox 5 revealed that police in Virginia raided a number of sweepstakes store fronts and charged 11 owners and companies with illegal gambling.
Please read the rest regarding the latest twist in the Eddie Long-Ephren Taylor Investment controversy on Goddiscussion.com. The article goes on to detail that some parishioners "invested substantial sums of money, with some investments ranging from $10,000 to over $200,000, representing their lifetime savings." In the video above, we hear the sad story of an investor who was told he would receive proceed checks on a monthly basis based on revenue from the gambling machines of up to $1,500 a month. He only received a few checks for about $200 before the checks stopped coming, with no explanation, after investing about $14,000 dollars.
In addition to investing members' money in gambling machines, Taylor did use more traditional vehicles such as IRA accounts, but these apparently also declined substantially in value. As our resident black finance PhD, Dr. Boyce Watkins, pointed out in his previous piece, no matter what the financial vehicle may be, there is no way to guarantee that investors will receive positive returns. This is why saving is so important.
Money should only be invested -- which always implies risk -- if you can afford to lose 100% of the money invested. That's right -- 100%. Any ethically-minded investment professional would tell novice investors this, and make sure their clients included savings as part of their portfolios, plus a mix of investments they could afford to lose or hold until markets rebound allowing a partial recoup of losses.
The fact that both Eddie Long and Ephren Taylor assured the members of New Birth a positive rate of return is nothing short of criminal. City Capital, the firm owned by Ephren, promised people a 100% rate of return up front (while backtracking in the fine print), which is an almost impossible guarentee. Long should have been more responsible as a pastor and realized that anyone promising such a thing could not have been a wise steward of his flock's funds. It seems like an empty act for Long to try and get the money back after the fact. It would appear that both Long and Taylor are culpable in this case.
Related: Shooting At Bishop Eddie Long's Church
Comments: (64)
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By: Hazel Sims on 2/08/2011 12:10PM
Long in HELL YOU WILL OPEN YOUR EYES IN!
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By: SAY WHAT! on 2/09/2011 8:03AM
Riddle me this batman!
What's black, narcissitic and going to jail in the future.
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By: mancha de platano on 2/08/2011 12:17PM
doesn't sex~ gambling and betrayal~ all go together.
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By: David on 2/09/2011 9:51PM
How do you believe all this for Mr.Eddie Long. He is not a Bishop he's a con. If that church is going to stand behind him they will get GOD's wrath.
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By: mancha de platano on 2/08/2011 12:21PM
This guy might as well live in Las Vegas~All those people who buy into this man~ will now be forced to see the truth of thier own greed~
All those young men he violated ( allegedlly) now will be vindacated. May thier lives go on and not be subjected to an other liar like this man, because there will always be liars.
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By: stare k on 2/08/2011 1:50PM
I wonder how his members feel about him now ?Yes I beleive in GOD, I TRUST HIM 500% OVER ANY HUMAN . I go to church on a regular basis . I 've been @ this church 12 yrs. Do you think for one minute that I put all my trust in my PASTOR ? Hell no, then one sunday he addresses his peopel on finanace
he said HE DON'T WANT TO HERE ANY THING ABOUT A FIXED INCOME . ( retried ) members in their giving . I give what I can afford to give .As long as I 'am giving from the heart , it does not matter what he say / think . GOD knows what is going on . I will not pay my bill money in the church . Any fool that want to go right ahead & the pastor living Hi on the hog off of his members .God is not pleased with these so called pastors ,living off the poor peopel , all the things that they have in the church , it don't take all of that to run a church .You should see some of the things we have in our church . GOD is not pleased with all of this mess going on the church . And it start with the PASATORS THEY HAVE A BAD REPUTATION & NEW BIRTH MEMBERS KNOW IT TOO.
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By: El Gato on 2/08/2011 12:41PM
Has anyone checked out Hest Technologies in Ft. Worth, Texas along with CFO Robert (Bob) Houchin?
It's rumored they made millions off of the sale of the hardware and software?????????????
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By: stare k on 2/08/2011 1:57PM
Why did Eddie Long encourage his members to Invest ? More money in his pocket , he did get a % out of it.Now Long & Taylor are blaming each other.
Give me a break . New birth You all need to keep your money in your pocket.
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By: mancha de platano on 2/09/2011 10:47AM
it was a scam from the beginning with evil Long~ He knew what he was doing and so he will do big time in prison~ when he went into denial of his true nature~ a peredtor of young boys to men~ the lite went on for millions who read about his demise~ it took this new issue to put the SPOT lite on his narcissist mentality that made everone follow his broke behind~ That is how he made his money~ what job? Where? Check his SS#, see if he has worked a regular working job like most men have~ blue~ white~ brown collar, check and see if this man ever worked.
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By: Alexis Stodghill on 2/08/2011 2:09PM
In the video Long claims he got nothing but an administrative fee related to selling the books, etc. of Taylor at the seminar.
Taylor claims Long got a cut of all proceeds. Long refused to talk to the press directly. More back and forth allegations.
Frankly, Long saw that Taylor was giving out certificates GUARANTEEING a return. This is a sure sign that an opportunity is not to be trusted. No investment can promise that, except perhaps some government bonds, and that depends on the government staying financial sound. His lawyers should have done a better job vetting this enterprise.
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