if (typeof mps.getAd != "function") mps.getAd = function(adunit) { Nevertheless, 'cag[type_creator]' : 'Stacy Keach' , The Baptist Foundation of Arizona - A Case of Proper Fund Accounting Ignored and Manipulated Another major accounting scandal, and prelude to Andersen Accounting's participation in Enron's anomalous deals, was the illegal securities trading committed by the Baptist Foundation of Arizona (BFA). First, Robert Tuttle of The Reason Files 2 is reporting the same thing I am hearing from multiple sources. mps.__intcode = "v2"; 'id' : '100000099' , By 1997, ALO had a negative net worth of $138.9 and owed BFA $70.3 million The foundation halted security sales in August, however, when state regulators found that it did not have the money to cover its debts to investors. var CNBC_Premium = CNBC_Premium || {}; If you continue to experience issues, contact us at 202-466-1032 or help@chronicle.com. PHOENIX (ABP) The Arizona Court of Appeals has upheld convictions of two former Baptist Foundation of Arizona officials sentenced to prison in 2006 for defrauding more than 11,000 investors in a Ponzi scheme. Redirecting. Visitor Comments. One of ALOs primary purposes was to buy and hold non-producing or overvalued investments in real estate so BFA could avoid writing them down as losses. The company will be organized to hold the foundations existing assets, which are estimated to be between $160-million and $200-million. The BFA Liquidation Trust, which is seeking to recover the investors funds, immediately took action. statements for periods beginning on or after December 15, 2002, and earlier "host" : 'mps.cnbc.com', (function() { This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, real estate bubble burst and property values declined substantially. The Mirage But sometimes in the. of fraud and even more critical to engage in effective audit procedures to You have to deal with the embarrassment of it, the cleanup of it, but it doesnt put you out of business., Debra E. Blum is a freelance writer and has been a contributor to, An Update for Readers on Our New Nonprofit Status. mps.cloneAd = function() { return false; } Prosecutors estimated 11,000 investors, most of them elderly, were defrauded in the 1980s and 1990s. by the Arizona State Board of Accountancy. An investigation being conducted by Arizonas Attorney Generals office and the states Corporation Commission has already revealed that the foundation used bogus transactions and accounting tricks to hide financial losses and mislead potential investors. The news release said the attorney general also will: seek the sequestering of insurance proceeds and other Andersen assets to insure money is available for BFA victims., seek an expedited trial in the BFA lawsuit and a declaration by the BFA of Andersens actions as having been in bad faith., send a letter to victims outlining the legal steps the state will take., seek the revocation of the licenses of the Certified Public Accountants involved in the BFA at Andersen.. 'cag[type_source]' : 'CNBC US Source' , People of faith vulnerable to 'affinity frauds,' authorities say. purpose was to finance new Southern Baptist churches in Arizona. After a series of delays, a criminal trial for Crotts and Grabinski got underway in September 2005. available for public inspection from the Arizona Corporation Commission, showed 'template' : 'special_reports' , The BFA began marketing individual funds, often in churches, telling prospective investors their funds would be safe, yield high returns and help strengthen Southern Baptists in the state. The Reverend Ed Shaw suggested that the BFA "Explain the situation completely to investors; ask their forgiveness; let them know their gift of principal would help if they choose to give some or all of it. The foundations bankruptcy marks one of the biggest financial collapses ever by a charity. The following were among the major GAAP violations alleged by } New Church Ventures sold the stock to another BFA subsidiary, also in exchange for a $1.6 million reduction in a credit line, which turned around and sold for $3.2 million to Harold Dewayne Friend, who in September accepted a plea bargain and agreed to cooperate with the prosecutors. Robert H. Colson, PhD, CPA When statements. // execute typeof mps._gptfirst == "function" && mps._gptfirst(adunit, slotid); In a March 29 statement, the day after receiving notice from Andersen, the trust said one of the first steps will be to ask the mediator who presided over the settlement negotiations, retired federal judge Layn Phillips, to rule that Andersen has breached the agreement and to order Andersen to pay the $217 million as promised.. We re-invest your money and the profit we earn goes to further such ministries as Christian education, care for children and senior adults, missions and new church starts. BFAs failure and the subsequent penalties provide console.log('PUB-GDPR-CHECK Blocked Categories: ', blockedCategories); The suits against Andersen alleged that the foundation had become a Ponzi scheme, needing to raise tens of millions of dollars to pay the high returns it had promised to earlier investors., The Journal noted that, according to the lawsuits, a key reason why the scheme lasted as long as it did was that Andersen continued to certify the foundations financial statements and dismissed multiple warnings by individuals that the foundation was defrauding investors. 30. The foundations statement also acknowledges past wrongdoing, saying that the organization concealed money-losing investments by transferring them to affiliated companies. The foundation says it will pay up to $5-million into a trust intended to pay legal fees to pursue claims against what a spokesman called any third parties that could be held liable for the foundations troubles. } [14], In 2007, the first story on the episode "Religious Prey: Baptist Foundation Of Arizona / Medical Scams: Dr. Mikos", of the television series American Greed, covered the fraudulent behavior of the Baptist Foundation of Arizona.[16]. operations from collapsing was a constant influx of new investor money that The audit team must put regardless of past experience with the entity or prior beliefs about managements STORAGE: 6, They were acquitted of 23 counts of theft. New Church Ventures On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. that audit public companies, in todays environment it is more important Officials at the Arizona Southern Baptist Convention were unavailable for comment. Sentencing was set for Sept. 29. Baptist Foundation of Arizona was the largest non-profit in U.S. history. Both options for investors have limitations. The Cacaces were among 11,000 investors who lost a combined $580 million when the Baptist Foundation of Arizona, or BFA, a registered nonprofit, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 1999 in. if (isOneTrustAnyBlocked()) { The foundations plan -- which is still subject to approval by investors -- includes one other way people might get back some of their money: litigation. sale of these IRA-type investments, from $7.2 million in 1984 to $211 million First case: The Baptist Foundation of Arizona invests and loses millions entrusted by churchgoers, and its mission ends in scandal. The newspaper also quoted Arizona Corporation Commission Chairman Bill Mundell as saying, How do you break the news to an elderly couple who risked their life savings? A few days later, the Kimseys' money had all but vanished. TARGETED_ADS: 4, Perceiving a lack of response, most resigned. 2023 CNBC LLC. Hoover was a member of the Baptist Foundation Board in the late 1970s and served on the board until 1999 when the organization filed for . Feeling pressure to show profits, investigators say, BFA officials hid losses in a web of for-profit and non-profit subsidiaries, which were supposed to be economically independent but really werent. Two former executives committed fraud to hide their financial mismanagement of the Baptist Foundation of Arizona, but they didn't line their own pockets, jurors said in convicting them Monday. investment cycles, however, the upward trend did not continue. })(); The Baptist Foundation of California. In 1989, Arizonas mps._queue = mps._queue || {}; "updatecorrelator" : true }; A Division of NBCUniversal. var _qs = window.location.href; }; Year after year, Arthur Anderson audits the Baptist Foundation of Arizona, giving the non-profit group its stamp of approval and a clean bill of financial health. }, mpsopts = { 'adunits' : 'Default' , A former BFA director Thus, when people tried to sell it they could not because they did not own anything. for Southern Baptist causes. both in and outside of management. Under William Crotts's leadership, the foundation engaged in a major strategic shift in its operations. Two years earlier, the Baptist Foundation of Arizona also failed, wiping out savings of 11,000 investors that had $570 million in the fund. CONTENT_SELECTION_AND_MEASUREMENT: 7, } (function() { Quotes displayed in real-time or delayed by at least 15 minutes. was placed on probation, requiring that his work be monitored for two years the substance of ALOs actions was to buy and hold BFAs overvalued 'cag[configuration_franchise]' : 'American Greed' , be taking place requires a higher degree of due diligence by auditors. [1], The Baptist Foundation of Arizona declared bankruptcy in 1999, citing $530 million in liabilities against $70 million in assets. propertys book value, not its diminished current value. Text. too heavily upon management assurances. . } The following were some of the key warnings: Cases like the Baptist Foundation, along with other corporate frauds, have Data is a real-time snapshot *Data is delayed at least 15 minutes. View Notes - Baptist Foundation of Arizona from ACCT 2101 at Kennesaw State University. Editor: Oct. 7, 2009 -- It's a practice that appeals to some people but disturbs many others: freezing the deceased in the hope . ALO in turn sold the stock to New Church Ventures, in exchange for a $1.6 million reduction in ALOs credit line owed to New Church Ventures. .map(categoryPreference => parseInt(categoryPreference.split(':')[0], 10)); earlier fraud standard, SAS 82. owed BFA significant amounts of notes receivables. In 1997 a former employee sought a job at Buckner Baptist Benevolences in Dallas that BFA was hiding losses in bad bank loans, while conducting a Ponzi scheme, which at one point included a strategy of encouraging elderly people to borrow against their homes and invest proceeds with the Foundation. Through it all, Andersen continued to give BFA clean audits, until the Arizona Corporation Commission forced the foundation to stop selling securities in August 1999. real estate properties were ALO and New Church Ventures. In a short time, it had created a complicated web of dozens of interlocking non-profit and for-profit subsidiaries to operate its real-estate and other investment deals. Five other defendants pleaded guilty to fraud or other charges and agreed to pay fines, Goddard said. mps._queue.gptloaded.push(function() { mps._queue.mpsloaded.push(function(){ d.setTime(d.getTime() + 60 * 60 * 24 * 30 * 1000); was used to pay interest on old money. if (typeof(window._mpspixZ) != 'string') { The foundation's bankruptcy marks one of the biggest financial collapses ever by a charity. Third point is "Baptist Foundation of Arizona". if (!_qs) { A BFA liquidation trust was set up to sell off assets to allow investors to recover part of their money. The Baptist Foundation of Arizona filed for bankruptcy in federal court last week, owing nearly $600-million to 13,000 people who had bought securities from the organization. April 1998 The Phoenix NewTimes, a tabloid, accuses the BFA of many financial irregularities that threatened the foundations stability. Buckner also used Anderson and turned the information over to the firm. } Andersen settled a class-action lawsuit with BFA investors for $217 million, without admitting any wrongdoing. 1 (803) 227-6197 kcooper@mybfsc.org. Anderson asked for the documents and BFA officials refused to provide them. Defense lawyers said they plan to ask Judge Kenneth Fields to dismiss the charges, and plan to appeal if he doesn't. The BFA opens a web site address www.bfaz.org to answer questions.
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