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Prosecution rests in preacher’s fraud trial

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, USA
Feb. 3, 2005
Norman Arey
www.ajc.com

ReligionNewsBlog.com • Thursday February 3, 2005

Government says minister bilked churches to fund costly lifestyle

ROME — After 17 days and 63 witnesses, prosecutors on Wednesday rested their case against Abraham Kennard, a charismatic preacher accused of bilking 1,609 churches and religious organizations out of more than $8.7 million.

Kennard, 46, who has acted as his own defense lawyer along with a court-appointed attorney, Michael Trost, called two witnesses in his defense Wednesday and will have one more today before closing arguments begin.

Kennard, from Wildwood, promised churches and religious organizations around the country that they would receive a forgivable loan or grant of $500,000 for every $3,000 in membership fees they paid to his corporation, Network International Investment. He is charged with 132 federal criminal counts, ranging from money laundering to mail fraud to income tax evasion.

Prosecutors have tried to convince the jury that money that Kennard fraudulently collected enabled him to live a luxurious lifestyle that included limousines, private jets and trips to Las Vegas.

Government lawyer J. Russell Phillips says that only 1 percent of those who invested received any money whatsoever in return, and that only one investor received the full funding requested.

Don Madison, a minister from Republic, Mo., who testified for Kennard, said he had recruited 90 other ministers and religious organizations to get involved with Kennard and that only one of the 90 had asked for the money back.

Some of the witnesses for the prosecution say they still trust Kennard. Some have stopped on the way out of the courtroom to shake his hand or hug him.

Margaret McGee of Fordice, Ark., who testified for the defense Wednesday, said she didn’t receive her funding because the federal government shut down Kennard’s corporation before he could deliver. “I still believe in him,” McGee said.

Earlier in the trial, Kennard made an impassioned plea to have all charges dismissed, but U.S. Judge Harold Murphy rejected the request.

Kennard “objects to being tried in a secular court, because he doesn’t believe these are secular matters,” Trost said.