• After denying any wrongdoing on his part for nearly two years, prominent Houston pastor Kirbyjon Caldwell, who served as a spiritual adviser to former Presidents Barack Obama and George W. Bush, has admitted to conspiracy to commit wire fraud in connection to his role in a multimillion investment scheme that preyed on the elderly.
  • Last summer, Caldwell, who was indicted in 2018 for defrauding investors — including elderly members of his Windsor Village United Methodist Church — of more than $1 million, maintained his innocence as his co-defendant, Gregory Alan Smith, pleaded guilty to wire fraud.
  • Caldwell and Smith reportedly tricked investors into believing that they were buying the Historical Chinese bonds through a Shreveport-based company called Smith Financial Group LLC. The Department of Justice noted that the bonds were issued by the former Republic of China prior to losing power to the communist government in 1949.
  • “They are not recognized by China’s current government and have no investment value. Smith and Caldwell promised high rates of return, sometimes three to 15 times the value of the investments. Instead of investing the funds, the defendants used them to pay personal loans, credit card balances, mortgages, vehicle purchases and other personal expenses,” the DOJ said.

Source: christianpost.com