According to reports, the scam was initiated by a former premier league soccer player, Richard Rufus, who was a member of the church.
The Christian Post reports that the church trustees invested over $6.1 million (£5 million) in four installments between June 2009 and June 2010, after Rufus promised 55 per cent a year return.
The Charity Commission said in the report, the church’s trustees handed over an initial investment and entered into an agreement in which they were guaranteed that investment would earn a profit of about 5 percent per month, with the exception of August and December when they were guaranteed profits of about 2.5 percent.
“The inquiry established that in practice, however, the investments resulted in a net loss of £3.9 million to the charity,” according to the report.
“They did not follow all the principles expected of trustees to ensure they comply with their trustee duties under charity law when making those decisions,” the report read.
An interim manager was appointed
to review the trustees’ decisions to invest the £5 million after the commission learnt about the investment.
“The interim manager found that conflicts of interest were not managed properly by the decision-making trustees when making the decision to invest. There was too much reliance on the expertise of the ex‑trustee when he was personally interested and conflicted,” the report said.
“The interim manager found that insufficient consideration was given by the decision-making trustees as to whether the guaranteed rate of return was unrealistically high, or to the potential for fraud.
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