The pastor of a Texas megachurch and former spiritual adviser to former U.S. Presidents Barack Obama and George W. Bush Jr. has been sentenced to six years in prison for defrauding investors out of millions of dollars.
The Associated Press reports that Kirbyjon H. Caldwell, 67, was convicted Wednesday in Shreveport, Louisiana, after he and his co-defendant, Gregory A. Smith, were indicted in 2018 and pleaded guilty in March 2020 to conspiracy to to commit wire fraud.
Caldwell is senior pastor of Windsor Village United Methodist Church in Houston, which has about 14,000 members. He was a spiritual adviser to Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama.
According to federal prosecutors, Caldwell and Smith, who worked as investment consultants in Shreveport, used their influence and persuasive powers to convince people to invest about $3.5 million in old Chinese bonds. The bonds were reportedly issued during the Republic of China period, and they were not recognized by the current Chinese government and had no investment value.
Acting U.S. Attorney Alexander Van Hook said in a statement that Caldwell “used his position as a pastor of a large church to help convince many victimized investors that they were making legitimate investments, when in fact he was receiving hard-earned funds from them for his own personal benefit. personal interests.”
According to the Justice Department, Caldwell used about $900,000 he received from the scheme to maintain his lifestyle and pay off credit cards and mortgages.
His accomplice, Smith, was sentenced last November to six years in prison.
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