Televangelist Todd Coontz Exhausts Appeals, Begins Serving Prison Term
Televangelist Todd Coontz has lost the final appeal of his 2019 conviction on tax evasion charges and begun serving a five-year sentence at a Florida prison.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Western District of North Carolina found Coontz guilty in January 2019 of tax fraud and evasion for hiding $1.7 million in income and assets from the government while living a lavish lifestyle, The Charlotte Observer reported.
He was sentenced to five years in prison and ordered to pay $755,669 in restitution. But Coontz served just one day of that sentence before being released to pursue appeals.
His attorneys took the case all the way to the Supreme Court, which denied his final appeal on Feb. 22 of this year. Coontz was represented in the case by David Barger of Greenberg Traurig.
Court documents in the case showed that Coontz, who ran RockWealth International Ministries and other businesses, lived an extravagant lifestyle while diverting money from the businesses for his personal use.
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He owned several sports cars and a boat, all listed as business expenses, while treating “every meal, piece of clothing and movie ticket as a business expense,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Jenny Sugar said.
He also overcharged churches that hired him to speak for appearance fees and travel expenses, the attorney’s office said.
At the time of the sentencing, Sugar argued that Coontz deserved a “significant” sentence as a punishment and deterrent.
The ministry website lists Coontz as founder of RockWealth International Ministries as well as founder and pastor of Dominion Family Worship Center in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and owner of Legacy Media, Inc., a media and publishing company.
Coontz hosted a daily television broadcast, Faith Now, and is the author of several books, including “7 Myths about Money: What You Think You Know about Money Will Bankrupt You.”
“Dr. Todd Coontz is a minister of the gospel with a heart for God’s people…a humanitarian committed to feeding underprivileged children…and a man of God who lives what he preaches!” his biography on the site reads.
The Federal Bureau of Prisons Inmate Locator indicates that Coontz is now serving time at the Pensacola Federal Prison Camp, a minimum-security prison, and is scheduled for release on June 3, 2025.
