Houston-Area Pastors Plead Guilty to Bank and Wire Fraud
Three persons claiming to be pastors in the Houston area admitted to using a now-defunct church to commit bank and wire fraud, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Texas.
William “Bill” Lucas, Deborah Lucas, and Brian Corpian all pleaded guilty to making false statements and using false documents about the payroll of Jesus Survives Ministries to fraudulently obtain loans for car purchases.
They also applied for Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) Program and Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans from numerous banks. The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act created the PPP and EIDL programs to provide either forgivable loans or low-interest financing for small businesses.
While the defendants intended to obtain hundreds of thousands of dollars, they were approved by one bank for $50,000. Apparently Bill and Deborah Lucas used some of the proceeds to take a vacation to South Carolina after moving the fraudulently obtained money to another bank.
All three remain on bond pending sentencing currently set for May 11, 2023. They face up to 30 years in prison and a possible $1 million fine.
In pursuing the loans, Bill Lucas falsely reported that Jesus Survives Ministries had almost a million dollars in gross revenue in 2019.
Deborah Lucas and Brian Corpian were also involved in the fraud, signing some of the false documents and calling bank employees and the Small Business Administration to check on the status of applications.
In his frustration that the loans were not being approved as quickly as he wanted, Bill Lucas sent emails meant to intimidate the bank employees, referring to one in a post on his website as “Minions of Satan.”
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Examples reported in a press release by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Texas include, “This is war!!!!!”, “I curse you, your bank and you[r] whole family,” and “You extremists think I am playing with you. You started a war and I guarantee you that you[‘re] not walking away unscathed.”
Jesus Survives Ministries has not held services for over 10 years, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Its website says its mission is, “to reach out and influence the world by publishing an online Bible-based church to help empower others to find and or reestablish a relationship with our Heavenly Father, God Almighty.”
The website also includes a number of blog-style entries, the latest of which were added last month. “The Fall of Moral and Religious People” supports former President Donald Trump and is heavily concentrated on political and social events of the last couple of years.
Main photo: Photo by Giorgio Torvato / Unsplash
