UPDATE: For photos, video and more detail, scroll to the bottom.
As I write this, IRS and US Postal Service agents are at the Grapevine, TX office complex of mega-evangelist Benny Hinn according to Alice Barr, reporter for NBC in Dallas.
BREAKING:US Postal Service inspectors and IRS on scene at @Benny_Hinn ministries in Grapevine. Waiting for info about investigation. @NBCDFW pic.twitter.com/Ygim6LplK8
— Alice Barr (@AliceBarrNBC5) April 26, 2017
Perhaps, the agents are there to get healed.
Or perhaps, they want to examine Hinn’s books.
Media relations at IRS cited federal law barring disclosure and declined to confirm or deny the presence of agents at Hinn’s office. However, the agents are on the scene.
Apparently, Hinn is in France (the tweet I linked to has now been removed. For more, click here and here)
UPDATE: 4:30 PM.
A source at the scene informs me that the media crews have been at Hinn’s headquarters since 9 AM this morning. The entrance to Hinn’s headquarters is blocked off by a local police car and officer (photo below). Boxes have been coming out of the building. There are eight identical vehicles in the parking lot which the sources speculate could be from the IRS.
Hinn was investigated by a Congressional committee led by Chuck Grassley in 2010. No charges were filed and no public wrongdoing was disclosed. Hinn has long been a flamboyant showman with a penchant for dramatic services and rich living. The Babylon Bee lampooned Hinn with a recent column which featured Hinn’s miracle of removing a large lump from a woman’s purse.
UPDATE: The major networks covered the story at 4PM CT. Watch ABC’s coverage:
The follow up report has more detail:
UPDATE: According to commenter GWInsida, the IRS was at Hinn’s headquarters at least until 10:30PM (4/26/17) and expected to be there for awhile longer. Hinn may be under scrutiny for funds collected to build a “healing center” which were never used to build anything.
I hope this investigation will lead to policy changes. I think Christian ministries which take in over $1 million dollars should be required to file 990 forms just as other non-profits do. They also should be required to provide audited financial statements to all donors. If the church will not (and it has shown it can’t) police itself, then there are governmental mechanisms already in place which would help provide accountability and transparency.
Additional reading:
Prior posts mentioning Benny Hinn (link)