K.P. Yohannan – Page 8 – Warren Throckmorton

New RICO Suit Brought Against Gospel for Asia

I reported earlier this week that Garland and Phyllis Murphy, former Gospel for Asia donors filed a motion to join the RICO lawsuit initiated by Matthew and Jennifer Dickson. A separate suit was filed yesterday by the Murphys.

Read the Murphys’ complaint here.
The complaint is similar to the one filed by the Dicksons but has a separate case number from Dickson’s case and follows a motion to withdraw the earlier request to join the Dickson’s case.

Plaintiffs’ Motion to Withdraw Proposed Intervention Motion
Plaintiffs respectfully move the Court to withdraw the motion to intervene [Doc. 48] filed on February 6, 2017. The proposed intervenors, Garland D. Murphy, III, M.D. and Phyllis A. Murphy, filed an independent but related action on February 16, 2017 which was assigned Case No. 5:17-cv-05035-TLB. Defendants do not oppose this motion to withdraw.

So now GFA is defending itself against two RICO lawsuits with the potential for others to join the existing classes or for additional suits to be filed.

Gospel for Asia Appeals the Denial of a Stay in the RICO Lawsuit

K.P. Yohannan, source: Youtube — K.P. Yohannan, Founder of GFA (source: YouTube)

Gospel for Asia really doesn’t want to enter discovery in their defense against allegations of corrupt financial practices and fraud.
Last week, after the Western Arkansas District Court rejected GFA’s request for a stay (pause in the case) while GFA’s appeal is being heard, GFA promptly appealed that denial yesterday.
Read GFA’s appeal here.
In the appeal, GFA “respectfully request[s] a stay under Federal Rule of Appellate Procedure 8 pending the outcome of this appeal.” GFA wants the case stalled while the mission organization appeals the District Courts refusal to compel the plaintiffs, Matthew and Jennifer Dickson, to enter arbitration instead of continue with the RICO suit. The Dickson were members of GFA and signed an arbitration agreement while they were involved with GFA. However, as donors and now as non-employees, the Dicksons want their claims heard in court. Furthermore, the Dicksons represent a class of donors who allegedly have been defrauded by GFA’s deceptive financial practices. Thus far, the federal court has sided with the Dicksons.
In the space of several months, GFA went from being a charter member of the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability and a full participant in the federal government’s Combined Federal Campaign fund drive to being evicted from ECFA and kicked out of the federal program. According to those who have been questioned by federal investigators, GFA is also under investigation for possible illegal practices as well.

Former Donors Request to Join Gospel for Asia RICO Suit

On February 6, 2017, Garland D. Murphy, III, M.D. and his wife Phyllis A. Murphy filed a motion to join the RICO lawsuit agains Gospel for Asia. In the motion, the Murphy’s allege that they were defrauded by Gospel for Asia and would not have donated had they known how GFA planned to use their donations.
Specifically, the Murphys took the GFA promise to send 100% to mission work at face value and donated on that basis.
From Exhibit A attached to the Motion:

Plaintiffs-Intervenors Garland D. Murphy, III, M.D. and Phyllis A. Murphy made several donations to GFA over the course of several years. They made each such donation only after learning of GFA’s guarantee that it would apply 100% of every donation exactly as the Murphys designated.
For example, on December 29, 2012, the Murphys decided to donate $225 to GFA’s “Widows and Abandoned Children” fund. The Murphys viewed a webpage on GFA’s website discussing the “Widows and Abandoned Children” fund. The webpage for the “Widows and Abandoned Children” fund at GFA.org (as it appeared 1n December, 2012).
On December 29, 2012, with the understanding that GFA would apply 100% of their $225 donation to the “Widows and Abandoned Children” fund in the Field, the Murphys made the donation through GFA’s website. GFA provided the Murphys with a receipt (Exhibit 8 hereto) reciting the GFA 100% guarantee and noting that $605 in donations, presumably including the December 29 donation, was designated to the “Widows and Abandoned Children” fund. The Murphys’ 2012 Annual Receipt documenting their gifts to GFA’s “Widows and Abandoned Children” fund.
The 2012 Annual Receipt the Murphys received from GFA, bearing the GFA 100% Guarantee, a statement that GFA is “committed to apply your gifts according to your preferences,” and the ECFA and ICA seals of approval and assurances thereby (valid at the time this receipt was issued). Exhibit 8 hereto.
Every single donation the Murphys made to GFA was made only with the understanding, based entirely on Defendants’ representations, that 100% of the donation would be applied exactly as designated by the Murphys.

GFA hoped the district court would require former employees Matthew and Jennifer Dickson to comply with an arbitration agreement and avoid a public trial. However, the district court denied that request. GFA then appealed. Even if the Appeals Court requires the Dicksons to go through arbitration instead of a RICO suit, the Murphys would not have to do so since they never worked for GFA. Their case would presumable require a different remedy, one they hope will be in court.
For the many articles on the GFA story, click here.

Indian Government Cracks Down on NGOs; Gospel for Asia India Changes Name to Ayana Charitable Trust

Earlier this week, the Indian press reported that 20,000 NGOs had been cancelled by Prime Minister Modi’s crusade against corruption. According to those reports, only 13,000 NGOs remain as approved by the government.
It is unclear if any of the NGOs connected to mission giant Gospel for Asia has been caught up in the crack down. The government’s Home Ministry website provides lists of about 12,000 NGOs which are not now approved and none of the GFA organizations are listed. However, given the reports of 20,000 cancelled, presumably more will be announced in the days ahead.
In looking for information about the drastic measures, I learned that Gospel for Asia in India is now called Ayana Charitable Trust (see this blog post at India Happenings). To my knowledge, this name change was not disclosed to donors outside of India. The Gospel for Asia – India website is not functional and hasn’t been for months. Apparently, donations from America, Canada and around the world are being sent to Believers’ Church as well as a handful of NGOs in India, all affiliated with Believers’ Church.
Apparently, Gospel for Asia isn’t operating as GFA in India.
Recent government filings indicate no foreign contributions to Ayana Charitable Trust. For instance, look at this report filed in the last quarter of FY 2015-2016.

However, in April 2016 the Deccan Chronicle reported robust contributions for 2014-2015 to Ayana Charitable Trust, Believers’ Church, Love India Ministry and Last Hour Ministry, all affiliated with Believers’ Church. This reflects donations from GFA in Wills Point, TX to these NGOs. The Chronicle reported the donations to Ayana and not the old name of Gospel for Asia. However, as noted above, Ayana reported no contributions in the last quarter of FY 2015-2016.
It is unclear why GFA has changed the name in India. Creating multiple NGOs and changing their names does make it harder to track donations. Given the intense scrutiny of GFA’s activities (leading to expulsion from the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability), making it hard to track activities might be a defensive strategy.

WAY-FM: Gospel for Asia "Passed Our Internal Review"

Looking around on Christian radio network WAY-FM’s website, I saw this ad for Gospel for Asia.

First, GFA isn’t really giving very many animals to children. Most goat gifts end up in a fund which may or may not provide an actual animal to a family.
Then, I wondered if perhaps WAY-FM was unaware of GFA’s ethics and legal problems. Even K-LOVE told me at one point they no longer partner with GFA. I wrote WAY-FM to find out.
The response led to another question which has yet to be answered.
Mike West at WAY-FM answered briefly:

All Impact Partners are internally reviewed prior to airing and GFA passed our internal review once again.

So an advertiser is an “impact partner” and GFA passed an internal review. This response led to my next, as yet unanswered, question.
What would GFA have to do in order to fail?
Apparently, an impact partner can be evicted from the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability due to multiple violations of financial integrity standards and still pass.
An impact partner can be removed from the Combined Federal Campaign by the U.S. Office of Personnel Management due to violations of federal regulations and still pass.
An impact partner can be disgraced in an Indian court for misusing donor funds and still pass.
An impact partner can be removed from the Independent Charities of America and still pass.
An impact partner can be removed from membership in the National Religious Broadcasters and still pass.
An impact partner can fail to make available audited financial statements for 2014 and 2015 and still pass.
An impact partner can commit all those misdeeds and leave the same leadership team in place and still pass.
I would like to know what groups fail WAY-FM’s internal review. I could do a lot of blog posts on that group.