Skip to main content

Christian missionary executive accused of embezzling $700,000

A top officer of a nonprofit Christian missionary group has been arrested for allegedly embezzling more than $700,000 from the Northern Virginia group and using it to support a "lavish lifestyle" that included buying a Porsche sport-utility vehicle and renting a second residence, Loudoun County authorities said Friday.

Eun Tae Lee, 50, is listed in an annual report as the chief administrative officer for Seed International Inc., a missionary company sponsored by the Korean Central Presbyterian Church in Vienna but funded by numerous Korean churches around the world.

Won Sang Lee, the retired senior pastor of Korean Central, is the president of Seed, and Chang Soo Ro, the senior pastor of Korean Central, is listed as Seed's secretary in the company's annual report to the Virginia State Corporation Commission.

It was unclear how many employees or missionaries Seed has, nor were there details about donations the company receives. Officials at Seed and Korean Central did not return multiple requests for comment.

F. Douglas Ross, an attorney for Seed, said the effect of the embezzlement "obviously is significant. It's an international humane organization that provides missionary services and support across the globe."

Seed's offices are in Sterling. Members of Seed first approached the Loudoun Sheriff's Office on March 26, according to a search warrant affidavit, and reported that Eun Tae Lee had "embezzled in excess of $700,000 from their organization."

The group's members told C.A. Perinis, an investigator with the sheriff's office, that Lee had gained control of the group's bank account and had written checks to accounts he had set up in his own name, Perinis wrote in an affidavit for a search warrant for Lee's townhouse in the Fair Oaks area of Fairfax County. Perinis also obtained a search warrant for an apartment on Commons Drive in Annandale, which the affidavit alleged Lee was renting with stolen funds from Seed.

The affidavit also claims that Lee bought a 2006 Porsche Cayenne sport-utility vehicle, which can cost $100,000 or more, and used Seed's money for personal expenses. When Seed members confronted Lee about the missing money, Perinis wrote, he allegedly produced phony financial documents and bank statements to show investments of the "church's funds." A bank representative reportedly later told Seed officials that the documents were counterfeit, the affidavit states.

Lee's home in the 12100 block of Wedgeway Court in the Penderbrook neighborhood and the Annandale apartment were searched April 2, and computers and documents were seized in both places, court records show. A woman who lives in the Annandale apartment said she had never heard of Lee and did not know why her computer was taken. But sheriff's spokesman Kraig Troxell said, "We have evidence obtained during the investigation that links the Annandale address to this embezzlement case."

It could not be determined how long Lee had worked for Seed, or how big the group's reach is. One church member said Seed sponsors Christian missions around the globe, but Ross did not know how many. Troxell and Ross declined to comment on how long the alleged embezzlement might have lasted. Lee first appears in the company's annual reports as an officer in 2008.

Lee surrendered to Loudoun authorities Thursday to face one charge of embezzlement. He appeared before a magistrate and was released on his own recognizance, Troxell said. He did not answer the door at his home Friday.

Loudoun Commonwealth's Attorney James E. Plowman said the case was "very troubling, given the significant amount of funds that are involved, and particularly aggravating, given the charitable nature of the work the victims perform."

STORY LINK

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Are You an Atheist Success Story?

By Avangelism Project ~ F acts don’t spread. Stories do. It’s how (good) marketing works, it’s how elections (unfortunately) are won and lost, and it’s how (all) religion spreads. Proselytization isn’t accomplished with better arguments. It’s accomplished with better stories and it’s time we atheists catch up. It’s not like atheists don’t love a good story. Head over to the atheist reddit and take a look if you don’t believe me. We’re all over stories painting religion in a bad light. Nothing wrong with that, but we ignore the value of a story or a testimonial when we’re dealing with Christians. We can’t be so proud to argue the semantics of whether atheism is a belief or deconversion is actually proselytization. When we become more interested in defining our terms than in affecting people, we’ve relegated ourselves to irrelevance preferring to be smug in our minority, but semantically correct, nonbelief. Results Determine Reality The thing is when we opt to bury our

Christian TV presenter reads out Star Wars plot as story of salvation

An email prankster tricked the host of a Christian TV show into reading out the plots of The Fresh Prince of Bel Air and Star Wars in the belief they were stories of personal salvation. The unsuspecting host read out most of the opening rap to The Fresh Prince, a 1990s US sitcom starring Will Smith , apparently unaware that it was not a genuine testimony of faith. The prankster had slightly adapted the lyrics but the references to a misspent youth playing basketball in West Philadelphia would have been instantly familiar to most viewers. The lines read out by the DJ included: "One day a couple of guys who were up to no good starting making trouble in my living area. I ended up getting into a fight, which terrified my mother." The presenter on Genesis TV , a British Christian channel, eventually realised that he was being pranked and cut the story short – only to move on to another spoof email based on the plot of the Star Wars films. It began: &quo

So Just How Dumb Were Jesus’ Disciples? The Resurrection, Part VII.

By Robert Conner ~ T he first mention of Jesus’ resurrection comes from a letter written by Paul of Tarsus. Paul appears to have had no interest whatsoever in the “historical” Jesus: “even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, we know him so no longer.” ( 2 Corinthians 5:16 ) Paul’s surviving letters never once mention any of Jesus’ many exorcisms and healings, the raising of Lazarus, or Jesus’ virgin birth, and barely allude to Jesus’ teaching. For Paul, Jesus only gets interesting after he’s dead, but even here Paul’s attention to detail is sketchy at best. For instance, Paul says Jesus “was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures” ( 1 Corinthians 15:4 ), but there are no scriptures that foretell the Jewish Messiah would at long last appear only to die at the hands of Gentiles, much less that the Messiah would then be raised from the dead after three days. After his miraculous conversion on the road to Damascus—an event Paul never mentions in his lette

Morality is not a Good Argument for Christianity

By austinrohm ~ I wrote this article as I was deconverting in my own head: I never talked with anyone about it, but it was a letter I wrote as if I was writing to all the Christians in my life who constantly brought up how morality was the best argument for Christianity. No Christian has read this so far, but it is written from the point of view of a frustrated closeted atheist whose only outlet was organizing his thoughts on the keyboard. A common phrase used with non-Christians is: “Well without God, there isn’t a foundation of morality. If God is not real, then you could go around killing and raping.” There are a few things which must be addressed. 1. Show me objective morality. Define it and show me an example. Different Christians have different moral standards depending on how they interpret the Bible. Often times, they will just find what they believe, then go back into scripture and find a way to validate it. Conversely, many feel a particular action is not

ACTS OF GOD

By David Andrew Dugle ~   S ettle down now children, here's the story from the Book of David called The Parable of the Bent Cross. In the land Southeast of Eden –  Eden, Minnesota that is – between two rivers called the Big Miami and the Little Miami, in the name of Saint Gertrude there was once built a church. Here next to it was also built a fine parochial school. The congregation thrived and after a multitude of years, a new, bigger church was erected, well made with clean straight lines and a high steeple topped with a tall, thin cross of gold. The faithful felt proud, but now very low was their money. Their Sunday offerings and school fees did not suffice. Anon, they decided to raise money in an unclean way. One fine summer day the faithful erected tents in the chariot lot between the two buildings. In the tents they set up all manner of games – ring toss, bingo, little mechanical racing horses and roulette wheels – then all who lived in the land between the two rivers we

I can fix ignorance; I can't fix stupid!

By Bob O ~ I 'm an atheist and a 52-year veteran of public education. I need not tell anyone the problems associated with having to "duck" the "Which church do you belong to?" with my students and their parents. Once told by a parent that they would rather have a queer for their sons' teacher than an atheist! Spent HOURS going to the restroom right when prayers were performed: before assemblies, sports banquets, "Christmas Programs", awards assemblies, etc... Told everyone that I had a bladder problem. And "yes" it was a copout to many of you, but the old adage (yes, it's religious) accept what you can't change, change that which you can and accept the strength to know the difference! No need arguing that which you will never change. Enough of that. What I'd like to impart is my simple family chemistry. My wife is a Baptist - raised in a Baptist Orphanage (whole stories there) and is a believer. She did not know my religi