The defendants were affiliated with Greater Ministries International Inc., aTampa group whose investment and fund-raising practices have come underscrutiny in several states.
The group has offered investment plans for years under names such as "FaithPromise" or "Double Your Blessings," targeting their solicitations to churchcongregations and claiming the money would be invested in silver and goldmines, according to published reports.
A federal grand jury indicted the group's founder, Gerald Payne, 62, and sixassociates Wednesday on at last 19 counts each of conspiracy, mail fraud,wire fraud, money laundering and conducting unlawful financial transactions.All seven were arrested Friday, the U.S. Attorney in Tampa said.
The indictment charged they had operated an investment program through theGreater Ministries since March 1993, promising investors their money woulddouble within 17 months.
They created the illusion that the program was profitable by using newinvestors' money to pay returns to earlier investors, the indictmentcharged.
They did not put the money into profit-making ventures as promised, andfailed to disclose that some of the investors money was paid in commissionsto the group's elders, the indictment said.
Florida securities regulators had tried to shut the group down since 1995.Earlier this month, a Pennsylvania judge fined Greater Ministries $6.4million for failing to comply with an order to halt solicitations for theplan in that state, which deemed it an illegal securities offering.
Pennsylvania tried unsuccessfully to force it to open its books to verifyclaims that it has extensive holdings in gold and platinum mines, publishedreports said.
The St. Petersburg Times said the group's holdings and operations includedan herbal medicine center, a Kentucky hotel, a line of gold jewelry, thriftstores, a ministry for the homeless and a network of foreign missionaries.
Authorities in Liberia are also investigating allegations that GreaterMinistries International abetted a scheme to illegally import equipmentusing tax import exemptions reserved for relief organizations, Africa NewsService reported.
Arrested with Payne were Betty Payne, 59, Patrick Talbert, 50, Haywood EudonHall, 57, Dave Whitfield, 46, and Andrew Krishak, 47, all of Tampa, andJames Chambers, 66, of Altamonte Springs, Florida.