Copy of the lawsuit against Gospel for Asia and exhibits have now been posted to the PACER system. The suit is Dickson v. Gospel for Asia (full text here) and is being brought on behalf of former donors Matthew and Jennifer Dickson and other former donors.
Former GFA donors should watch the case and may be able to share in a settlement. Eligible former donors will be contacted if the suit is successful. The suit alleges that K.P. Yohannan has used GFA to solicit money for the needy and then diverted those funds to purchase for-profit businesses. The other defendants are his wife (Gisela), his son (Danny Punnose), David Carroll, and Pat Emerick (Canadian director).
If successful, the lawsuit would effectively shut GFA down.
I will have more commentary over the next several days.
Read the suit here.
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Tag: Gospel for Asia
Class Action Lawsuit Alleging Fraud and Misuse of Donations Filed Against Gospel for Asia
Just received this. More information to come. This is a major development in the ongoing Gospel for Asia story. GFA is the second largest mission organization in the nation.
CLASS ACTION LAWSUIT FILED TO HOLD GOSPEL FOR ASIA ACCOUNTABLE FOR FRAUDULENT SOLICITATION AND MISUSE OF CHARITABLE DONATIONS
For Immediate Release
Contact: Marc R. Stanley (469) 831-7575
Monday, February 8, 2016
Dallas-based Stanley Law Group initiated a class action lawsuit today in United States District Court for the Western District of Arkansas against Gospel for Asia, Inc. and several affiliates for fraudulently soliciting hundreds of millions of dollars in charitable donations, and then misdirecting the money into the personal empire of Gospel for Asia’s leader, K.P. Yohannan.
The lawsuit alleges that Gospel for Asia, Yohannan, and other GFA officials misrepresented to donors how, when, and where charitable donations would be spent, and funneled vast amounts of the hundreds of millions of dollars GFA has collected into for-profit businesses and an expensive headquarters. Plaintiffs Matthew and Jennifer Dickson charge defendants with violations of RICO and the Arkansas Deceptive Trade Practices Act, as well as fraud and unjust enrichment.
Gospel for Asia is a global missionary organization that operates in South Asia, primarily within India. GFA tells potential donors that it supplies the “poorest of the poor” with food, provisions, and a Christian message. Lead attorney Marc R. Stanley said, “K.P. Yohannan and his Gospel for Asia inner circle have been exploiting the goodwill and generosity of devout Christians around the country for years. Gospel for Asia should return all the money it’s taken from donors who thought they were contributing to charity.”
Stanley Law Group (SLG) is a Dallas-based law firm that focuses on complex litigation. SLG also has offices in California and Oregon. Stanley is a past president of the Texas Trial Lawyers Association.
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Within the past year, Gospel for Asia was terminated from membership in the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability, denied membership in the Independent Charities of America and was sanctioned by the Office of Personnel Management to the greatest extent possible for violations of federal law
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Questions About Gospel for Asia's Use of Donations for Leprosy Care on World Leprosy Day
Today is World Leprosy Day.
Last week, Gospel for Asia issued a press release claiming to help thousands of leprosy sufferers.
WILLS POINT, Texas, Jan. 28, 2016 /Standard Newswire/ — Gospel for Asia (GFA)-supported missionaries and workers will reach out with food, clothing and medical aid on Jan. 31, World Leprosy Day, to more than 4,000 sufferers in 63 leprosy colonies, highlighting the plight of those suffering from this brutal, but highly treatable disease.
GFA’s track record in recent years does not inspire confidence that funds donated for leprosy care will get to the victims of this dreaded disease.
According to GFA’s project giving reports for 2011-2013, donors have given $284,528 designated for leprosy ministry. However, only $36,600 has been reported on Indian government forms as being received in India during the same period. On the FC-6 form, a specific line item exists for reporting foreign donations given to assist with leprosy treatment and outreach. Only about 13% of gifts designated by donors to GFA in the United States was reported as received by GFA’s field partners in India.
Due to giving in prior years, GFA had amassed a balance of nearly $400,000 in an account to help leprosy treatment as of March 31, 2014. Using funds from that account along with a small amount of the actual donations, GFA reported spending of just over $180,000 on leprosy care from 2011-2013. That is still over $100,000 less than donors gave. As with other needs, GFA has built up a balance in this account for reasons they have not disclosed. Even while GFA continues to solicit donations, organization leaders have significant funds waiting to be used in keeping with donor intent.
K.P. Yohannan Will Not Speak at Downline Missions Conference; Still on GMMA 2016 Conference Schedule
Yesterday, I posted a link to a Memphis missions conference which featured Gospel for Asia’s K.P. Yohannan as a speaker. Today, I have learned that the Downline Summit conference director is now telling people who ask that Yohannan and the organizers have agreed Yohannan will not appear. A trip to the conference website fails to find Yohannan’s picture or any references to GFA.
Still on GMMA 2016 Schedule
Another organization which has not decided what to do with K.P. Yohannan is the Global Medical Missions Alliance. Yohannan is slated to speak at their 2016 conference. Recently, Joy Kim, representing GMMA, told me that the GMMA board has been deliberating about Yohannan’s role at the Irvine conference in late June.
Indian Government Reverses Course, Says Gospel for Asia's Land Use Was Illegal
In November 2015, I wrote about a special deal Gospel for Asia got from the Indian government. GFA essentially violated wetlands regulations by re-routing a stream and filling in wetlands as a part of the construction of the Believers’ Church Medical College. However, in November of last year, the Times of India reported that the government planned to let the violations slide.
But then, on January 22, the Times of India reported that the federal government reversed the decision:
An order issued by principal secretary (revenue) Viswas Mehta on January 14, accessed by TOI, says the earlier order issued on March 17, 2015 on the basis of a cabinet decision – ratifying the land filling and diversion of a natural stream in the area -has been cancelled after the high court intervened in the matter.
The cabinet note of March 11, 2015, also accessed by TOI, said the illegal filling, though violating the Kerala Land Use Act, could be regularized by considering it as a special case.
The allegation is that GFA willfully violated the law by reclaiming land that was protected by Indian law.