‘False Profit’ – Eight Church Leaders in Georgia Accused of Operating a Bank Fraud Scheme for 21 Years Using Straw Buyers and Forgeries

A church leader who established the House of Prayer Christian Churches of America (HOPCC) and its affiliate House of Prayer Bible Seminary (HOPBS) is facing charges for committing fraud schemes.

In a statement, the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Southern District of Georgia says that Rony Denis, along with his close associates Anthony Oloans, Joseph Fryar, Dennis Nostrant, Gerard Robertso, David Reip, Marcus Labat and Omar Garcia, engaged in a long-running conspiracy to defraud financial institutions since 2004.

The indictment says the accused church leaders recruited members of their organization to serve as “straw buyers” in real estate transactions to conceal the identities of the true buyers. They also falsified loan applications and closing documents and used forged powers of attorney.

The defendants likewise allegedly created limited liability corporations to acquire and transfer properties, which they converted into rental homes that generated more than $5.2 million in rental income from 2018 and 2020.

From 2011 to 2022, the defendants also allegedly conspired to defraud the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and U.S. military veterans by applying for religious exemptions, enabling the HOPBS to receive more than $3 million in education benefits for its Georgia locations and more than $23.5 million for all of its five locations.

“The scheme funneled funding from VA education benefits to its seminary and related church accounts, enriching the defendants while exhausting some veterans’ benefits, often without students completing their programs.”

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