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Family Battle Offers Look Inside Lavish TV Ministry
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While TBN said it provided tens of millions of dollars’ worth of free advertising time to conventional charities like the Salvation Army and a few million dollars in some years for aid to disaster victims, it is forthright about its overriding purpose: "to spread the Gospel to the world" through its cable systems, satellite transmitters and, now, via computers and smartphones.
Janice Crouch, called "Mama" on the air, is known for her pink-tinged wigs, which look like huge swirls of cotton candy, and for talking emotionally about the Lord’s blessings. Mr. Crouch, or "Papa," is relentlessly upbeat as he quotes flurries of Bible verses on signature programs like "Praise the Lord."
Clearly, many viewers have heartfelt responses. In 2010, TBN received $93 million in tax-exempt donations, according to its tax report. The company also had $64 million in additional income from sales of airtime and $17 million in investment income that year.
It spent $194 million operating its far-flung network and investing in new programs. The company was in the red for the year, but could draw on its cushion of $325 million in cash and investments.
Rusty Leonard, an independent tax expert and the leader of Wall Watchers, a charity watchdog group that has long criticized TBN for financial secrecy, said televangelists often escape penalties for extravagant spending because the definition of taxable "excess benefits" is subjective, and authorities are reluctant to challenge religious groups.
Marcus S. Owens, a tax lawyer with Caplin and Drysdale in Washington, said that lavish spending by nonprofit organizations could raise red flags for tax officials. "The law says that any compensation must be reasonable, and the value of a house is part of that," he said. "Dinner on the company every night could be an issue too."
At the same time, Mr. Owens said, churches have considerable latitude under the First Amendment. Regarding the ordination of untrained workers, he said, "absent clear fraud, the government is not going to touch that."
A TBN spokesman said executive salaries were recommended by independent consultants. In 2010, Mr. Crouch received $400,000 as president, Mrs. Crouch $365,000 as first vice president.
On the air, Mr. and Mrs. Crouch tell viewers that they have almost no personal assets. But that only underscores the problem, said Tymothy S. MacLeod, a lawyer for the Kopers. "It’s the tax-exempt company that is giving them this opulent lifestyle."
Accounts of Extravagance
Relatives and former employees agreed that Paul and Janice Crouch seem to have deep spiritual feelings and believe they are doing the Lord’s work — a belief, according to a former employee, Troy Clements, that seemed to justify almost any extravagance.
Mr. Clements, a former executive at Holy Land Experience, said that when employees questioned decisions like remodeling the cafe three times in six weeks, Mrs. Crouch said, "No one has told me ‘no’ for 30 years, and you’re not going to start now."
Mr. Clements, who was sales and then personnel director at Holy Land, said that he resigned in frustration in 2008 and that working for Mrs. Crouch had often been "surreal."
In 2008 and 2009, as Mrs. Crouch began remodeling Holy Land Experience, she rented adjacent rooms in the deluxe Loews Portofino Bay Hotel in Orlando — one for herself and one for her two beloved Maltese dogs and clothes, according to Mr. Clements and Ms. Koper. Mrs. Crouch rented the rooms for close to two years, they said.
Ms. Crouch was seldom without her little white dogs, pushing them in a pink stroller and keeping a costly motor home, originally purchased to serve as an office, for two years as an air-conditioned sanctuary for her pets, the two former employees said.
In Newport Beach, according to Ms. Koper, the elder Mr. Crouch sometimes traveled in a chauffeured Bentley, which TBN says is used to ferry television guests in proper style.
First-class "working dinners" are a way of life. In pending lawsuits, the Kopers say that Mr. Crouch, Mrs. Crouch and their son Matthew each ran up meal expenses of at least $300,000 per year. Mr. May, the TBN lawyer, said this was not accurate but did not offer other figures.
A Contentious Exit
When Brittany Koper and her husband decided to join TBN in 2007 after college, they were tempted by the generous perquisites, they admit. But they said that as Mr. Koper completed law school on the side, and Ms. Koper her M.B.A., they began to feel uneasy and moved out of their company house.
Nonetheless, they did borrow company money for their down payment on a private home and the purchase of a condominium, and gave Mr. Koper’s uncle a company loan of $65,000, among other acts that Mr. May called thefts. The Kopers said the loans were authorized in writing by the elder Mr. Crouch, with clear repayment terms.
TBN says Mr. Crouch’s signature was forged. Mr. May showed a reporter letters from the fall in which Ms. Koper apologized for lying and lending herself company money.
Ms. Koper said that she had never admitted to breaking the law. She said she was pressured by TBN lawyers to show "Christian contrition" and to hand over company property and repay their loans.
In October the Kopers moved to New York. "We just wanted a fresh start," Ms. Koper recalled.
Her father, Paul Crouch Jr., Matthew’s older brother, was also forced off the staff and quit the board.
He declined to be interviewed, but he wrote in an e-mail,
"Getting caught in the middle of disputes involving my daughter, brother and parents is probably one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to endure."
As lawsuits and countersuits swirl, the Kopers are living in the basement of his father’s modest house in Elmont, on Long Island.
Mr. Crouch and an assistant, Matthew and his family, and two pilots are nearing the end of a six-week world tour in the larger company jet, visiting affiliates, taping programs and scouting new territory for evangelism in Rome, Dubai, Israel, Hong Kong and Hawaii.
"Others may do things differently, and may criticize TBN for how it operates, its look, its doctrine and belief," Mr. May said. "But what is absolutely clear is that TBN, with God’s grace, has succeeded where most others have failed."
Alain Delaquérière contributed research from New York.