Kirbyjon Caldwell - Houston megachurch pastor and spiritual adviser to George W. Bush - indicted on

[Julian Englis]

Source: Houston Chronicle

A prominent Houston pastor and spiritual adviser to President George W. Bush has been indicted on federal charges that he sold millions of dollars in worthless Chinese bonds to elderly and vulnerable investors, according to federal authorities.

Kirbyjon H. Caldwell, 64, and Shreveport financial planner Gregory Alan Smith, 55, were charged with 13 counts of conspiracy, wire fraud and money laundering.

Caldwell is accused of using his position as the senior pastor of the Windsor Village United Methodist Church to help lure nearly $3.5 million in investments into historic Chinese bonds that are not recognized by the Chinese government. He and Smith told investors they could see returns as high as 15 times their initial investment, according to the indictment.

The charges, filed by the Securities and Exchange Commission, accuses the men of cheating 29 investors between April 2013 and August 2014 for the bonds, which are described in the indictment as “mere collectible memorabilia.”

Read more: https://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/houston/article/Kirbyjon-Caldwell-Houston-megachurch-pastor-and-12792523.php

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ETA: It's easy to forget how crooked the Dubya administration was.

[EricMaundry]

1. "Oh Lord, forgive me! I have sinned!"

Or some such shit.

[brewens]

6. The ol' Swaggert, "I'm so sorry I got caught!" n/t

[erronis]

12. And if the lord won't perhaps w's repuglican successor (dump) will pardon him (for a fee.)

I'm liking the word "mulligan" as a infidel's equivalent to "indulgence".

[hibbing]

2. Hey, at least the guy wasn't Jeremiah Wright n/t

[malthaussen]

3. Grifters gonna grift. n/t

[Firestorm49]

4. Theres a sucker born every day. P. T. Barnum

Every year you read about stories like this, usually not through the name of Jesus, but what the hell.

[Achilleaze]

5. How republican is that? Cristo-Republicanism is...

about as far from the teachings of Christ as you can get.

[Trust Buster]

7. He is religiously privileged. He can just whip out his Get out of sin free card.

[KG]

8. lock. them. up.

[Major Nikon]

9. The worst thing about getting swindled by a Christian pastor is...

you have to forgive them after they screw you.

[sharedvalues]

10. Also never forget: Bush used a private email server

Bush and rove used a private email server.

And they deleted thousands of emails, obstructing the Abramoff investigation.

Lock them up.

[TlalocW]

11. I have a hypothesis

That at every level of conservatism - wherever they are on the political spectrum - conservatives know that the things they believe in are unattainable or not able to be sustained (which is one reason they never seem to understand the consequences of their actions or ignore them completely - it's always short term goals for them*) so they need to get what they can, when they can, and the people they need to fleece are further right on the political spectrum - whether they're there naturally, or you had to make them yourself like this pastor probably did, brainwashing them in his sermons.

* Good example would be their constant attempts to legislate allowing teacher-lead prayer back in school. It always gets shot down at some level, but sometimes I wish it would go through so a Muslim teacher could lead a prayer so all the Christians would freak out.

TlalocW

[Cryptoad]

13. Gotta love those GOP Family Values,,,,,,,

[Tall Poppy]

14. Brings back memories

Of the little old ladies coming in to the large securities firm I worked for that would bring in their church bonds. They'd held onto them for decades and were ready to "cash them in". I was the one to break it to them that they were worthless.

[Fritz Walter]

15. Drumpf's Evangelicals: "Hold my sacramental wine, and watch this!"

There’s a reason why these wolves in sheeps clothing unwaveringly support Cadet Bone Spurs: we’ll scratch your hairy, pudgy, pre-cancerous mole-covered back. You’ll scratch ours (when IRS or other investigators come after us)!

[NOMOGOP]

16. Kirbyjon?

I would not buy anything from a "minister" named Kirbyjon.

[n2doc]

20. Sounds like a brand of porta-potty. n/t

[njhoneybadger]

26. Well, he is full of shit

[Dave Starsky]

28. If the Kirby vacuum company made latrines.

They would literally suck shit.

[Angry Dragon]

17. Another vote for the Good christians

[cungar2000]

18. Ask Laura Ingraham

Did he do it in honor of Holy Week?

[Initech]

19. Grifters for Jesus!

[Demonaut]

21. so he stole less than 200k on worthless bits of paper that might be collectible?

spin much?

[uriel1972]

27. You defending him?

[MrsCoffee]

29. Talk about spin. He pocketed 2 mil, indicted on 13 counts of conspiracy, fraud and money laundering.

He lured 3.5 million out of investors.

Caldwell and his Wyoming-based company, LDT are accused of pocketing nearly $2 million in the Chinese bond scheme. Smith received $1 million and “offshore third parties, at least one in Mexico” received most of the rest, according to the indictment.

Caldwell sometimes used the alias “Turner Hines” when communicating with investors, and told one person who invested about $800,000 that the bonds were backed by gold or silver, according to the indictment.

[workinclasszero]

22. IOKIYAR

[TexasBushwhacker]

23. Here is the humble pastor's house

http://virtualglobetrotting.com/map/kirbyjon-caldwells-house/

[Achilleaze]

24. This is sooooo Christo-Republican

I'm just sayin...

[olddad56]

25. It isn't his fault, Jesus told him to do it.