Ministry leader building $4m home in western SC

[Are_grits_groceries]

At a time when Inspiration Networks has been cutting jobs, freezing wages and even adjusting the office thermostat to save money, the chief executive of the Charlotte-area broadcaster has invested about $4million in a lakefront home under construction in South Carolina.

CEO David Cerullo's new house includes more than 9,000 heated square feet, along with a 2,000-square-foot screened porch, records show. It sits on the edge of the Blue Ridge Mountains west of Greenville in a gated community that overlooks Lake Keowee.

And it's shaping up to be one of the priciest houses in western South Carolina. On Realtor.com, just two homes in the greater Greenville area are on the market for more than $4 million.

Cerullo's fast-growing religious network, meanwhile, is drawing scrutiny for the money it collects from donors and the incentives it won from the state of South Carolina to move from Charlotte.

The broadcaster has raised tens of millions, largely by telling viewers that God brings financial favor to those who donate.

As the nonprofit network has grown – with revenues expected to approach $100 million this year – so has Cerullo's salary.

With compensation exceeding $1.5 million a year, Cerullo is the best-paid leader of any religious charity tracked by watchdog groups, the Observer reported last month.

A network spokesman did not respond last week to repeated calls and e-mails requesting comment about the new house. In a March interview, Cerullo defended his salary and said he's turned down recommendations that he be paid more. He said that appeals to donors are based on the Bible, and 80 cents of every dollar donated is spent to spread the Gospel.
<snip>
Much of the network's money has been invested in a multimillion-dollar campus in Indian Land, S.C., just south of the Charlotte outerbelt in Lancaster County. That's where Inspiration is fighting for an exemption from property taxes on the 92-acre site, despite an S.C. revenue department ruling that it must pay them.

S.C. taxpayers are already helping to subsidize the project. In recent years, South Carolina offered the broadcaster incentives worth up to $26 million to land its City of Light campus.

Taxpayer advocates question the deal, particularly in light of Cerullo's salary and real estate holdings. “If they've got these kinds of assets, does the state really need to offer… tax breaks?” asked Don Weaver, president of the S.C. Association of Taxpayers.



http://www.charlotteobserver.com/

I want to know why we gave this clown $26m in tax breaks??? Somebody needs to look into that.

[saltpoint]

1. There are many rooms in the sheister's mansion.

[tanyev]

4. And none of them are being prepared for any of his followers.

[saltpoint]

5. Looks like one of those blatant cases of rich folks taking advantage

of everyone else.

[Obamanaut]

6. That is good. I'm going to use it at the next family gathering

with in-laws - mostly fundy, nearly all republican.

[bertman]

12. "There are many rooms in the sheister's mansion."

:rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

[no_hypocrisy]

2. It's also nauseating to consider an eighty year old widow who's sending

his "ministry" part of her meager Social Security, leaving her with a smaller diet, a colder house, compromised health. She wants a guaranty into Heaven and he wants a $4 million mansion.

[SoCalDem]

3. Praise the Lord, and pass the Crystal Chandelier n/t

[spanone]

7. because we give tax breaks to religious flim-flam men in the u.s.

[BolivarianHero]

8. It's obvious...

He's the other lover that Mark Sanford has been hiding...

Hey Marky: Come out, come out, wherever you are.

[salguine]

9. Sure be a pity if Jesus burned that down.

[JanMichael]

10. Not too far from Jim and Tammy's old homestead!

Guess there are no lessons to be learned except from outdated biblical stories, eh.

[Vinca]

11. The Jesus business pays.

[predfan]

13. He really needs to enjoy that screened- in porch, because there are no breezes in his future.

[predfan]

14. He needs to enjoy that screened-in porch, because there won't be any breezes in his future.

[ellisonz]

15. "Suckers" - David Cerullo

[KharmaTrain]

16. Religious Broadcasting = Ponzi Scheme

Many of these stations are supposed to be non-profit operations, but are little cash cows. They don't sell advertising, instead selling blocks of time to preachers. Figure an hour on a national cable network can easily go for $2500...now multiply that by 24 hours and 365 days and we're talking some serious pocket change.

Religious broadcasters have long had their cake and ate it too...using their non-profit status to get preferences for broadcast frequencies and then with little accountablity to the government or their listeners/viewers. While the "faithful" are scraping together what they can to send, the fat cats are riding in limos and living in McMansions.

[olegramps]

17. Religion is one of the best rackets in the world. Just a pack of charlatans.

I suppose if people are gullible enough to give these chiselers their hard earned money that is their problem. It has been going on since the time began from the divination of oracles to selling indulgences. They are nothing more than crooks running a scham.

[Stevenmarc]

18. I couldn't give a crap about the house, $26 mil in tax incentives to a religious org is the story.

[izquierdista]

19. God favors those who make donations

But not nearly as much as he favors those who RECEIVE donations! :rofl: :rofl:

[Dappleganger]

20. Wonder how many poor people could live in there.

And do you think he'd invite the homeless from Columbia over for a meal?

Not holding my breath.