Christian network's Crouch family facing cover-up allegations over sexual, financial misconduct

The family at the center of a multi-million dollar Christian broadcasting empire is facing allegations of embezzlement, sexual improprieties, lavish financial extravagances, and an elaborate cover-up in court documents cited by the People for the American Way's Right Wing Watch blog.

Former Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN) employee Brittany Koper filed a lawsuit in California Superior Court last week, and reports quickly circulated of Paul Crouch, his wife Janice, and their son Matt's luxurious lifestyle, including "exorbitant spending on mansions in California, Tennessee and Florida, private jets and even a $100,000-mobile home to house the dogs of Crouch’s flamboyant wife, Janice."

Allegations also include a cover-up of a homosexual affair by Paul Crouch, an adulterous relationship with a staffer by Janice Crouch, a "bloody sexual assault" between unnamed individuals and repeated incidents of their son Matt "espos(ing) his genitals to cleaning staff." Koper, a granddaughter of TBN founder Paul Crouch, Sr., was fired from the company after raising concerns about improprieties she witnessed.

After the firing, she was subjected to threats of "physical and lethal violence" by the Crouch family. Paul Crouch reportedly warned her that his wife and son were out for the "heads" of Koper and her husband, which, says the complaint, refers to "the Biblical account of John the Baptist's beheading by King Herod after John reproved Herod for certain transgressions."

Crouch family attorney Colby May fired back in a press release that accused Koper and her husband of embezzlement and calls their judgment into question. The accusations, said May, "are completely undermined when you realize that they depend almost exclusively upon accusations from individuals who admitted they had embezzled and misappropriated over $1 million from the network, and its companion ministry, International Christian Broadcasting."

You can read the entire complaint here, via Right Wing Watch.

(image via Flickr Commons)