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volunteerindictedm scammp a**? «* lt;#S V i%*Wit •Pair charged with swindling seniors out of $300,000TAMPA (AP) — Two men connected to Greater Ministries International have been accused of swindling elderly people out of nearly $300,000.Patrick Henry Talbert, a church elder who has organized financial trusts for ministry followers and Norman Lower, a ministry volunteer, were indicted Thursday on 42 counts of racketeering, conspiracy, securities fraud, theft and other charges.The indictment is not related to Greater Ministries, though federal investigators are looking into allegations of money laundering and fraud within the group.Talbert reportedly promoted a program called Faith Promises, a suspected Ponzi scheme, in meetings across the country.A Ponzi scheme is one in which organizers promise high profits, then use new investors’ money to pay off earlier investors, all the while needing more and more newinvestors to keep up with growing numbers of earlier investors.Talbert and Lower also pitched DTA Trust, known alternately as Down Town Auto and Diversified Telecommunications Agency, to 11 elderly investors, state officials said.Investigators say Lower and Talbert spent some of the $280,000they raised for DTA trust on themselves, put some in personal accounts and gave some to relatives.A Sebring couple with $100,000 • invested in Down Town Auto reportedly were told the money ,went into a shop that spruced up cars to be exported for lucrative ♦sales.2 According to a previous civil ^lawsuit, once the couple’s promised ‘payments didn’t materialize, they -went looking for the shop and found Ja one-bay garage where no one had heard of DTA, or of Talbert or Lower.This past August, an arm of the federal Treasury Department issued an alert about Greater Ministries’ banking operations, saying the Greater International Bank of Nauru is not authorized to do business in the United States, or in Florida.If convicted, Lower and Talbert could be sentenced to a maximum of 30 years in prison.t C.AlCINEMASbargain matini i aliMlOVvS SIAIUING HI lOlxf 6 PmDrill I . ( fill • Nu PtDin.,11
Newspaper Details
Englewood Sun
Englewood, Florida, US
Sat, Nov 08, 1997
Page 3
Full Page
Clipped by
Akron S.
OH, USA 12 Mar 2018
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