Filed under: Careers
Since the investments were made, many members of the church have lost a great deal of money. Some have endured foreclosure and bankruptcy as a result of the financial hardship. Long spoke on behalf of members of his congregation in making the appeal.
Since the video was released, Ephren Taylor and his representatives have responded with a statement of their own. In the statement, Taylor makes direct reference to what he feels to be a character assassination committed by Bishop Long, and attempts to set the record straight:
"Due to many inaccuracies, and based upon what I view as a direct character assassination and an attempt to paint a picture of an inability, on my part, to take responsibility for the actions of City Capital Corporation during my tenure as CEO, I am extending facts relative to the aftermath of the Wealth Tour at New Birth Missionary Baptist Church," Taylor said in his statement.
Taylor then states that Bishop Long personally benefited from the seminars, in addition to members of his church:
"The church received a percentage of product sales, and stated their intent to sell videos from the presentations. I also operated on Bishop Long's behalf to secure certain media opportunities for him," said Taylor.
Taylor goes on to state that his team has been meeting with New Birth members in an effort to resolve legal problems:
"City Capital's legal team has connected via phone and e-mail with members of New Birth, per the list provided by the church. Paralegals confirmed that each member received a resolution package, and I personally reviewed an updated report on which clients were contacted, and when contact was initiated," said Taylor. "Since last year, the legal team has been working with individuals to legally and privately resolve, refund, and restructure any potential issues. To protect the integrity of the process, resolutions are confidential."
Thus far, this appears to be a clear case of he-say, she-say between Ephren Taylor, Eddie Long and church members who feel that they've been swindled. At the same time, there are a few things we can learn from this situation:
1) Ephren Taylor is not necessarily a crook just because his investors happened to lose money. The stock market goes up and down, and you're not going to automatically become wealthy because you've invested. That is the nature of risk.
2) Investors may not have known what kinds of assets they were putting their money into. The risk could have been higher than they thought, leading to the rapid losses endured by their portfolios. So, there may be a disclosure problem in either the way Taylor presented the information or the investors' inability to fully understand the investments.
3) The SEC investigation into Ephren Taylor and the fact that church members are clearly dissatisfied with their confidential resolution packages signals that there may be something inappropriate going on. Similar to the sexual misconduct allegations against Bishop Long, the public deserves to see official records on this case instead of relying on each person to give their own spin to the story.
4) I find it hard to believe that neither Bishop Long nor New Birth benefited from allowing Ephren Taylor to do financial seminars on church property. Churches around the country are finding new streams of revenue by allowing financial advisors who leverage the power of the pastor's influence to convince their flock to do interesting things with their money. I'm not sure if financial advisors belong in the church, and if they are allowed to come in, they should be carefully vetted.
5) At the end of the day, your pastor is not going to protect you and neither will anyone else. Make sure you have an expert look over any investments under consideration so you are fully aware of what you're getting into. You should also ensure that the company with whom you're investing has a solid reputation before giving them your money. Finally, you may want to avoid the temptation of giving all of your money to one financial advisor or putting it all into one investment. What sounds too good to be true probably is.
The church is always full of drama, and now that money is being added to the mix, the drama will only keep getting worse. This whole situation is crazy.
Dr. Boyce Watkins is the founder of the Your Black World Coalition and a Scholarship in Action Resident of the Institute for Black Public Policy. To have Dr. Boyce commentary delivered to your email, please click here.