The Welsh Thrasher faith scam was a
scam
A confidence trick is an attempt to defraud a person or group after first gaining their trust. Confidence tricks exploit victims using their credulity, naïveté, compassion, vanity, confidence, irresponsibility, and greed. Researchers have def ...
that targeted people of faith, operating as a
Ponzi scheme
A Ponzi scheme (, ) is a form of fraud that lures investors and pays profits to earlier investors with funds from more recent investors. Named after Italian businessman Charles Ponzi, the scheme leads victims to believe that profits are comin ...
.
It offered the "marks" or targets a combination of a
tax avoidance
Tax avoidance is the legal usage of the tax regime in a single territory to one's own advantage to reduce the amount of tax that is payable by means that are within the law. A tax shelter is one type of tax avoidance, and tax havens are jurisdict ...
entity (a corporate sole) and a high return investment program or deposit in a fictitious bank or other enterprise. The proposition at the core of the scam was promoted by an Englishman named Howard Welsh and a native of
Virginia
Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...
named Lee Hope Thrasher. Welsh and Thrasher allegedly received US$31,000,000 from about 900 people who believed themselves to be bona-fide investors in so-called "Living Your Sole Purpose" entities.
The FBI had been searching for them for two years and had placed them on
its most wanted list when they were arrested by
Scotland Yard
Scotland Yard (officially New Scotland Yard) is the headquarters of the Metropolitan Police, the territorial police force responsible for policing Greater London's 32 boroughs, but not the City of London, the square mile that forms London's ...
in late 2004.
They signed a
plea agreement
A plea bargain (also plea agreement or plea deal) is an agreement in criminal law proceedings, whereby the prosecutor provides a concession to the defendant in exchange for a plea of guilt or '' nolo contendere.'' This may mean that the defendan ...
on 11 October 2006.
US Department of Justice Press Release
/ref>
References
External links
Religion News BlogScam Risk Website
{{Scams and confidence tricks
Confidence tricks