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 hav ...

that targeted people of faith, operating as a Ponzi scheme. 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 jurisdi ...

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 in late 2004. They signed a plea agreement on 11 October 2006.US Department of Justice Press Release
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References

External links

Religion News BlogScam Risk Website
{{Scams and confidence tricks Confidence tricks