A Christian Preacher Got $3.9 Million in PPP Money… Then Bought a Private Jet

[ZiprHead]

https://friendlyatheist.patheos.com/2020/12/12/a-christian-preacher-got-3-9-million-in-ppp-money-then-bought-a-private-jet/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=facebook&fbclid=IwAR3so7zCQlBmQgpvDHgyBz4Bvi4EgQ4Il33E2xrZousmUvM4dYgelnJgzJQ

Lamb heads up Daystar Television, one of the largest religious TV networks in the country, which is overseen by his (tax-exempt) Word of God Fellowship church. In 2014, the network was the focus of an NPR investigation for functioning as a business despite getting church-like tax breaks. Making matters worse, the “church” spent money on things like sponsoring a NASCAR driver, giving a loan to one of Lamb’s buddies (who later defaulted on it), and buying nearly $100,000 worth of Lamb’s wife’s book. The network’s board of directors was positively Trumpian, with Lamb’s family sitting in nearly every seat.

It was a clear example of what happens when the understaffed IRS can’t effectively provide oversight to religious non-profits.

So why was Lamb the target of Guerrero’s investigation?

Because Daystar TV applied for a Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loan to pay its employees, and they received nearly $4 million of taxpayer money. That in itself isn’t a (new) problem since religious groups were allowed to receive PPP money to cover salaries for their staffers.

But Guerrero found out that Lamb, shortly after getting that money, purchased a multi-million dollar private jet…

 

[Angry Floof]

I'd be more surprised if a religious grifter didn't buy a private jet with taxpayer money intended for employees.

 

[Metaphor]

Did the employees not get paid? What's the story here?

 

[ZiprHead]

Did the employees not get paid? What's the story here?

Obtuse much?

 

[James Brown]

There's absolutely no reason why a person can't receive government assistance and also buy expensive luxury goods.

That's why it's perfectly fine for a person to receive food stamps while owning a smart phone and a big-screen TV.

This is known.

 

[ZiprHead]

ETA: Opps.

 

[ideologyhunter]

He's Rev. Marcus Lamb (a name for an evangelist that could've come from Elmer Gantry.) (My second-favorite name for a TV evangelist, after the unbeatable Creflo Dollar!!!) After all this came out, his company reimbursed the $3.9 m to the government, with interest. In other words, 40 years after the shenanigans with the Bakkers and Swaggart and Oral Roberts and his 800-foot Jesus (or however tall it was), there's still enough cash in this racket to buy jets and pay off multi-million dollar loans -- but the office staff has to sweat out every payday...
This tells me that Marcus Lamb is living out the message in Lord Jesus' parable of the three servants. He takes God's bounty and returns it, replenished, renewed, and brimming with increase. I have signed my IRA and house deed over to Rev. Lamb, and I urge you to do likewise. And the jet -- the jet lets him soar closer to Lord Jesus.

 

[Elixir]

Did the employees not get paid? What's the story here?

Yes, they each got a private jet.

 

[Metaphor]

Did the employees not get paid? What's the story here?

Obtuse much?

Apparently I must be. I don't know what the Paycheck Protection Program is, nor do I know if its forbidden to use it while a CEO lavishly compensates himself.

 

[ZiprHead]

Did the employees not get paid? What's the story here?

Obtuse much?

Apparently I must be. I don't know what the Paycheck Protection Program is, nor do I know if its forbidden to use it while a CEO lavishly compensates himself.

It's a program of grants and loans meant for small businesses and their employees to help them survive during covid.

My wife's boss got $107,000 and used it for hazard pay and to pay the employees while the stores were closed completely.

 

[Angry Floof]

Apparently I must be. I don't know what the Paycheck Protection Program is, nor do I know if its forbidden to use it while a CEO lavishly compensates himself.

It's a program of grants and loans meant for small businesses and their employees to help them survive during covid.

My wife's boss got $107,000 and used it for hazard pay and to pay the employees while the stores were closed completely.

SURELY there must be a loophole in there for buying private jets instead of paying employees! But you'll be relieved to know that Metaphor is on the case. If there's an excuse for this honest country preacher man, he will find it.

 

[Metaphor]

Apparently I must be. I don't know what the Paycheck Protection Program is, nor do I know if its forbidden to use it while a CEO lavishly compensates himself.

It's a program of grants and loans meant for small businesses and their employees to help them survive during covid.

My wife's boss got $107,000 and used it for hazard pay and to pay the employees while the stores were closed completely.

SURELY there must be a loophole in there for buying private jets instead of paying employees! But you'll be relieved to know that Metaphor is on the case. If there's an excuse for this honest country preacher man, he will find it.

But the employees were paid, weren't they?

 

[Angry Floof]

SURELY there must be a loophole in there for buying private jets instead of paying employees! But you'll be relieved to know that Metaphor is on the case. If there's an excuse for this honest country preacher man, he will find it.

But the employees were paid, weren't they?

SEE?! I knew you could do it, Metaphor.

 

[Metaphor]

SURELY there must be a loophole in there for buying private jets instead of paying employees! But you'll be relieved to know that Metaphor is on the case. If there's an excuse for this honest country preacher man, he will find it.

But the employees were paid, weren't they?

SEE?! I knew you could do it, Metaphor.

Do what? Ask a question? Asking a question is excusing people?

It would be one thing if the payment had been taken and the employees had not been paid. But they were paid.

So, what is the OP about? That the PPP was poorly designed and went to businesses that didn't need it?

 

[Angry Floof]

SEE?! I knew you could do it, Metaphor.

Do what? Ask a question? Asking a question is excusing people?

It would be one thing if the payment had been taken and the employees had not been paid. But they were paid.

So, what is the OP about? That the PPP was poorly designed and went to businesses that didn't need it?

Excellent! You're doing great!

 

[ZiprHead]

INEVITABLE MEGACHURCH ABUSE OF PPP FUNDS IS COMING TO LIGHT — PRIVATE JET INCLUDED

The federal government can’t take our money and give it to Joel Osteen or Robert Jeffress or Paula White—even in the wake of a pandemic,” I wrote back in May. But that’s exactly what Trump’s Small Business Administration has done by giving Paycheck Protection Program funds to churches. Paula White’s church took in between $150,000 and $350,000, Jeffress’s church grabbed between $2 million and $5 million and, now we know that Osteen’s megachurch pocketed $4.4 million. Other megachurches snagged millions of taxpayer dollars. As time passes, the inevitable abuses are coming to light. One megachurch televangelist even bought a private jet two weeks after receiving $4 million in PPP funds.

None of this should ever have happened.

The CARES Act extended eligibility for loans from the Small Business Administration to nonprofits, something new. But the law did not give the SBA the power to extend this eligibility to churches, nor could it—the Constitution prohibits government funding of religion. In fact, the CARES Act only mentions religion once, to prevent universities from using taxpayer funds for “capital outlays associated with facilities related to athletics, sectarian instruction, or religious worship.” However, the SBA ignored that language along with the centuries-old bar on taxpayer-funded religious worship, and instead issued rules and guidance declaring that the forgivable loans distributed under the CARES Act’s Paycheck Protection Program “can be used to pay the salaries of ministers and other staff engaged in the religious mission of institutions.” To do this, SBA had to suspend numerous rules that, correctly, prevented taxpayer funds from flowing to churches.

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

Supporting a church during a crisis isn't the worst thing. Some churches can help, and did help and did provide a message of social distancing and not opening too quickly.

Supporting a "mega-church" seems inconceivably wrong, seeing the whole "non-profit" Mega-Church has been a scam for decades! I'd rather pay their former workers the bonus $2400 a month than put a dime into a mega-church.

 

[ZiprHead]

Tom Brady Received Nearly $1M In PPP Money. He Then Bought A Yacht.

[TWEET]<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr"><a href="https://t.co/XVArODQehH">https://t.co/XVArODQehH</a> Tom Brady dominates on land, air ... and now by sea -- 'cause the QB just bought a multi-million dollar boat and we've got the pics!</p>— TMZ Sports (@TMZ_Sports) <a href="https://twitter.com/TMZ_Sports/status/1335565319058886656?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 6, 2020</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>[/TWEET]

Brady’s 40-foot-plus vessel named “Viva A Vida,” arrived in St. Pete last Thursday, just a day before it was discovered his Massachusetts-based supplement and merchandise company, TB12 Inc., received nearly a million dollars from the Federal Paycheck Protection Program (PPP).

While the $522 billion program was designed to help small businesses cover things like rent and payroll during the pandemic, larger companies mostly benefited and nearly half of all small businesses were denied PPP (it was even worse for minority-owned businesses).

But nevertheless, Brady’s company managed to pull in a $960,855 loan on April 15, 2020, from the federal government, according to data released by the U.S. Small Business Administration.

 

[Worldtraveller]

What does God need with a starship private jet?

 

[Keith&Co.]

What does God need with a starship private jet?

Well, if you're teaching prosperity gospel, you gotta prosper. And if God won't buy you a jet, why not get the gubbmint to take care of a measly payroll, so YOU can use payroll as God intended? To line your pockets?