Eight individuals connected to the House of Prayer Christian Churches of America in Georgia have been indicted by a federal grand jury for operating a $22 million fraud scheme that targeted U.S. service members and veterans.
A federal court unsealed a 26-count indictment on Sept. 12 that alleges the defendants of exploiting military personnel by recruiting them into the church, directing them to enroll in House of Prayer Bible Seminary, and then using their Veterans Administration benefits to funnel money into church-controlled accounts.
According to a Department of Justice release, church leaders allegedly disguised payouts to themselves as “expense reimbursements,” “love offerings,” and similar terms, while also using fraudulently gained funds to pay credit card bills for the defendants.
The indictment charges church founder Rony Denis and church leaders Anthony Oloans, 54, Joseph Fryar, 51, Dennis Nostrant, 55, Gerald Robertson, 57, David Reip, 52, Marcus Labat, 42, and Omar Garcia, 40, with numerous crimes, including bank fraud, misuse of VA education funds and false tax returns.
“The defendants are accused of exploiting trust, faith, and even the service of our nation’s military members to enrich themselves,” Special Agent in Charge of FBI Atlanta Paul Brown in a statement. “This indictment makes clear that using coercion, manipulation, and fraud under the guise of religion will not shield wrongdoers from accountability.”
According to the indictment, the group’s leader posed as “Rony Denis,” an identity he allegedly stole in 1983. Using that identity, he became an American citizen in 2002 and went on to establish HOPCC and its affiliate House of Prayer Bible Seminary (HOPBS).
The indictment alleges that beginning no later than 2011 and continuing through 2022, Denis, Garcia, Labat, and Robertson conspired to defraud VA and American military veterans of millions in education benefits.
According to the indictment, the defendants fraudulently obtained a religious exemption from state regulators in Georgia to operate two of the five locations of HOPBS. This exemption required that Georgia seminaries not receive federal funds. Nevertheless, the Georgia HOPS applied for and accepted VA education benefits, making it ineligible to maintain the exemption. HOPBS received more than $3 million in education benefits for its Georgia locations and more than $23.5 million for all five locations.
From 2013 through 2021, the indictment alleges that HOPBS officers fraudulently submitted false certifications to Georgia regulators that claimed the seminary did not receive federal funds, despite receiving millions in VA payments each year.
The scheme funneled funding from VA education benefits to its seminary and related church accounts, enriching the defendants while exhausting some veterans’ benefits, often without students completing their programs, according to the indictment.
Reach Julia LeDoux at Julia@connectingvets.com.