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Comment on Houston Pastor convicted in $3.6M fraud case returns to Church after prison release. "It's such a blessing to have our visionary pastor back at church. We are so excited."

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SoupBrick@pawb.social ⁨3⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

Court documents alleged Caldwell, using his position at Houston’s Windsor Village Church, and a financial advisor sold $3.5 million in worthless pre-revolutionary Chinese bonds to the elderly and other vulnerable investors.

This is why I put “blind” in bold. He was literally caught red handed defrauding the elderly. That is where the blindness of the congregation comes in. They choose to ignore the glaring breach of trust and allow him to retain his position of influence.

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UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

That is where the blindness of the congregation comes in.

You’re dealing with a survivorship bias. Anyone who saw the fraud and was disgusted by the minister’s actions has left already.

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- SoupBrick@pawb.social ⁨3⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago
  So are the remaining people not turning a blind eye to the public documentation of his deceit because they have “faith” that he is the best person to lead them?
  
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  - UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago
    You’d have to ask the remaining parishioners. Unfortunately, the modern state of American journalism is to pack a fist full of soundbites in between walls of ads and call it a day.
    
    For all I know, the church has exactly three congregants left - per the included photo - and an anonymously sourced (WHY ARE YOU ANONYMOUSLY SOURCING THIS QUOTE?!) one of them is just blandly “Yeah, we’re glad he’s back”.
    
    I will say that this guy is close personal friends with Emanuel Cleaver, the cousin of two prominent Black Panthers. So if they’re disproportionately skeptical of a federal prosecution of one of their leading congregants… idk, maybe there’s something ABC13 - a news channel owned and operated by wealthy Houston conservatives and a Florida-Based media mega-corp with some pretty seedy histories of its own - isn’t including in its coverage.
    
    But “I can’t believe a congregation of Black Houstonians would question in the infallibility of the US justice system” is, itself, an expression of blind faith that you might want to explore.
    
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    SoupBrick@pawb.social ⁨3⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago
    
    The evidence in the case revealed that Smith told investors he would eventually sell the bonds and they would get exponential returns on their investments. Following Smith’s fraudulent pitch, the investors were told to wire funds to Caldwell bank accounts. Caldwell, Smith and others divvied up the proceeds and Caldwell used approximately $900,000 to cover personal loans, mortgages and credit cards and pay other expenses. Smith spent his $1.08 million cut to pay off loans, buy two luxury sport utility vehicles and make a down payment on a vacation property.
    
    I don’t think it is an irrational statement to say that any person who pleads guilty to this evidence shouldn’t be put in a major position of influence.
    
    But it seems like you have your mind set that blind faith is actually ok sometimes. Which the alternative was the primary point I was trying to make.
    
    houstonchronicle.com/…/Houston-Pastor-Kirbyjon-Ca…
    
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a_wild_mimic_appears@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨3⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago
where do you even dig up pre-revolution chinese bonds wtf

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