Fayetteville church accused of defrauding veterans, operating like a cult
A Fayetteville church is accused of defrauding veterans across the country and was raided last week by the FBI.
House of Prayer Christian Church is less than two miles from Fort Bragg. Veterans Education Success, an advocacy group, says the church used that close proximity to prey on veterans,
Eleven pages of concerning or outright illegal behavior documented by Veterans Education Success was sent to the U.S. Department of Veterans in August 2020. The advocacy group alleged the church acted like a cult and defrauded veterans of thousands of dollars in disability and education benefits while church leaders led a lavish lifestyle.
"The behavior is just criminal," said Veterans Education Success vice president Will Hubbard.
Hubbard said the Fayetteville location is part of a nationwide network.
"There's five main sites accompanied by 11 churches, which are right next to military bases," said Hubbard. "So they're obviously going after service members specifically."
Veterans Education Success said information in the letter was supplied by church members. Those members told the advocacy group the church allegedly coached them on how to apply for maximum disability benefits before pressuring them to donate those benefits to the church.
"This is certainly one of the worst instances of fraud we've ever seen," said Hubbard.
The church allegedly stretched out seminary classes for years — often teaching little and requiring students to recruit more members while soaking up their GI Bill benefits.
"According to former members, classes were renamed or separated into multiple classes to reteach material already taught to them," the advocacy group's letter alleged.
"It is highly unlikely that receiving a certificate from HOPCC's bible seminaries would benefit students in any way, even if they did receive one," the letter said.
The letter also said students often left classes early to either recruit new members or do chores, like washing cars or construction work, for church leaders.
"What the church would do, would be to take control of their entire life, including their families," said Hubbard.
Church leaders allegedly encouraged active-duty military members to get on medical boards so they could be discharged early and access VA benefits, according to the letter.
The letter said multiple former church members believe the church leader was using the church and classes to make money, and that the church leader was using funds to "finance luxury homes in Florida and to go on lavish vacations."
Veteran Education Success' letter also accuses House of Prayer of cult-like behavior, with one church leader allegedly claiming to be a "prophet" in direct touch with God, who required students to pray when he called their classes.
In the letter, the advocacy group said one church leader would interrupt classes to force students to pray "as a means of exerting control over their free will."
"Church members and students who question [the church leader] are said to be publicly humiliated," the letter said.
Church members who would tried to leave would be stalked or harassed, the letter said.
The FBI confirmed Thursday it raided the Fayetteville church on June 23. The agency saying no arrests were made, and did not provide additional details on their current investigation.
House of Prayers Christian Church did not respond to multiple phone calls from WRAL-TV.
