Lawyers representing worship leader Sean Feucht have asked a federal court to dismiss a lawsuit alleging that a $250,000 donation to his ministry was misspent.
In a lawsuit filed on 6 March, businessman Steve Bray sought "restitution and disgorgement of all of the funds fraudulently obtained", as well as punitive damages and "any further relief" the court finds "just and proper".
However, in a filing submitted on 5 June, Feucht's attorneys argued that Bray is attempting "a large-scale fishing expedition" into the ministry's financial records as part of a "larger effort to harass and target" Feucht.
The attorneys also argued that Bray's claim should be dismissed because the donation was made through a third party, the National Christian Foundation (NCF), rather than directly to Feucht's ministry.
According to The Roys Report (TRR), NCF has distributed around $25 billion to approximately 90,000 ministries over the past 44 years.
Feucht's lawyers argued that Bray forfeited any legal claim to the funds when he instructed that the donation be made through NCF.
“Plaintiff did not cut a check to Defendants. Nor did Plaintiff make a restricted gift. Quite the contrary: Plaintiff donated to a third-party entity,” attorney David A. Shaneyfelt wrote. “The alleged misuse of donor funds cannot have injured Plaintiff, because (he) had no legal right in the funds at the time that Defendants allegedly received them.”
Bray told TRR that he decided to support Feucht's touring worship ministry after meeting him in person.
“He’s very, very, very convincing,” the businessman said. “He left and we talked about, ‘Hey, you know, we want to help this guy accomplish this tour that he’s doing.’”
However, Bray said he later became concerned after seeing Feucht's accommodation in an expensive Washington, D.C., neighbourhood, which led him to question the ministry's finances.
“None of this makes sense. None of it fits together,” he told TRR. “When something doesn’t fit, you have to take it apart, which, you know, is the point of the lawsuit.”
Bray said he became further concerned after learning that Sean Feucht Ministries is registered with the Internal Revenue Service as an association of churches and therefore does not publicly disclose financial information.
“He needs to have everything disclosed. If you want to be personal, start a company … you don’t have to tell anybody what your salary is,” Bray said. “But if you’re in ministry, you better be willing to, you know, pony up. And when they don’t want to do it, huge red flags, sirens, yellow lights, red lights.”
In their motion, Feucht's attorneys noted that churches are not legally required to disclose financial information and argued that Sean Feucht Ministries should not be accused of concealing information when it is operating within the law.
