Other than by the large scale devastating impact on a small number of people, as opposed to the minor scale impact on thousands of people, and the large scale benefit to one individual promoter as opposed to a smaller – but still significant benefit – to a large group of promoters (the 42 Bishops of the Church of England); how does the concept in the newspaper report below differ from the Bishops of the Church of England extracting their extravagant living expenses from the donations made to the Church of England from its congregation; donations made for the purpose of aiding charitable causes, not for the feathering of the clergy’s nest? 

If the accused below (Valere Smith) is guilty of fraud, and he is, so too are the Bishops of the Church of England for committing the exact same act, under the cloak of ‘historic national religion and tradition’! The intent is exactly the same, and that intent is: using religion as a means to generate income which can be used to fund living expenses. The Bishops are just a little more subtle in how they perpetrate the act; and they have historical tradition, the law and parliament on their side, allowing them to commit the act with total impunity, and without any question or challenge. 

It is strange indeed that: nobody seems to mind the Bishops living off of the donations to the Church of England by its followers, but everyone minds Valere Smith living off of the donations to ‘his Church’ by ‘his followers’? 

Religious fanatic fleeces ‘disciples’ out of £224k

Tuesday 2nd August 2011 

“A religious ‘messenger’, who told his victims that ‘God told me to tell you to pay money into my HSBC account,’ has been convicted of fraud after tricking his faithful followers into parting with £224,000.  

Valere Smith, 49, was jailed for five years at Isleworth Crown Court. The court heard that he had created a ‘cult style’ group called God Kingdom, which conned believers out of thousands of pounds. 

Smith, of Borough Avenue, Wallingford, was found guilty of six counts of fraud, after convincing six people to hand over their cash and subsequently get into debt themselves.  

He allegedly told one follower: ‘God told me to tell you to pay money into my HSBC account,’  reports the Herald Series. 

The presiding Judge Georgina Kent said: ‘I'm sure that you were only able to commit these offences because you deliberately used the unusually high influence that your position of trust as their spiritual and religious leader gave you in order to exploit the victims.’ 

Smith purported  to be a wealthy businessman, who planned to build a church with the money he received from the victims. He promised each individual returns of up to eight per cent return on their investments, which never materialised.  

One victim Bernice Sanchez, who was approached by Smith in a shop in Kilburn, London, was told that he could help her with her weight, arthritis and her daughter's back problems. He ended up fleecing her of £100,000 – she paid him tens of thousands over several months, before selling her house in order to continue paying him.  

Smith eventually moved into her house for three months, during which time he began to take over running every part of her life. Tyrone Silcott, prosecuting, said of Smith: ‘He no doubt thought he was once a good shepherd but he did then end up fleecing his own flock.’ Smith asked his victims to open an HSBC account and pay money into his account. He was found to have used the money to fund his own lifestyle, including investing in a flat.  

Mrs Sanchez told the court, ‘I thought he was a holy man of God,’ before adding: ‘Looking over it now, I must have been really stupid.’”