Kenneth Copeland serves as board chairman, and his wife is a board member.
Whatever the venture - whether buying TV time or striking land deals with a church executive - Kenneth Copeland Ministries points to its board of directors as an important check that helps to maintain the organization's integrity. In a 1997 filing in Tarrant County, the church said it paid a "related party" $22 million for "telecast and mass media expense" in 1997 and received a discount of about $1.7 million on the transaction. Neither Kenneth Copeland nor John Copeland, Kenneth's son and the ministry's executive director, responded to interview requests.ĭouglas Neece said his company charges a "deeply discounted" commission below the industry standard of 15 percent. There are red flags all over these relationships." "There's too much money sloshing around and too much of it sloshing around with people with overlapping affiliations and allegiances by either blood or friendship or just ties over the years.
"There are far too many relatives here," said Frances Hill, a University of Miami law professor who specializes in nonprofit tax law. The web of companies and non-profits tied to the televangelist calls the ministry's integrity into question, they say. While Copeland insists that his ministry complies with the law, independent tax experts who reviewed information obtained by the AP through interviews, church documents and public records have their doubts. Yet church bylaws give Copeland veto power over board decisions. The board of directors signs off on important matters, they say. Church officials say no one improperly benefits through ties to Copeland's vast evangelical ministry, which claims more than 600,000 subscribers in 134 countries to its flagship "Believer's Voice of Victory" magazine.
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