A Pastor Is Charged With Taking $13 Million From His Flock. Asking Questions Is Not Demonic.

A Washington state pastor has been charged with taking $13 million from members of his own congregation. Federal prosecutors say he told them God had chosen them to invest, and that when some of them asked hard questions, he told them they were demonically possessed.

Cristian Popescu, 46, of Bothell, leads a Kirkland congregation called Passion for Christ. He was arraigned Tuesday in federal court in Seattle on 10 counts of wire fraud and five counts of money laundering, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Western District of Washington said. He pleaded not guilty, and trial is set for Dec. 21. A magistrate judge appointed him a public defender, who did not respond to The Seattle Times, and the church did not return the paper's requests for comment.

The charges are allegations. Popescu is presumed innocent unless and until he is proven guilty in court. But the indictment lays out a pattern every churchgoer should learn to recognize.

What prosecutors say happened

As early as 2015, according to the indictment, Popescu claimed to own a Bellevue company called Followone Inc., which he described as an online marketplace and social network where users could buy and sell cars, real estate, food and travel. Prosecutors say the platform was in fact "a web of non-functional screens." More than 30 people invested.

Popescu allegedly told investors the company earned millions in revenue and was about to be listed on the Nasdaq. At one point he claimed it was worth $1.4 billion, prosecutors say, when he knew it had little or no value. He rented expensive Bellevue offices and claimed 20 employees, when only three people worked there, according to the indictment. The company was eventually evicted, owing more than $350,000 in rent.

He used his role as pastor to recruit, prosecutors say, "telling them that God had chosen them to invest in the company and that doing so would further the church's mission." He allegedly urged members to raid their retirement accounts, take out home equity loans and drain their children's college savings, and offered a seat on the company board to anyone who reached $1 million.

Investors were required to sign nondisclosure agreements and use encrypted messaging, and to turn off their phones and smart devices during meetings, KOMO News reported. When investors pressed for answers, prosecutors say Popescu "invoked his position in the church, became irate, and told the investors they were demonically possessed."

Prosecutors say he moved more than $4.5 million to accounts belonging to himself, his wife and other relatives, and paid himself more than $1 million in company wages between 2017 and 2024. One victim wired nearly $1 million in a single transfer.

"Popescu lured investors from his church with fake marketing materials, websites, and expensive offices, and then took their money for his own luxuries and day trading, betraying them financially and faithfully," said Acting U.S. Attorney Neil Floyd. Over prosecutors' objections, Popescu was released on electronic monitoring until trial.

The warning signs

Dock Line wrote this week that judgment begins at God's house. Church leaders who abuse their flocks deserve no cover from fellow believers. If these charges are proven, this is a wolf who used the language of faith as a weapon.

Whatever the jury decides, the tactics described in the indictment are worth naming, because they show up in churches more often than we like to admit.

The first is spiritual pressure on a money decision. No pastor has a word from God about where you should put your 401(k). When someone claims divine backing for an investment, that is a reason to slow down, not speed up.

The second is secrecy. Nondisclosure agreements, encrypted chats and phones switched off at the door are not marks of a ministry. "For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved," Jesus said in John 3:20. Honest dealings can stand to be seen.

The third is turning questions into sin. The Bereans in Acts 17:11 were called "more noble" because they "searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so." They checked what even the apostle Paul told them. Asking for proof is not rebellion, and it is certainly not demonic. A leader who treats it that way has told you something about himself.

Paul warned Timothy that "the love of money is the root of all evil," and that some who coveted it "have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows" (1 Timothy 6:10). Church members lose twice in a scheme like the one alleged here: once in their savings and again in their trust.

Churches can protect their people. Keep ministry and private business deals apart. Put more than one set of eyes on any money the pastor touches. And teach members that loving their pastor and checking his claims are not opposites. Real shepherds welcome that kind of scrutiny.

Hero photo: SounderBruce via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped and resized.