Feds Arrest Man in $25M Christian Wire Scam

The Christian Post has reported that authorities late last week arrested a California man who is accused of stealing $25 million from Christian investors across the country.

Jon G. Ervin, 61, of Mission Viejo, Calif., was arrested and charged in federal court with wire fraud. The Securities and Exchange Commission and Commodity Futures Trading Commission sued Ervin’s company, Safevest LLC, which received federal orders to freeze its assets.

The criminal complaint alleges that Ervin used Safevest to target roughly 550 people, mainly Christians who regularly attend church, to invest in a fake commodities trading program. The company assured investors he would use no more than 13 percent of their deposit to buy hundreds of commodities on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange with guaranteed 1 percent daily returns. Investors could check their returns on a password-protected site that Ervin supposedly controlled.

Authorities say Ervin actually used the money to invest $1 million in a Georgia golf course, as well as to purchase a sport utility vehicle and spend lavishly on travel and other expenses.

The high number of Christian victims is likely the result of a church referral system. Church members would get other church members to participate in the investment. Those who referred others would receive a 10 percent referral fee. Pastors could participate by depositing $5,000, while others could participate by depositing $25,000.

According to the complaint, Ervin returned $18 million to investors who had become worried but never returned the rest. He supposedly dodged phone calls and avoided many investors’ inquiries.

Also named in the SEC's complaint, according to the Christian Post, is the Rev. John V. Slye, of Arlington, Va. Slye was the chief executive and co-owner of the LLC and signed on several accounts. He is listed as being one of the founders for the National Center for Cancer Research and a prominent fundraiser for charities. Slye's son, also named John Slye, is the pastor at Grace Community Church, which also is in Arlington. The younger Slye says that neither he nor his church are involved in the complaint in any way and that they have often been misrepresented.