TBC NewsWatch

LAWSUIT CLAIMS "UNLAWFUL DISTRIBUTION"

Christian Post, 2/10/12: Lawsuit Claims Unlawful Distribution of "Charitable Assets" by TBN Directors [Excerpts]--A lawsuit recently filed by the former head of finance for the Trinity Broadcasting Network claims that the directors of the widely viewed Christian television network have illegally taken advantage of more than $50 million in "charitable assets" for their own good.

Brittany B. Koper, granddaughter to TBN founders Paul and Jan Crouch, previously served as the chief financial officer, director of finance, corporate treasurer and director of human resources for Trinity Christian Center of Santa Ana, which conducts business as TBN.

"Observers have often wondered how the Crouches can afford multiple mansions on both coasts, a $50 million jet and chauffeurs," [Tymothy MacLeod, Koper's attorney,] said, according to The Orange County Register. "And finally, with the CFO coming forward, we have answers to those questions."

Koper is not suing TBN, however. [The lawsuit is] against her former attorneys...Davert & Loe--Douglass S. Davert, David C. Loe and Benjamin N. Flint III. She is accusing these attorneys, who also do some work for TBN, of breach of duties, inflicting emotional distress and professional negligence.

After Koper took charge of TBN's finance department, she allegedly discovered illegal financial practices on the part of the company's directors, but was told to protect the information.

"Following her appointment, Ms. Koper was specifically instructed to falsify public financial disclosures, to falsify government records, and to otherwise cover up conduct of the TBN Companies and their directors that Ms. Koper reasonably believed to be unlawful," the suit claims.

When she approached the defendant attorneys about the situation, they allegedly advised and encouraged her to do as she was told, and said she "really [had] no choice in the matter."

The suit says Koper was pressured by TBN's directors and senior executives, who told her she could be arrested if she tried to report any illegal financial practices. When she sought the help of the attorneys regarding what she had been told, they allegedly agreed and said she would be considered an "accomplice" and discouraged her from sharing any information.

She eventually reported the issues and was fired from TBN, the suit claims. It also says her husband, Michael Koper, who served as the corporate secretary and vice president of media services for TBN, was fired as a result.

Koper allegedly caved in to threats of jail time within six weeks of losing her job, after which she and her husband turned over their home, car, life insurance, jewelry and even home furnishings to her former employer. The Kopers moved to New York to live with Michael's father in early October 2011.

CAIR'S FIGHT AGAINST PENNSYLVANIA LAW

Front Page Mag Online, 2/13/12: CAIR's Fight Against Pennsylvania Foreign Law Bill [Excerpts]--Resistance to a new bill aimed at limiting foreign law in Pennsylvania courts serves as a case study of how Islamists and their allies operate: peddling falsehoods about Shari'a, painting Muslims as victims, and denying that anyone seeks to institutionalize aspects of Islamic law.

At issue in Pennsylvania is House Bill (HB) 2029, which stipulates that "a tribunal shall not consider a foreign legal code or system which does not grant...the same fundamental liberties, rights and privileges" as guaranteed by the federal and state constitutions. Introduced in November, it follows the American Laws for American Courts (ALAC) model and makes no mention of Shari'a.

Concerns about Shari'a are warranted due to its many provisions that conflict with the standards of American jurisprudence. For example, it disadvantages women in terms of inheritance, divorce, child custody, and other areas of family law. Shari'a already has shaped numerous cases nationwide, including in Pennsylvania, where one state court decided how assets should be distributed according to Islam.

Pushback against HB 2029 has been led by the Philadelphia office of the Hamas-linked Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-PA) and was punctuated by an interfaith press conference at CAIR-PA headquarters on December 14. The overall campaign reflects CAIR's usual recipe of distortion, victimology, and contradiction between words and deeds.

Attacks on bills like HB 2029 begin by sowing confusion about Shari'a. Because Islamic law encompasses virtually every facet of life--governing personal activities such as eating and worship, but also forming an oppressive social and legal structure--suit-and-tie Islamists work to emphasize its unthreatening pieces whenever possible. CAIR-PA executive director Moein Khawaja's suggestion that Shari'a should worry Pennsylvanians "no more than halal gyros" is a fine example of this technique.

PAULA WHITE APOLOGIZES TO FLORIDA RABBI

Florida Courier, 2/9/12: White apologizes to Florida rabbi, Florida Courier publisher after "scroll-wrapping" video surfaces [Excerpts]--Florida-based televangelist Paula White submitted a written apology to Orlando-area Rabbi Ira Michaelson and to Florida Courier publisher Charles W. Cherry after a video surfaced that showed White participating in "scroll-wrapping," considered "repulsive and inappropriate" by some Jewish religious scholars.

     The video surfaced just hours after White's attorney, Daniel Beirute, categorically and unconditionally denied White's involvement in any such act.

White's "wrapping''--allegedly symbolic of being "wrapped in the Word of God," according to erstwhile "rabbi'' Ralph Messer on the video--is almost identical to Messer's wrapping of New Birth Missionary Baptist Church's Rev. Eddie Long during a controversial, widely ridiculed ceremony that went viral on YouTube.

Host Don Miller of The Don Miller Show harshly criticized both Long and Messer. One of the featured guests on the show was Rabbi Michaelson of the Beth Tefillah congregation in Clermont, just outside of Orlando.

Daniel Beirute, Paula White's attorney, unconditionally denied that White would be "coronated'' as was Long.

[Attorney] Beirute wrote in an e-mail to Cherry, "I don't know where Rabbi Michaelson gets his information, but my client categorically and unequivocally denies that that ever happened."

Rabbi Michaelson, concerned that White's denial damaged his reputation, e-mailed a video to Cherry that corroborated his statement about White.

[In] an undated broadcast that seems to be recorded from White's TV show "Paula," White agrees to allow Messer and another unidentified man to wrap White in what appears to be a Torah scroll.

Michaelson e-mailed White's lawyer. "I have consulted my own attorney who is well-versed in copyright law. It is quite clear that by your statements...you are questioning the veracity of my comments." The video Cherry saw was removed from YouTube..."due to a copyright claim made by Paula White Ministries."