Simon Cox Blog: Gospel for Asia Settles Lawsuit with $37 Million Refund to Donors

Friday, 1 March 2019

Gospel for Asia Settles Lawsuit with $37 Million Refund to Donors

Major ministry ends class action with no acknowledgment of guilt and gives board seat to plaintiff.

After three years in court, Gospel for Asia (GFA) announced yesterday that it would pay $37 million and a board seat to settle a class-action lawsuit.

One of America’s largest ministries—in 2013 alone, it brought in about $93.8 million—GFA faced two lawsuits accusing it of sending only 13 percent of its donations to the field instead of the oft-promised 100 percent. GFA said the allegations were unsubstantiated.

The first of those lawsuits was dismissed so it could go to arbitration. Then its plaintiffs were included in the second lawsuit—along with about 200,000 others who donated between January 2009 to September 2018—when the suit switched to a class action in the fall.

“Gospel for Asia is essentially refunding donations,” stated spokesperson Johnnie Moore. (Or at least a portion of donations—the class action originally asked for $376 million.)

“The ministry hopes that those who receive these funds will simply turn around and donate the same amount of money to another worthwhile ministry,” Moore stated. “[GFA’s] desire is only for the Lord’s work to be done.”

Approximately 200,000 past donors to GFA will be eligible to receive a portion of the $37 million settlement.

The amount was only 10 percent of what the plaintiffs asked for, but “I feel good,” said plaintiffs’ attorney Marc Stanley. “We also got significant reforms.”

One of those is a seat at the board for plaintiff Garland Murphy, a doctor who along with his wife gave $8,922 to GFA in 2012 based on its “100% Guarantee.” Another reform is taking away a board seat from founder K. P. Yohannan’s wife Gisela and replacing her with a person approved ...