jesus saves

Eddie Long Begs Mean Financial Company To Return Cash To Parishioners He Allegedly Helped Defraud

Atlanta-area megapastor Eddie Long, proprietor of the wonderful Cross It Up dance and reported loan defaulter, isn’t just accused of helping scam his parishioners out of their homes. He also brought in “financial experts” from City Capital Corp into his New Birth Missionary Baptist Church, who convinced some 20 members of Long’s congregation to “invest” their life savings. Those investments, as you might’ve guessed, have simply tanked — and now Long is taking to the web to try and convince City Capital’s CEO Ephren Taylor to give the cash back. Except Taylor isn’t even the company’s CEO anymore; he resigned, and was replaced by Jeff M. Smuda. Hah!

In the video, posted Sunday night, Long claims he didn’t receive any payments from the financial company for access to his church. But that’s bull, says Taylor (pictured, below) in a statement to, ahem, PimpPreacher.com.

I visited with Bishop Eddie L. Long in late 2009 prior to bringing my Wealth Tour Live to New Birth, with hopes
of inspiring and empowering the congregation in business through seminars and making my book, Creating
Success from the Inside Out, available to all attendees. The church received a percentage of product sales, and
stated their intent to sell video from the presentations. I also operated on Bishop Long’s behalf to secure certain
media opportunities for him. Members of City Capital Corporation were in attendance, and subsequently,
members of the church elected to partner with the company on community project opportunities across the country
that aid in creating jobs and stimulate local community-based projects. Even after my departure last year as CEO
of City Capital Corporation, there has been consistent communication between myself and Elder Maurice
Waddell, Chief Operating Officer at New Birth, of which there is ample tracked phone and email correspondence.

For what it’s worth, seeing some of his parishioners lose their life savings — at least one is about to lose a home to foreclosure — “touches my heart deeply.” That’s different from touching him other places deeply.

Don't forget to share:

Help make sure LGBTQ+ stories are being told...

We can't rely on mainstream media to tell our stories. That's why we don't lock Queerty articles behind a paywall. Will you support our mission with a contribution today?

Cancel anytime · Proudly LGBTQ+ owned and operated