The head of a cult-like church was taken into custody this week, facing allegations of essentially swindling millions from the Department of Veterans Affairs.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation raided a $2 million 11,000–square–foot Georgia mansion and arrested a man using the name Rony Denis.
Alongside seven others, he was accused of defrauding veterans, charged with multiple fraud schemes, and tax violations, according to an indictment from the US Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Georgia.
Denis and his associates are charged with ‘taking advantage of military personnel’ by urging them to join the House of Prayer church, enrolling in a seminary program, and then using their Veterans Administration benefits to divert funds into accounts managed by the church.
Church leaders allegedly paid themselves for ‘expense reimbursements’ or ‘love offerings’.
The indictment viewed by Daily Mail added: ‘The veteran–student would rarely, if ever, graduate from HOPBS’s course of study’.
House of Prayer members were told by the church to recruit military personnel to join using a technique dubbed ‘soul winning,’ as per the indictment.
Prosecutors state in the indictment that Denis’ church plotted to ‘extract money and assets from the VA and various veterans through materially false and deceptive pretenses, statements, and promises’.
A man using the name Rony Denis is being accused of defrauding veterans of millions of dollars
Prosecutors allege that Denis’ House of Prayer church targeted military personnel
An aerial view shows Denis’ luxury home in Columbia County
The veterans’ tuition was paid through GI Bill benefits, according to the indictment.
The federal indictment alleged that Denis stole his identity in 1983 – his real name is unknown – and used it to become a US citizen in 2002.
Steve Sadow, Denis’ chief defense lawyer, dismissed the accusations, telling the Daily Mail: ‘Reverend Denis is a compelling religious leader, beloved and respected by his congregation.’
‘He is not guilty of the charges lodged against him and he will be acquitted by a jury when the case comes to trial.’
Denis went on to establish the House of Prayer Christian Churches of America (HOPCC) and the associated House of Prayer Bible Seminary (HOBPS).
The House of Prayer church started ‘prior to 2004’ when he ‘recruited several members of the New Testament Christian Church,’ the indictment said.
They set up sites in ‘approximately 10–12 locations in at least five states.’
The locations ‘were established near United States military installations for easier recruitment and indoctrination of military members,’ the indictment said.
The FBI raided the Georgia home this week. Officers are seen at the scene
She is seeking a protection order and a divorce, as well as the couple’s mansion and Rolls Royce
The largest one was in Hinesville with ‘an average of approximately 200–300 attendees’, while other congregations ‘were as small as a few dozen’ people.
Seminaries were created in Hinesville; Hephzibah, Georgia; Fayetteville, North Carolina; Killeen, Texas; and Tacoma, Washington.
The indictment said that the church had ‘fraudulently obtained a religious exemption from state regulators in Georgia to operate’ two of its five locations.
The exemption did not allow for Georgia seminaries to receive federal funds – but the church applied for and accepted education benefits, which should have made it ineligible, according to the indictment.
House of Prayer ‘received more than $3 million in education benefits for its Georgia locations and more than $23.5 million for all five locations’.
Denis and the other church leaders are accused in the indictment of exercising ‘extreme control and manipulation over other members of the HOPCC and attendees of the HOPBS’.
The indictment said Denis ‘at times arranged marriages and orchestrated divorces’ among House of Prayer members.
It also states he would ‘castigate’ and ‘humiliate’ members privately and publicly for ‘for purported violations of the expected standards of conduct’.
The student conduct included ‘texting a person of the opposite gender’ or sporting ‘worldly and unbecoming’ clothes.
The indictment added that church ‘members were expected not to have contact with former members, including family’ and that ‘some former members were maintained’ on a list referring to traitors.
Denis and the seven others are also accused in the indictment of a ‘long–running’ bank fraud scheme, in which the church used ‘straw buyers’ in real estate transactions.
The indictment said that ‘straw buyers would be required to execute loan documents’ which the church ‘knew contained false information to obtain mortgages from financial institutions’.
After buying a property, the church would allegedly ‘seize control’ and convert them into rentals – subsequently ‘directing’ other church members to live there and pay rent.
Accusations against Denis and House of Prayer’s real estate practices have existed since at least 2017.
The indictment, among other examples, lists a transaction from August 18, 2008 in which a ‘straw buyer then–HOPCC–member’ identified as a female identified as ‘J.E.’ bought a property in Hinesville for $115,000.
She was unemployed, made no money and brought ‘no funds’ for a down payment.
Denis was arrested by the FBI at his $2million mansion in Georgia
‘J.E.’ never lived at the house she had just ‘purchased’ and never paid the mortgage or received any rental income, according to the indictment.
The church collected rent payments of more than $5.2million between 2018 and 2020, the US Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Georgia said in the indictment.
That income was allegedly used to pay the mortgages on Denis’ West Palm Beach home, as well as the defendants’ credit card bills.
The 11,000-square-foot home that was raided has seven bedrooms and eight bathrooms. It was last listed on Zillow for $1.96million.
Denis was granted bond on Thursday and his next hearing will be next week.
