I think we know what he would do
Michigan's largest Ponzi schemer, David McQueen,
is a terrible person.
McQueen, sentenced to 30 years in prison in one of the state’s largest, if not the largest, Ponzi schemes, was more interested in contesting his convictions than recognizing devastating losses to hundreds of victims, many of them seated behind him Wednesday, Dec. 3, in U.S. District Court in Grand Rapids, the prosecutor said.
“He created the books, he ran the fraud, he’s the mastermind behind the scene,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Matthew Borgula told a judge. “He’s not the victim. He’s one of the worst kinds of financial predators. He’s so arrogant he thinks he’s infallible.”
One of the beneficiaries of McQueen's graft was
Resurrection Life Church in Grandville, MI. McQueen donated around $300,000.00 to the church (supposedly saying "I am blessed to be a blessing"–gross). Assistant U.S. Attorney Matthew Borgula is trying to get some of the monies stolen from people back. He presented the church with evidence of the stolen funds.
MLive got a copy of the church's letter back to the U.S. Attorney:
The letter, addressed to Borgula, said elders "have read and considered the detailed information contained in your email of November 26, 2014, regarding the tithe monies and gifts given to the church by Mr. David McQueen. We were saddened to hear the news of his wrongdoing, and pray that God will work in his heart and life and bring repentance.
"We have prayerfully considered your request that the Church return all or part of this donor's gifts and tithe monies, and must respectfully decline to do so."
In the church's defense, McQueen owes $32 million and the church only benefited from a fraction of that ill-gottten cash. They feel they are being singled out.
Blauwkamp said the church, which opened its books to the FBI, had only minor disagreement with the figures provided by the government. He said that McQueen's donations came in a three-year period, beginning in 2006, when the church was involved in a building project.
"That was six years ago. You don't have money laying around that long. We feel for the victims. It's not like we have a pile (of money) to be distributed," he said.
The good news is that they "feel" for the victims. The bad news is that the church's argument is that it's not their fault, other people did it, Jesus of Nazareth. Like Jesus, Isaiah before him, Moses before him, Abraham before him–you can
donate online to the mega church (with locations all over). You can set up a repeating donation.