Sometimes it is the people you would least expect that are the most dangerous. The courts believe that that is the case when it comes to Ephren Taylor, a popular speaker who motivates his mega-church to seek the Lord and promote their own welfare. This famous speaker markets himself as a Christian financial advisor, teaching fellow believers how to spend their money wisely and multiply their funds with Christian concepts. He went from rags to riches as a teen when he developed a video game that struck big with the teenage community. According to a 2007 ABC News interview, Taylor admitted that he was worth at least $20 million. Now, he allegedly uses his financial success as his ministry tool, and teaches others how to do the same.

Ephren Taylor speaks all over the country as a part of his Building Wealth Tour. In jam-packed mega-churches, he explains the best way to accumulate money, and then how Christians should use that money to support the church and other Christian institutions. He explains the balance of giving and living in luxury. His carefully prepared speeches motivate others and encourage them to reach their full financial potential. While pastors claim that everything Mr. Taylor says is based on the World of God, the courts have discovered a hidden side to Taylor's good fortune. The Securities and Exchange Commission recently discovered that there was more to Taylor's lectures than meets the ear.

In fact, Taylor's entire speaking tour was part of a giant Ponzi scheme, and attempt to take almost $11 million from church-goers that attended his lectures. Ephren Taylor has spoken at many of the largest churches in America, such as Joel Osteen's Lakewood Church and Eddie Long's New Birth Baptist Church. Since he was found out by the Securities and Exchange Commission, Taylor has been missing. He has not responded to any lawsuits, federal charges, or the angry investors who are trying to contact him to get their money back.

Many Christians are shocked to hear that Ephren Taylor may not be the honest and genuine financial advisor they thought he was. One woman who attended a Taylor financial seminar in 2009 says that he quoted Scripture. He was a very honest and kind. He convinced her to invest her life savings into a real estate venture in North Carolina. The real estate company, called City Capital Corporation was supposedly rejuvenating the abandoned homes in inner cities. Taylor convinced this woman that the investment would not only make her a rich woman, but that it would be helping urban people as well. She was promised a 20 percent return on her investment. When this lady decided to revoke her investment, she couldn't get a hold of Taylor or any of his associates. She is now trying to save her home from foreclosure.

Another woman who came to work for Taylor and his financial advisory campaign says that she grew suspicious of the speaker when she was on his staff. She began to think that City Capital Corporation wasn't a real estate investment at all, but instead the personal bank account of Ephren Taylor. While people all over America kept losing their money, Taylor seemed to be getting richer and richer. The SEC found that Taylor was spending his investor's money on his car, and to pay for the rent on his New York City apartment. He even hired an entire crew to feature his wife in a music video where she was swathed in fur and dripping in diamonds.

When investors realized that City Capital wasn't the real estate investment Taylor claimed it was, they came knocking on the office doors. Ephren demanded that the building stay locked, and showed up every day sweating and nervous. He made sure that no one would reply to phone calls or e-mails from angry investors. Ephren went to great lengths to keep his investors from knowing the truth. He made pamphlets of the non-existent entities that he wanted his investors to put their money into. The churches that have opened their arms to Ephren are now outraged. Many congregations are even suing the church because of the financial distress they have experienced from a speaker endorsed by the pastor. While he has not gone to court yet, many church-goers are demanding that Taylor be punished for his deceptive scheme.