Church Leaders Accused of Theft of $10 Million

A former employee of the Los Angeles-based United Church of Religious Science has filed a lawsuit accusing the organization’s trustees and administrators of bribery, racial discrimination and embezzlement of more than $10 million in church funds since 1980.

Jack L. Griffin, 37, also claimed in a Los Angeles Superior Court suit filed Oct. 22 that he was wrongfully terminated as an operations coordinator at the church’s mid-Wilshire district headquarters. He told a news conference Thursday that he was fired after giving the church’s accounting firm information documenting the alleged fiscal improprieties.

Griffin alleged that computer records he provided the auditor reveal that more than $10 million in church assets was used to pay personal expenses of church officers and trustees and to pay for “kickbacks from and overpayment to” companies the church did business with, including computer vendors, real estate developers and building contractors.