Authorities Seize Yacht, Aircraft in Alleged Scheme Targeting Ministries

Federal authorities said Monday that they had recovered a yacht, two airplanes and a helicopter with a total value of $4.5 million as they investigate an alleged $160-million investment scam based in the Southland that preyed on evangelical Christians across the country.

Gregory and Cynthia Setser of Rancho Cucamonga, accused of using their Ontario-based IPIC International Inc. to conduct the elaborate swindle over a three-year period, remained jailed pending a bail hearing Friday in federal court in Riverside. They and three other defendants are charged with securities fraud and money laundering.

A Securities and Exchange Commission official said the agency had seized $500,000 from IPIC-related bank accounts and had frozen U.S. accounts holding an additional $1.5 million.

“We’re also pursuing accounts in Switzerland, Hong Kong and other countries, including Panama,” said Spencer Barasch, enforcement chief for the SEC’s Fort Worth office. He said it wasn’t clear how much money was in the accounts. The Setsers allegedly transferred “tens of millions of dollars” overseas.

The Setsers, both 47, purchased the 103-foot Shana for $2.3 million last June, taking delivery of the powerboat in Mexico to avoid paying California sales tax, their yacht broker, Lee Racicot, told The Times last week.

The Shana, back in San Diego on Monday, was expected to fetch $2.5 million when auctioned, Barasch said -- money that eventually could be used to repay aggrieved investors. In addition, two fixed-wing planes worth an estimated $900,000 were being held at Love Field in Dallas and a helicopter valued at $1.1 million was in a Drug Enforcement Administration hangar in Los Angeles, he said.

Describing himself as a former minister and with recommendations from major televangelists, Greg Setser said he had been blessed with the ability to help evangelists get rich on investments including paint made in Panama, condoms manufactured in Brazil and California geothermal energy plants, according to statements filed by the SEC.

“I recognized most of the names he listed as being important and trusted individuals within the Christian community,” said one investor, Reece Bowling, administrator for the Marilyn Hickey Ministries in Colorado.

In Panama, where IPIC had warehouses and the Setsers had a luxury home, the government found some paint and cases of vodka, Barasch said, but nothing to indicate any of the operations were legitimate.

Authorities in Texas were alerted to the Setsers by suspicious investors. Also arrested were Gregory Setser’s sister, Deborah Setser, 38, who headed an operation set up to buy and resell foreclosed homes; their daughter-in-law, IPIC accounting manager Charnelle Setser, 21; and T. Thomas Henschke, 48, an employee who is accused of promoting a fraudulent plan for IPIC to become a public company.