Two AME Zion Pastors Face Up To 20 Years In Prison After Defrauding The Federal Government Of $14 million In Loans.
Church Staccato Powell, the former president of the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church’s board of bishops, has been federally charged with fraud and conspiracy connected to allegations of his mishandling the properties of congregations in California and fraudulently gaining millions of dollars for personal use. Powell (62) and the lay leader, Sheila Quintana (67) were indicted on the sixth of January and both were charged with one count of conspiracy to commit wire and mail fraud and two counts of wire fraud. Powell was also charged with a further count of mail fraud. Both face a possible maximum sentence of twenty years for each violation along with a maximum fine of two hundred and fifty thousand dollars and three years of supervised release after a prison term. In all, the net proceeds of their crimes are said to amount to more than fourteen million dollars.