A Washington pastor accused of establishing a fake internet company and convincing his parishioners and others to invest more than $13 million in it has been charged with wire fraud and money laundering after he dismissed them as demon-possessed when they demanded the return of their money.
The pastor, 46-year-old Cristian Popescu, who leads the Passion for Christ Church in Kirkland, was arraigned Tuesday, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Washington. Popescu, a Romanian citizen who lives in Bothell, has pleaded not guilty to 10 counts of wire fraud and five counts of money laundering and is now set to go on trial on Dec. 21.
It was unclear Wednesday if Popescu still leads Passion for Christ Church. The church did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Christian Post.
A 13-page indictment against Popescu states that he founded and served as the chief executive officer of a company in Bellevue called Followone, Inc. The company describes itself as “a social media business platform that uniquely integrates multiple sectors — auto, real estate, healthcare, and e-commerce — into one unified space.”
The indictment alleges that no later than July 2015, Popescu began using “lies and deception” to market Followone to investors as a successful platform that was generating millions of dollars in revenue by executing transactions in a wide variety of markets. He also told investors, many of whom were his parishioners, that the business would soon be listed on the Nasdaq stock exchange.
“Popescu used his trusted position to manipulate Passion for Christ congregants and others into giving Popescu money, which Popescu said would be invested in Followone. Popescu told investors that God had chosen them to invest in the company and that doing so would further the church’s mission,” the indictment states. “Popescu told investors their investments would remain within Followone and that they could withdraw their money at any time.”
Prosecutors allege that Popescu obtained at least $13 million from more than 30 investors. He allegedly urged them to raid their retirement accounts, take out home equity loans and tap their children’s college savings. Instead of investing the money he received from investors into Followone, investigators allege that the pastor transferred more than $4.5 million of the company’s funds to accounts belonging to himself, his wife and other family members.
He is accused of paying himself more than $1 million in wages between 2017 and 2024. He also paid his wife more than $300,000 in wages even though she was not a genuine employee of the company. He transferred nearly $900,000 to his personal stock trading account and used about $1 million from the company to pay personal credit card debt.
To give the impression that the company was doing well, Popescu allegedly rented expensive offices in downtown Bellevue and hired low-level staff members who he presented as high-level experts. He also created fake portfolios showing the company’s value had grown to $1.4 billion.
“At one point, Popescu based the investment values on a $1.4 billion valuation for Followone, when in fact, Popescu knew the company had little or no value because it had no significant assets, no revenues, and no prospect of revenues,” the indictment said.
He also did not disclose that he owed $350,000 to the landlord of the office space he rented for the company and had stopped paying employees due to cash flow problems.
“As alleged in the indictment, this defendant created the mirage of a successful, valuable online marketplace and social media site in one,” Acting U.S. Attorney Neil Floyd said in a press statement. “Popescu lured investors from his church with fake marketing materials, websites, and expensive offices, and then took their money for his own luxuries and day trading, betraying them financially and faithfully.”
As the mirage unraveled, the indictment alleges that the embattled pastor became hostile and attempted to paint his concerned investors as demonic for asking questions.
“When investors requested that Popescu return their funds as promised, Popescu falsely told them that doing so would interfere with an ongoing audit or with the process to be listed on the Nasdaq stock exchange,” the indictment said. “When investors pressed Popescu for more information about Followone or expressed doubts about Popescu’s representations, Popescu invoked his position in the church, became irate, and told the investors they were demonically possessed.”
Popescu was released on bail with electronic monitoring until his trial despite objections from prosecutors.
If convicted of both the money laundering and wire fraud charges, Popescu is facing up to 30 years in prison collectively and $500,000 in fines.
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