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The FBI has raided the office of a California company called Christians in Crisis Investment Fund.  Stephen K. Wilson and his wife, Christina Silvas are under investigation for money laundering and running  a Ponzi scheme through that business.    

Silvas had her first fifteen minutes of fame in 2002  when a Christian school that her daughter attended told Silvas to quit her job as a stripper or her child would be expelled from the school.  The flap landed in the national media and got Silvas a photo shoot with Playboy magazine.

According to the affidavit supporting the search warrant pursuant to which the FBI raided the Wilson’s home and office contained a few specifics about what Wilson and Silvas were doing with the money raised through Christians in Crisis.  Mark Hedlund of News 10 in

[T]he affidavit claims Wilson and his wife, Christina Silvas Wilson, used money from the investors to make down payments on their house, exotic cars and a yacht.

“(Stephen) Wilson withdrew at least $1.1 million for personal expenses … treated the Washington Mutual CIC (Christians In Crisis) account as if it were a personal bank account,” states the affidavit by IRS investigator Don Daley.

According to the document, $400,000 was used as a down payment on the $1,147,500 house on Glen-Mady Way in Folsom. The house was purchased in Christina Silvas Wilson’s name, possibly to hide the fact that Stephen Wilson has a bankruptcy and prior fraud conviction, according to sources.

In September of 2006, Christian Silvas Wilson allegedly used $118,000 of the investors’ money as a down payment on a Lamborghini Gallardo, a $168,000 car. One year later, she traded it in and used the proceeds to buy a 2007 Porsche Cayman.

It appears that the investigation is in the early stages.  We’ll report updates on Investor’s Watchblog.  But this one is beginning as so many other scams that target Christians. 

There may not be a more vulnerable sub-set of the investing community.Christians bond around their shared faith in Jesus.  As hard as it is for the devout of any religion to comprehend, an affinity fraudster thinks no more of feigning belief in God or using the name of God in his scheme than he would about jaywalking.  I have seen scams in which affinity fraudsters wept and brought church leaders to tears while delivering the supposed story of their salvation.  Anything to establish credibility. 

Remember that Jesus counseled us not only to be as innocent as doves, but also as “shrewd as serpents”.  Especially when you find your faith underlying your trust in a stockbroker or an investment promoter, investigate thoroughly.