Ephren Taylor, accused of swindling members of Bishop Eddie Long’s New Birth Missionary Baptist Church out of millions of dollars, has been found living in Kansas, ABC News reports.
Federal authorities hadn't been able to find him after the Securities and Exchange Commission went to court to stop what it said was a Ponzi scheme targeting African-American church members across the country. After Taylor disappeared, a federal judge in Georgia entered a default judgment ordering his City Capital Corp. to pay back more than $11.7 million. Money that investors thought was going to promissory notes or "sweepstakes machines" was diverted to pay his business expenses, rent a New York apartment and fund his wife's singing career, the SEC alleged.
ABC news tracked down Taylor and his wife in Lenexa, Kansas. She was working as a masseuse under the name Liz Taylor, according to the report. The Taylors were overheard bemoaning their lost fortune, the report says.
Some members of New Birth Missionary Baptist Church have said they lost their life savings investing with Taylor. Long had asked Taylor and City Capital to "do what's right" and return the money with interest.
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