A Louisiana investment adviser was sentenced Tuesday to six years in prison for his part in a $3.5 million fraud in which customers invested money with a Texas megachurch minister who had counseled two presidents.
Gregory Alan Smith, 58, of Shreveport also was ordered to pay nearly $3.6 million restitution and a $100,000 fine, Acting U.S. Attorney Alexander C. Van Hook said in a news release.
Smith “persuaded multiple victims to invest approximately $3.5 million with his co-defendant, Kirbyjon H. Caldwell,” the statement said.
“This case proves that even those you trust to have your best interest at heart sometimes may not. The victims in this case thought their trusted advisor and friend would never lead them astray but sadly, he was merely a con man who led them down an unwanted path,” Van Hook said in the release.
Caldwell, like Smith, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud and agreed to a sentence of five to seven years. Prosecutors dropped other counts against each. Caldwell is scheduled for sentencing Dec. 3.
As senior pastor of Windsor Village United Methodist Church in Houston, Caldwell had been a spiritual adviser to Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama and officiated in 2008 at the wedding of Bush’s daughter Jenna. The church’s website currently describes him as a lay preacher and his wife as associate pastor.
According to the Department of Justice, Caldwell and Smith convinced victims in 2013 and 2014 to invest in bonds issued by the former Republic of China before it lost power to the Chinese Communist Party in 1949.
“The bonds were considered by the Securities and Exchange Commission to be mere collectables with no value outside of the memorabilia market,” the news release said.
Smith got more than $1 million, which he used to pay down loans, buy two luxury SUVs, make a down payment on vacation property and maintain his lifestyle, prosecutors said. When Caldwell pleaded guilty, prosecutors said he used about $900,000 to maintain his lifestyle and pay down personal loans and mortgages.
“This case proves that even those you trust to have your best interest at heart sometimes may not. The victims in this case thought their trusted advisor and friend would never lead them astray but sadly, he was merely a con man who led them down an unwanted path."
That earlier news release said Caldwell had made partial restitution to the victims and agreed to pay the remaining $1.95 million before sentencing.
U.S. District Judge S. Maurice Hicks Jr. said Smith will be on supervised probation for three years after he gets out of prison.
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