The Florida Baptist Convention has been the victim of financial fraud, its leaders said in a public statement May 10.
The exact nature of the fraud and the amount of money involved were not disclosed. Baptist News Global asked an official spokesperson for the convention for more information and was told nothing would be said other than the statement released statewide.
That letter was sent to pastors of Florida Southern Baptist churches. It said: “The fraudulent transaction is related to a payment from our convention to one of our SBC entities. We have reported this crime to the FBI, local law enforcement, our insurance carrier, our bank and our auditing firm.”
The letter hinted that embezzlement does not appear to be the source of the problem.
“This fraud was accomplished with a general knowledge of the communications and practice between the SBC entity and the convention,” it stated. “An investigation is being launched to determine how this knowledge was gained. At this time, we have no reason to suspect malfeasance by any convention employees. Nevertheless, the convention is committed to fully investigating the matter.”
The letter was signed by Tommy Green, executive director-treasurer; Aaron Burgner, president of the State Board of Missions; Darren Gaddis, chair of the Finance Committee; and Paul Purvis, convention president.
Convention leaders are “distraught over this loss of financial resources,” they said.
For now, the loss will be covered by reserves, the statement said.
Florida Baptist leaders also offered a warning to other nonprofits and churches: “These types of attacks continue to plague organizations of all sizes and scopes. We encourage pastors and churches to remain diligent with the security of their IT and financial systems. This specifically includes critically scrutinizing any and all requests — even those from a supposedly well-known source — that request a shift from historical payment practices.”