Georgia man posed as missionary, spent $30 million donated for Bibles, feds say

A Georgia man has been accused of misappropriating over $30 million in funds that were supposed to be used on Bible donations, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.  

The DOJ announced on Tuesday that a warrant had been issued for the arrest of 45-year-old Jason Gerald Shenk of Dublin, Georgia, saying he is sought internationally for “multiple federal charges.”

According to the statement, Shenk is accused of defrauding faith-based charities and generous individuals who believed they were donating to a Christian ministry in China. Shenk represented himself as a missionary dedicated to projects around the world and told donors the money would be used to produce and distribute Bibles and other Christian literature to individuals in the People’s Republic of China, alleged the report. Instead, prosecutors said the funds were filtered into multiple shell corporations for Shenk’s own use.

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Authorities said Shenk then appropriated millions of dollars to spend on his own interests, including:

• $1 million for online sports gambling;
• $820,000 in charges across at least 10 personal credit cards;
• $1 million in diamonds, gold and other precious metals;
• $850,000 in equity shares of a private nuclear energy company;
• $320,000 in real estate;
• $7 million to a company managing his family’s farm;
• life insurance policies for at least 16 people totaling $4 million;
• stock purchase worth $188,000.

Between April 2010 and July 2019, Shenk obtained $22 million from one charity and another $10 million from a different organization and individual donors, primarily in Ohio and North Carolina, alleged the statement. Shenk filtered the money through multiple intuitions and bank accounts in Asia, Singapore, Georgia and North Carolina and eventually withdrew his U.S. citizenships in 2016 to avoid reporting his finances to the federal government.

Shenk could spend up to 20 years in prison if convicted and he would also be obliged to forfeit all property related to the crimes and pay steep financial penalties.

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“When people of faith donate money for evangelistic purposes, they reasonably expect those who solicit their donations to act as faithful stewards of those funds,” said Jill E. Steinberg, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Georgia. “This case alleges an egregious breach of that trust at the expense of multiple charities and individual donors.”

Authorities are currently unaware of Shenk’s location. Anyone who believes they may have donated to his scheme is advised to contact federal authorities at 478-752-6810.