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Nonprofit Law Prof Blog

Catch Me if You Can, Part II: DOJ Hunts Nonprofit Grifter Jason Gerald Shenk

By nonprofitlawprof

Catch Me If You Can Is Not a True Story - A New Book Says Frank Abagnale Lied About His Cons

DiCaprio in Catch me if you Can

I am not much into posting sensationalism, believe it or not.  I don’t buy into the “if it bleeds, it leads” mantra of local news.  No, this blog is much more on the level of the PBS NewsHour than it is “12 on your side.”  Around here, we only smile knowingly and unobtrusively at life’s ironies.  That’s right, so the stories of obvious private inurement by the poor dumb slobs who get caught with their hands in the nonprofit cookie jar don’t much interest us none.  Not much by way of teachable moments.  The only remarkable thing is how easy it all seems. 

And this guy Jason Gerald Shenk, who stole $30 million or more from Amish and Mennonites, might make for a pretty good outlaw movie one of these days.  All I could find out about him is that he grew up on a potato farm in Dublin Georgia, almost halfway down I-16 between Warner Robbins and Savannah.  Population 16,000 and change.  And that he renounced his U.S. citizenship in 2016 when revenuers were getting close.  Seems that back in 2010, Jason branded himself a Christian missionary delivering Bibles to people in China.  He set out from Dublin and from that time until July 2019, Jason collected more than $30 million in donations for his own fake exempt ministry — mostly from just two quiet Amish and Mennonite congregations in Ohio and North Carolina.  Instead of Bibles, according to the indictment, he used the money for all kinds of other stuff:

  • Payments of approximately $1 million to an online sports gambling website;
  • Purchases of equity shares of approximately $850,000 in a privately held nuclear energy company;
  • Approximately $4 million in purchases of at least 16 life insurance policies in various people’s names;
  • Purchases of diamonds, gold, and precious metals in amounts totaling approximately $1 million;
  • Purchases of domestic and foreign stocks totaling more than $188,000;
  • Payments of approximately $7 million to the company running Shenk’s family farm;
  • Purchases on at least 10 personal credit cards totaling more than $820,000; and,
  • Purchases of $320,000 in real estate in the “Galt’s Gulch” development in Santiago, Chile.

There is a fugitive warrant out for his arrest but he is probably in some country without an extradition treaty.  Having learned of Jason’s misdeeds, the spiritual folk just shrugged and allowed that the good Lord will sort it all out by and by.  But it wasn’t just bearded men in blue jean coveralls with wagons and pitchforks that Jason swindled.  Apparently, he fooled a lot of international banks and bankers too.  I mean, his scam went on for nearly 10 years according to the DOJ press release.  I tell you what, though.  You gotta be pretty sure of yourself to steal from God, that’s all I can say.  Jason probably has renounced all hope of eating homemade mashed potatoes too.

darryll k. jones