House of Prayer leaders indicted on $26M fraud charges

By Anugrah Kumar, Christian Post Contributor Monday, September 15, 2025Unsplash/Michael FörtschA federal grand jury has indicted the Georgia-based leader of a multi-location church and seminary and others for their part in allegedly defrauding U.S. taxpayers and veterans of over $26 million. The indictment alleges the leader stole someone’s identity in 1983 and became a U.S. citizen before launching the organization in 2002. The indictments also involve the alleged financial exploitation of military veterans and a pastor’s sexual abuse of a minor, as critics and former members have accused the organization of being a cult. The man known as Rony Denis, founder of the House of Prayer Christian Churches of America, and seven other leaders of the organization face a 26-count federal indictment unsealed last Wednesday in the Southern District of Georgia. The organization has around a dozen locations and spans several states. Its largest congregation is based in Hinesville, Georgia. Denis’ first and last names are unknown. Investigators allege he used a stolen identity to become a U.S. citizen in 2002 before going on to establish HOPCC and its affiliate House of Prayer Bible Seminary (HOPBS).Authorities alleged that Denis and his associates used the organization and its affiliated seminaries to defraud the Department of Veterans Affairs of millions in education benefits between 2011 and 2022.”Today’s coordinated arrests of individuals connected to the House of Prayer Christian Churches of America and House of Prayer Bible Seminary effectively disrupts a calculated scheme to defraud our military service members and veterans of their hard-earned VA benefits,” said Special Agent in Charge Ryan O’Connor of the Department of Army Criminal Investigative Division’s Southern Field Office. The charges include conspiracy to commit bank fraud, wire fraud and filing false tax returns, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Georgia.”The scheme funneled funding from VA education benefits to its seminary and related church accounts, enriching the defendants while exhausting some veterans’ benefits, often without students completing their programs,” the U.S. Attorney’s Office release states. The group is accused of pressuring veterans to join their congregation and enroll in seminary programmes that were largely ineffective but enabled the church to siphon off VA funds, The Associated Press reported.Prosecutors said the scheme relied on a religious exemption granted to two seminary campuses in Georgia, which barred them from accepting federal funds. The House of Prayer seminaries received more than $3 million from the VA for those campuses, and over $23.5 million overall from five locations.The Georgia campuses are accused of submitting annual forms to regulators falsely claiming they had not accepted federal money. Investigators said this deception allowed the institutions to continue operating under the exemption, all while collecting G.I. Bill benefits intended for military service members and veterans.The organization is also accused of a wide-ranging real estate fraud scheme.The indictment says leaders recruited congregation members to serve as straw buyers for property purchases, using forged loan documents and powers of attorney to conceal the actual buyers. Between 2018 and 2020, the organization collected over $5.2 million in rental income from properties acquired through the scheme, prosecutors say.Some of those funds were allegedly used to pay personal expenses, including mortgages on two of Denis’ residences and the credit card bills of ministry officials. Former members were reportedly cut off from family contact and labelled “traitors” if they attempted to leave the network.The document says Denis filed false federal tax returns for 2018 through 2020, significantly underreporting his income during those years.The indictment also describes members being manipulated into giving up personal information, entering arranged marriages and divorces, and living in properties that fed income back into accounts controlled by the defendants.FBI Special Agent Paul Brown said the group was “exploiting trust, faith, and even the service of our nation’s military members” to enrich themselves.One of the men indicted separately is Bernadel Semexant, a pastor affiliated with the House of Prayer’s Hinesville location.A five-count indictment charges Semexant with multiple sex crimes involving a girl between the ages of 12 and 15, including enticement of a minor to engage in sexual activity, sexual abuse of a minor, and possession and receipt of child pornography.The charges carry heavy penalties. The sexual abuse and child pornography charges each carry maximum sentences of up to 20 years, and the enticement charge can result in a sentence of 10 years to life. Conviction also includes mandatory sex offender registration and restitution.Semexant, 35, is believed to have worked at several House of Prayer locations across the country, including in Georgia, North Carolina, Washington, Texas and Tennessee.Prosecutors have not confirmed whether any of the alleged offenses occurred in states other than Georgia.On Wednesday, Denis was arrested at a mansion in Martinez, Georgia, linked to him through divorce records. The seven-bedroom, eight-bathroom estate is valued at nearly $2 million, WLBT reports. The FBI has issued a public call for more victims who may have had their personal data misused by the House of Prayer network.