Numerous extremist frauds emerged in the 1990s, but the massive pyramid investment scheme concocted by a Tampa, Florida-based organization called Greater Ministries International (GMI) was the largest, and most damaging. For years, GMI raked in millions while defiantly thumbing its nose at regulators who tried to shut it down. Its criminal activities may finally have been halted, but most victims will never see their money again.
GMI was the brainchild of Gerald Payne, a Florida contractor who found religion in the 1980s and became a minister. With James Maher (formerly on probation for running a pyramid scheme), he incorporated a financial planning firm in the early 1990s that offered a gold coin investment program. Shortly thereafter, with the help of Haywood “Don” Hall, Payne created a religiously couched investment plan that would ostensibly double the “blessings” that people invested. In 1993, they named their 
operation Greater Ministries International.
GMI seemed to be a church that helped the homeless and addicted with programs providing housing and work. But, inside, GMI was like no other church. Its headquarters had 14 safes and two vaults as well as a money counting room. And the church leaders also should have raised red flags. Gerald Payne was a preacher who kept one gun in his boots and another in his glove compartment. In 1997, upon his return from one of many trips abroad, customs agents in Atlanta found 26 videotapes in Payne’s luggage depicting bestiality. Hall, Payne’s associate, was held without bond for two months in the mid-1990′s for aggravated stalking and violating a domestic-violence injunction.
Over the years, Payne and Hall had become enamored with the extreme anti-government ideology of the so-called “Patriot” movement, and they surrounded themselves with likeminded people who ranged from members of the sovereign citizen movement to rabid white supremacists
GIVING U
NTIL IT HURTS
GMI’s flagship program, the “Double Your Money Gift Exchange,” promised to double contributions through GMI’s (nonexistent) investments in precious metals. GMI marketed the program to ultraconservative political and religious groups as well as to other communities outside the mainstream, especially the Amish and Mennonite sects. The program, stated Payne, was based on Luke 6:38: “Give, and it shall be given unto you.” Claiming to accept money only from active Christians, Payne said that God had modernized the multiplication of the loaves and fishes and asked him to share the secret.
Payne and the “elders” of GMI had few scruples in soliciting investments. They urged people to empty bank accounts, to cash in IRAs, to max out credit cards ¬ even to sell their businesses and equipment. They declared that it was the opportunity of a lifetime; an opportunity to double, triple, even quadruple one’s initial investment. Those who were convinced donated thousands or tens of thousands of dollars, with the highest single investment being several million dollars.
GMI seminars were standing room only; 700 people crowded into a hotel conference room at one meeting in Pennsylvania that raised half-a-million dollars. Because the initial investors were being paid off with funds pouring in from subsequent investors, there were at first many happy customers to spread the word further.
Because the audiences that Payne and his followers targeted were insular and far from the mainstream, GMI was able to operate for some time with almost complete impunity. But by 1995, local and state officials in Florida had heard enough about GMI to suspect that Payne was operating a pyramid scheme. In late September, a state agency issued an emergency cease-and-desist order. In response, Payne merely changed the name of the program to “Faith Promises.”
The group was bringing in vast amounts of money. In 1997, it bought Western Kentucky’s largest hotel and convention center. Eventually Payne began looking overseas. He formed a partnership with Niko Shefer, a South African who had served six years in prison for bank fraud. Payne began pouring millions of dollars into Liberia in order to secure mining rights, set up gold and diamond mines, and a bank in that war-torn country. Despite this investment, GMI never dug up a single nugget of gold.
Meanwhile, Florida regulators were having difficulties prosecuting GMI. After the group changed the name of its program to “Faith Promises” and dropped explicit promises of monetary returns from its literature, a state appeals court ruled in early 1997 that it was not a security subject to state oversight.
THE DOWNFALL
GMI’s downfall began as a result of the outside activities of some of the people associated with the operation. In November 1997, GMI elder Patrick Henry Talbert was charged with multiple counts of racketeering, fraud and other crimes related to a separate pyramid scheme that he and associate Norman Lower, a GMI volunteer, had established. Talbert waged a battle in the courts for months, refusing to recognize their jurisdiction over him and alleging that state officials owed him $1 million for economic loss and deprivation of liberty. He was eventually convicted and sentenced to a 10-year prison term. Jonathan Strawder, a former GMI employee and nephew of a GMI officer, also wound up in legal trouble after setting up a copycat pyramid scheme that took in around $14 million between May and December of 1997. He was arrested and later entered into a plea bargain in which he agreed to cooperate with authorities investigating GMI.
By 1998, even some extremist publications claimed that GMI was operating a pyramid scheme, but GMI’s leaders were defiant. In the summer 
of 1998, GMI sued two people for libel for stating that it was under federal investigation. Later in the year, when Pennsylvania officials issued another injunction, Payne and Hall openly defied the order and held meetings in that state. They defied, as well, a new Florida injunction against their financial activity. Payne argued that his religious convictions prohibited him from obeying any law not written by Jesus Christ. GMI also announced a new, even more ambitious program in 1998 called “Greaterlands,” in which donors could receive a square-foot parcel of land in an unidentified “sovereign” country.
However, GMI then received a serious blow — from a crooked bank. In the summer of 1998, state regulators in Colorado shut down Boulder-based Best Bank, where GMI had unwisely deposited much of the money it had accumulated. Payne was forced to suspend payments to all donors. Even though new funds continued to come in, the loss of the bank deposits caused the pyramid scheme to begin collapsing. GMI promoters had to tell their audiences that “Faith Promises” would not return dollars but, instead, certificates backed by the (nonexistent) gold and silver mines GMI owned in Liberia. Pennsylvania, because of GMI’s repeated defiance of its injunctions, announced a $6.4 million civil penalty in March 1999, and began legal efforts to seize GMI property.
GMI then received a mortal blow. The four year long federal investigation finally concluded on March 13, 1999, with indictments charging GMI leaders with money laundering, fraud and criminal conspiracy. Seven people were arrested: Gerald Payne, Betty Payne, Don Hall, Patrick Henry Talbert, David Whitfield, Andrew Krishak and James Chambers.
Payne and his associates were also eventually locked out of their own building, which was seized in August. Computer record checks indicated that GMI owned more than 100 cars and trucks. Church elders profited handsomely through 5-percent commissions, called “gas money,” for the investments they brought in. One defendant, James Chambers, had received $1,300,000. More dangerous plans were discovered as well, including a planned arsenal of weapons for “Greaterlands,” an island that GMI was trying to buy. The group’s shopping list included claymore mines, explosives, grenade launchers, machine guns, sniper rifles, surveillance balloons and radar systems.
Early estimates placed the amount of money GMI collected at $100 million. Later estimates (based on the 5-percent gas-money commissions) put the sum at $450 to $500 million, taken from as many as 18,000 people. While not all of that money was lost, because early investors received some returns, victims did lose around $174 million, more than half of it from Pennsylvania.
Two of the defendants, Chambers and Krishak, agreed to plea bargains, but the others fought on. GMI’s legal defense rested primarily on its contention that the government had no authority or power over any religious organization. The jury disagreed, and after a lengthy trial that ended on March 12, 2001, all five defendants were convicted on multiple counts. Immediately after the verdict, the judge ordered them jailed to await sentencing. In August 2001, the five received prison sentences ranging from 13 years (for Betty Payne) to 27 years (Gerald Payne). Don Hall received a 15-year sentence; David Whitefield and Patrick Henry Talbert were sentenced to 19 and 19 1/2 years respectively.
Meanwhile, most past victims are unlikely to get back much, if any, of the huge sums they invested.
Editor Phil Robertson is an award-wining journalist and graphic designer. With a degree from the University of Florida’s School of Journalism, his career in journalism and publishing spans over 30 years, and includes positions as editor and publisher for several newspapers and magazines. During his career he has received a first-place award for investigative journalism from the Society of Newspaper Editors, and five ADDY awards for advertising design.
