A Bible teacher and pastor with an international ministry pleaded guilty to 11 counts of financial wire fraud earlier this year and was sentenced Wednesday to seven years in federal prison.
Jim Staley, 40, pastor of Passion for Truth Ministries in St. Charles, Missouri, taught the Hebraic roots of the Christian faith and has many of his teaching DVDs and books for sale in the WND Superstore.
He got into trouble in 2007 while working as a financial adviser, more than three years before he became a full-time pastor. He began selling a life-insurance product that he says he was told was fully insured against loss. It was not. When the market crashed in 2008, the investment was wiped out. And along with it went more than $3.3 million from investors who bought the product through Staley.
On June 18, 2014, Staley was indicted on 11 counts of wire fraud.
A week later on June 25 the FBI issued the following statement to the media:
“According to the indictment, in 2007, James Staley operated Wealth Financial International. That same year, he became a sales agent for a Premium Financing Company located in California known as B & B Equity. As a sales agent Staley found individuals to provide loans for life insurance policies. In many instances, several of these investor/lender’s funds were bundled together to provide financing to purchase one life insurance policy. Staley received a commission for each investor/lender that he found to contribute financing for the purchasing of the life insurance policies. B & B required the lender/investor to invest in the insurance policy for a fixed period of time varying from 18 months to two years. During this period of time Staley represented to clients of Wealth Financial that B & B Premium Financing Company would sell the bundled insurance policies on the open market with guaranteed returns. However, Staley was well aware that if B & B was unable to secure a buyer for the bundled insurance policies that his clients would lose all their monies invested in the Premium Financing product sold by B & B. The indictment states that Staley defrauded eleven investors/lenders by causing them to invest over $3.4 million with B & B, giving him commissions totaling over $570,000.”
Staley was arrested in June 18, 2014 and pleaded guilty on April 30, 2015.
Members of his church, Passion for Truth Ministries, came to the April 30 hearing to offer their support.
“The courtroom overflowed with so many Staley supporters Thursday that some federal agents and court staff were relocated to open up more seats,” the St. Louis Post Dispatch reported. “After the hearing, Staley thanked members of the crowd for coming. They responded with applause.”
Staley started a small Bible study in 2007 in his basement and that grew into a full-fledged church in 2010 called Passion for Truth.
The PFT mission statement as stated on its website is as follows:
“Passion for Truth is a ministry devoted to doing Bible things in Bible ways and going beyond the traditions and doctrines of men and getting back to the Christian Roots of our faith. We do this in part by looking at the scriptures from the original authors’ perspective. To find our true identity in the Messiah we take seriously the study of His Word, rightly dividing it in its original context, and living out His truth in the faith and love of Yeshua (Jesus) through establishing strong, healthy individuals, families, and ultimately through the context of a strong healthy local congregation.”
Staley’s ministry reaches some 2 million people worldwide through weekly live streaming, radio and television broadcasts, social media, the ministry website, and other PFT resources.
Joseph Farah, founder and CEO of WND, said the company will continue to sell Staley’s teaching videos and books.
“Jim Staley is one of the most gifted Bible teachers I know,” he said. “It’s unfortunate he is being punished for something that took place a long time ago, long before he entered the ministry – charges for which he was previously investigated and cleared by state authorities. I pray Jim comes through this and will be able to hold his family together in this time of great challenge.”
On Monday, two days before he was sentenced to spend the next seven years in a federal prison, Staley told WND he had resigned himself to whatever God willed for his life.
“I praise God that I know who is really the Judge and in control,” he said. “Our lives are really not our own. We are bought with a price. And if this is His will, then so be it. Many men of God had to go to prison. I pray I am not one of them, but may His will be done. ”
Staley has been married to Cheryl Staley since 1996 and has six daughters. The biography on his website states that for years he was an evangelical Christian apologist in the St. Louis area, teaching Bible study classes as well as helping Christians learn to defend the Bible and evangelize. It says he then had a supernatural experience and introduction to understanding the Bible through the original authors’ mindset and those in the First Century Church.
