It's a drama fit for reality television: Larger than life characters, familial infighting, private jets, mansions, pink poodles, and of course contentious litigation. Sadly, it's not the Real Housewives of Orange County or the Shahs of Sunset at the center of this drama, but the first family of Trinity Broadcasting Network. Brittany Koper, granddaughter of TBN founders Paul and Janice Crouch, alleges that her grandparents are scamming the public with their prosperity gospel message and using the contributions of their viewers to sustain a lavish lifestyle that would make a hip hop mogul blush. Mama and Papa Crouch counter that granddaughter Brittany is merely attempting to distract attention from her own wrongdoing. They've accused her of misappropriating ministry funds while she served as finance director for the organization.
While the truth of the various allegations is yet to be determined, one thing that's indisputable is that the Crouches opulent living makes the extravagancies of our congressmen and women look like child's play. As advocates of the "prosperity gospel" the Crouches teach that the more you give to God, the more you get. And of course, since they are self-proclaimed agents of God's kingdom they would suggest that the best way to "give to God" is to give to them. According to a recent article in the New York Times this message is working quite out nicely for the pair, whose TBN brought in $93 million in donations in 2010.
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