Brazil Wants Church Leaders Extradited (Back To US)

Taken from Yahoo News, Jan 23, 2006
By STAN LEHMAN, Associated Press

SAO PAULO, Brazil - Brazil has requested the United States extradite two leaders of an evangelical church who allegedly used their followers' donations to buy mansions, a horse farm and apartments in Brazil and the U.S., the Foreign Ministry said Tuesday.

Estevam Hernandes Filho, 52, and his wife, Sonia Haddad Moraes Hernandes, 48, were arrested by U.S. customs agents in Miami earlier this month on charges of carrying a large sum of undeclared cash.

According to Brazil's Justice Ministry, the United States has 60 days to decide whether the couple will be sent home, where they face charges of money laundering, larceny and fraud.

The two were arrested Jan. 9 after arriving in Miami with $56,467, but claimed to be carrying only $10,000, according to an affidavit.

The church has called the charges against Hernandes Filho and his wife "slander" and said there was simply a "mistake" in their customs declaration but declined to provide details.

"I can assure you that the recent events have in no way shaken the faith of our followers," Reborn in Christ spokesman Marcio Foffu said by telephone.

The couple's attorney, Luiz Flavio Borges D'Urso, did not immediately return phone calls seeking comment.

Hernandes Filho, a former Xerox marketing executive, and his wife founded the Reborn in Christ Church in 1986 and rode the wave of popularity of evangelical churches in Brazil, the world's largest Roman Catholic country.

The Reborn in Christ Church claims to have "hundreds of thousands" of faithful and some 1,200 temples, including three in the United States — Orlando and Deerfield Beach, Fla., and Boston.

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Additional info -taken from International Herald Tribune, Report by AP, 10.01.07

# The two were charged with failing to declare U.S. currency and bulk cash smuggling, charges that each carry a maximum sentence of five years in prison.

# The churches have drawn millions in the country of 185 million with dynamic services that appeal to younger, working- and middle-class Brazilians. Critics say they exist to enrich their leaders, who demand big donations and offer vague promises that providence will reward the faithful with riches.

# Among the internationally known members of the church is soccer player Kaka, the midfielder who has starred for Italy's AC Milan and Brazilian national team.

# According to Brazilian media reports, the couple has accumulated a fortune that includes luxury homes, real estate and imported cars. Reborn in Christ also is said to possess newspapers, TV and radio stations, a recording company and the commercial patent on the word "gospel" in Brazil.

# Last year, some 3 million evangelical Protestants marched through Sao Paulo, South America's biggest city, singing hymns in a show of their growing influence.

# From 1991 to 2000, the number of Brazil evangelicals grew annually by 8 percent, while the number of Catholics grew by 0.3 percent. Brazil was nearly 100 percent Roman Catholic a century ago, but the percentage has dropped to 74 percent today.