Transcripts For WPVI Nightline 20140618 : vimarsana.com

The families feel you cheated them. We tracked them down for an investigation nearly two years in the making. Theres a lot of people trying to reach you. First the nightline five. Captions paid for by abc, inc. Good evening. Just hours ago ae culmination to a saga that crosses piety and prosperity. The son of a pastor who told parishioners at some of americas most prominent mega churches that he could make them rich and please god in the process. They believed, and they gave him millions. Late today two years after nightline started investigating, an arrest. Heres abcs steve. Reporter the pastor was eddie long. Good morning. Reporter at the time one of the most powerful black preachers in america. Your life is about to change. Reporter six years ago he introduced his mega church to this man. Put your hands together to receive my friend, my brother, the great Ephron Taylor. Reporter life did change. Ephron taylor was a selfproclaimed millionaire only in his 20s and a preachers son who spoke the language of the church. To these families he was a financial whiz kid. Were going to show you how to get wealth and use it for the building of his kingdom. Reporter it was all part of what he called his wealth tour. Sermons about selfimprovement and financial pitching later in private. Security officials now say these families were victims of a ponzi scheme that reached into churches across the country from eddie longs in atlanta to joel olsteens. He preached selfimprovement and shared stories of his success as a young black man on shows like montel williams. I created my own Internet Company and made threequarters of a million yon dollars on itunes. Reporter even here on abc. Where do you see yourself in ten years . Probably a minister in somebodys congregation. Reporter when he spoke to church goers, his words resonated. You are here, and god has he sounded like a godly person to you . He did. He quoted scriptures. Reporter lillian said she your your tirmt, and its gone . Its gone. Youre blessed, positives perrous. Reporter in houston, texas, at the mega church of pastor joel olsteen the flock was introduced to taylor when according to the church he was invited to speak to a small Classroom Group about biblical financial principles. That was where the kiosk came out of . Reporter barry and anita were there and later invested 1. 3 million, their life savings and her mothers retirement. They thought they were investing in an inner city laundromat, a juice bar, a gas station. Were you spending money on things that existed or that were imaginary . Some existed. Some didnt. Reporter attorney cathy says hundreds of investors told her the same story. I cannot tell you how many people have said to me i bought it only once. Reporter one thing taylor was apparently investing in is his wife michelles music career. In 2009 taylor credits himself as executive producer and hot male model. We tell him to stick to his day job, but were not sure what that is. Maybe you know this one. Im sexy Pay Attention reporter the government says taylor paid for the studio time for his wifes music career with the money that came pouring in, and there he is again making a cameo. All together now. Snoets im about the billionaire and i dont care and i dont care and i dont care reporter the complete version is available on itunes. In august of 2011 we started looking for taylor. First at the headquarters he listed for his business. The address led to a post office box inside this mail store. Lisa conway worked for taylor in 2010. She saw yet another investment his company was pitching. I would see things that werent like what . I had caught them trying to manipulate paperwork. It sounds like you dont believe any of this stuff existed . Because i know so much. We had folks reporter soon she said panicked families were banging down the doors of this office where she and taylor worked. Theres got to be fear on his part that this is all coming down . Yeah. Yes. You could see him sweat. How many of you want to get paid . Raise your hand and give praise if you want to get paid. Reporter over here lillian wells would like to get paid, but she says that even after asking the church for help, she collected nothing. What is the first thing the bishop said to you . Well, he came in, and he said basically church aint got no money. Reporter lillian no longer attends bishop longs church. She says she was forced to file bankruptcy september 2012. My name is reporter from minister yid long, he claimed that he and his church did nothing wrong. In 2011 long released this video pleading with taylor to return the money. Please, do whats right. Reporter even people who have known taylor since the day back when he was just starting out say they dont know where he or most of the money has gone. We were young and ambitious guys, and i liked that about him. Reporter christopher says he met taylor when they were both 19 and they briefly sold vending machines together. He claims they even invested 26,000 of his own money with taylor, but what bothers christopher most is he convinced his own father to give taylor 75,000. He says neither of them got more than a fraction back. It cost me a big lesson, but im not going to get it back. Smashing in his face really isnt going to help me. Reporter in may of 2012 we heard from an attorney representing taylor who said taylor is not in hiding and has stayed out of the polt because of concerns for his safety. He said taylor unekwifically denies that he looted investor proceeds to fund an extravagant lifestyle. Then nightline got a tip. Someone had located Ephron Taylor and his bride. We went on the hunt. Go, go, go, go. Reporter when we come back watch how one sheet of new bounty keeps working, while their two sheets just quit. New bounty. The noquit pickerupper. From the bounty factory in northern utah. To a walmart near you. Join walmart and bounty in supporting american jobs. Youve reached the age where you know how things work. This is the age of knowing what needs to be done. So why let erectile dysfunction get in your way . Talk to your doctor about viagra. 20 million men already have. Ask your doctor if your heart is healthy enough for sex. Do not take viagra if you take nitrates for chest pain; it may cause an unsafe drop in blood pressure. Side effects include headache, flushing, upset stomach, and abnormal vision. To avoid long term injury, seek immediate medical help for an erection lasting more than four hours. Stop taking viagra and call your doctor right away if you experience a sudden decrease or loss in vision or hearing. This is the age of taking action. Viagra. Talk to you doctor. Were back with a special edition of nightline. Ephron taylor was the son of a preacher who told believers he could revolutionize their finances, but then it all went very wrong, so what would he say when nightline caught up with him and his wife . Heres abcs again. Reporter there was this Ephron Taylor. The man in the music video celebrating the high life starring his wife. I do what i want i move like a billionaire rirjts then lfs this Ephron Taylor. I tell you, are you broke . You cant make no money. Reporter who preached faithbased investing to churches across the country. You want to get paid this morning . Somebody raise their hand and give god the praise if you want to get paid this morning. Reporter he was charged with the fcc by running what they call a ponzi scheme saying he preyed on those church goers who gave them their trust and more than 11 million. Suddenly the whole thing went upside down. Reporter back then the fcc told us they couldnt find him. His attorney told us he was just staying out of the spotlight. Hmm. Well, we got a curious tip. If we really wanted to talk to the taylors, we might want to look in linexa, kansas. Specifically at a shop called panacea massage. There was always a lot of comment about in the past having had lots of money. Reporter two years ago in the fall a massage therapist rented a room. She went by the name liz taylor. No, not that liz taylor. Though she did seem to share the late actresss love of bling. She would also make comments about how my purse was cheap, and he was used to the good purse. I got the point that she was very depressed about her current lifestyle. Reporter she says her husband also talked about his previous career and lost fortune. Her husband, Ephron Taylor. He is really smart, quoting her, and he is really in investments, and he is a consultant. I said what happened to all the money . Well, you know, the market went bad, and the same old answer to every question everybody has money. They like to whisper all the time. Even if youre standing right next to them, they whisper in each others ears. They cant look you in the eye. They dont acknowledge youre standing in the room with them. Reporter one day anna says ephron was sitting at the front desk, and she says he seemed nervous. He was just sitting at the desk on the computer. I dont know what he was doing, but he was sitting there, and i went to grab a piece of scotch paper, and he backed up so far away from me so far that he hit the desk. Pam decided to install security cameras. He says ephron took moat. One of the comments that i was told he said, hey, look, heavy cameras. Be careful what you said because theres audio and night vision. It was, like, well, whats going on . Reporter this was when the salon ladies turned into amateur sleuths. She had me look at lizs licenses. I said her license is michel. The recording artist . She googled it, and then the whole can of worms opened up. Reporter they even found our abc news nightline story which they viewed online. Then it was the whole scam thing that surfaced on the internet. Thats how it all came together. It was all within a matter of 20, 30 minutes. Then we all went ah. I was, like, oh, my god. We had no idea. Reporter apparently while all those investors wondered where he was, Ephron Taylor was spending his days in a suburban day spa. Salon ladies made the connection and contacted one of our sources and called mightline. A lot of people may have said, you know what, lets just wash your hands of these people, let them go. Oh, absolutely not. If you are so quick to take someones money and just leave them high and dry you are capable of anything. Reporter our source told nightline about the activities in kansas, and sure enough we caught up with them at an apartment complex. What do you say to all those families that say you cheated them . Can you give them an answer . Those families that say they took their money . Sir . Anything to say to all of those families . What about the money that the courts are ordering you to pay those families . Do you plan to pay them back . Theres a lot of people who are hoping to hear from you. Do you have any response . Anything for those people . Theres a lot of people trying to reach you. Reporter an hour later as if Nothing Happened taylors wife shows up for work. Is your husband here . Im with you. Im with you. You guys running from everybody . What do you say to the court and all of that money that the court is asking you guys to pay back . The families feel that you have cheated them. Li0 9omo do you have anything to say to those people who say that they think that you have taken money from them . Do you have anything to say to those families at all . Reporter her reaction was one of the strangest we had ever seen. Like she was walking the runway at a surreal fashion show. Reporter do you have anything to say at all . Do you and your husband plan to go somewhere else after this . Not a word. Reporter that is until today. When we come back, what happened just hours ago that has some of taylors investors jumping up and down. They are joyful. They are grateful. Some of them still just cant believe it happened. This special edition of nightline is brought to you by nissan. Yeah dont stop now, come on mony come on, yeah i say yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah cause you make me feel like a pony so good like a pony so good like a pony [ male announcer ] the sentra with bose audio and nissanconnect technology. Spread your joy. Nissan. Innovation that excites. Mony mony innovation that excites. If yand youre talking toevere rheuyour rheumatologistike me, about a biologic. This is humira. This is humira helping to relieve my pain. This is humira helping me lay the groundwork. This is humira helping to protect my joints from further damage. Doctors have been prescribing humira for ten years. Humira works by targeting and helping to block a specific source of inflammation that contributes to ra symptoms. Humira is proven to help relieve pain and stop further joint damage in many adults. Humira can lower your ability to fight infections, including tuberculosis. Serious, sometimes fatal events, such as infections, lymphoma, or other types of cancer, have happened. Blood, liver and nervous system problems, serious allergic reactions, and new or worsening Heart Failure have occurred. Before starting humira, your doctor should test you for tb. Ask your doctor if you live in or have been to a region where certain fungal infections are common. Tell your doctor if you have had tb, hepatitis b, are prone to infections, or have symptoms such as fever, fatigue, cough, or sores. You should not start humira if you have any kind of infection. Take the next step. Talk to your doctor. This is humira at work. From color. To the remote. To flat screens. Now its taking a quantum leap. Introducing fios quantum tv. Record up to 12 shows at the same time. Store up to 200 hours of entertainment in hd. Plus watch live tv anytime with the fios mobile app. Redefining what tv can be. Thats powerful. Call the Verizon Center for customers with disabilities at 800. 974. 6006 tty v redefining what tv can be. Thats powerful. I never know what kind theof adventure awaits. That the days are longer, and the breeze feels a little sweeter. And, thanks to volvo, ill pay nothing for repairs or maintenance for 5 years, nothing. They even cover my first months payment. So, ill be happy wherever the summer takes me. The wonder of summer event. The 2015 volvo s60 with complimentary first months payment. Starting at 329 a month. Sflimplts were back with more of our special edition of nightline. After losing their money and their faith, the investors who say Ephron Taylor cheated them out of mill wronz are jumping for joy tonight. Here again, steve. What do you say to all those families that say that they cheated them . Its been nearly a year that we last saw Ephron Taylor talking to abc news about accusations that he swindled his brothers and sisters of the church out of millions. You want to get paid this morning . Reporter today the prayers of his clients were finally answered as only hours ago he turned himself into authorities on various counts of fraud charges that only cover a fraction of what the sec and other Government Agencies claim he swindled from investors. Taylors lawyer had this to say about his clients arrest today. Mr. Taylor voluntarily surrendered to Law Enforcement immediately upon learning of the indictment and he is anxious to address the pending charges. Cathy lerman, an attorney representing some of the alleged victims, was overjoyed by taylors arrest, and thats putting it mildly. Other than the birth of my two children, this is one of the happiest days of my life. This day means a lot to me. It means even more to my clients who are the victims. It is answers to prayers that justice be done. Reporter it has always been our prayer for a resolution to this matter in which many lost their investments. Our hearts go out to anyone who suffered losses and we pray for healing. Taerls told attorney abc news that taylor was released tonight on his own reconnaissance. Ms. Lerman wishes that werent so. I believe he is a flight risk. I dont believe Ephron Taylor ever intends to answer to anyone for any of the evil that he has done if he can get away with it. Reporter but tonight his alleged victims are taking solis in the hope that he will soon be answering to a higher power. Are you here, in gods house this morning. Reporter for nightline, in miami. An extraordinary story reaching a cli maximum of sorts tonight. Our thanks for his reporting this past few wreerz. We want to thank you as well for watching abc muse tonight. World news now is coming up with the overnight breaking news. Tune in to gma in the morning, and were online 247 at abc news. Com. Thaur again for watching. News. Com. Thaur again for watching. Good night. Captions by vitac [dramatic music] hey whats up . What up, dog . Whats up . Whats up . Whats up . Yes yes yes, sir. Hello. How are you . Good. Welcome, baby. Come on up. Thank you. Yeah. Hello, and welcome to millionaire. All this week, were helping to raise money for Childrens Miracle Network hospitals. [cheers and applause] they provide support to 170 childrens hospitals across north america. Every time a contestant makes it to round 2, were donating 10,000 to this cause, man. And at the end of the week, well have a celebrity guest who will donate their whole bank to this wonderful cause. [cheers and applause] up first today is a contestant who believes she is lucky when it comes to trivia. Her skills have landed her a man, and now shes hoping for a lot of cash. From killingworth, connecticut, show some love for jennifer courtright. Whats up . How are you . How are you . So you love trivia