Swails Vs Oral Roberts University, Lawsuit Filed by Former Employees Options

[Panama_Pete]

Read the actual lawsuit located here in PDF format.

Interesting items start on page 6. The top of page 7 is also interesting regarding the regents.

Do you think televangelists eventually begin to see their non-profit organizations as being their own, personal piggy banks? Yes or no. A question to ponder.

I'm posting the actual lawsuit, filed on October 2, in the 3ABN section because the issues in the Roberts lawsuit seem to be parallel to some of the issues in the 3ABN lawsuit, in my opinion.

http://www.tulsaworld.com/webextra/content...ails_vs_ORU.pdf

This post has been edited by Panama_Pete: Oct 5 2007, 11:31 PM

[Panama_Pete]

Read the actual lawsuit located here in PDF format.

Interesting items start on page 6. The top of page 7 is also interesting regarding the regents.

Do you think televangelists eventually begin to see their non-profit organizations as being their own, personal piggy banks? Yes or no. A question to ponder.

I'm posting the actual lawsuit, filed on October 2, in the 3ABN section because the issues in the Roberts lawsuit seem to be parallel to some of the issues in the 3ABN lawsuit, in my opinion.

http://www.tulsaworld.com/webextra/content...ails_vs_ORU.pdf

The former employees appear to have added more charges to their lawsuit:


http://newsok.com/article/3141132/1191566958

Quote:

"TULSA — On the same day a lawsuit against Oral Roberts University, President Richard Roberts and three school officials was amended to add libel, slander or defamation accusations, the school announced an investigation into allegations made in the suit.

The lawsuit was changed Thursday after Roberts told students at a weekly chapel service Wednesday that the lawsuit against him is about intimidation, blackmail and extortion..."

The addition

The addition to the lawsuit is formally titled "libel/slander/defamation per se.” The "per se” addition means that the three former professors who filed suit need only to prove the statements were made, said Gary L. Richardson, their attorney....."

[4reneyonly]

Saw this today and thought that it is so very typical of alot of the ministries these days. Tragic, but common. Throw some light on all of them.

[Observer]

Read the actual lawsuit located here in PDF format.

Interesting items start on page 6. The top of page 7 is also interesting regarding the regents.

Do you think televangelists eventually begin to see their non-profit organizations as being their own, personal piggy banks? Yes or no. A question to ponder.

I'm posting the actual lawsuit, filed on October 2, in the 3ABN section because the issues in the Roberts lawsuit seem to be parallel to some of the issues in the 3ABN lawsuit, in my opinion.

http://www.tulsaworld.com/webextra/content...ails_vs_ORU.pdf

Interesting to say the least.

[runner4him]

Read the actual lawsuit located here in PDF format.

Interesting items start on page 6. The top of page 7 is also interesting regarding the regents.

Do you think televangelists eventually begin to see their non-profit organizations as being their own, personal piggy banks? Yes or no. A question to ponder.
I'm posting the actual lawsuit, filed on October 2, in the 3ABN section because the issues in the Roberts lawsuit seem to be parallel to some of the issues in the 3ABN lawsuit, in my opinion.

http://www.tulsaworld.com/webextra/content...ails_vs_ORU.pdf

Very interesting.....A big yes to your question regarding televangelists coming to the point of seeing their non-profit organization as their own, personal piggy bank! And all the people help to make that dream a reality with their check books sitting on the couch watching the TV saying Amen.

Another interesting note....I heard over 30 years ago there was talk in Tulsa about the Roberts family living lavishly and even having a number of fancy cars all the same make, model, and color so no one would know that was more than one.

Does anyone remember Oral Roberts getting on TV and proclaiming that God told him He would slay Oral unless he built a hospital? He had to raise the money and he would week after week plead with the people to give more so his life would be spared. Now at the time I wondered.....why would a "faith healer" need to build a hospital? At the same time you could request hankies that were blessed by Oral Roberts for healing...you just pin them to your clothes and wait for the prayer of good health to be answered.

No more blind giving for me.

[lurker]

This is the kind of story that makes Seventh-day Adventists feel smug because we aren't gullible enough to fall for the flash and glitter of the tv televangelists.

Oops , we have our own scandal don't we?

This post has been edited by lurker: Oct 6 2007, 04:23 AM

[caribbean sda]

Irregularities and creative accounting practices at television ministries surprise me no longer...these people seem to think they're above the law.

[daylily]

I remember the Oral Roberts pleas for one million dollars. He said if he didn't raise the money in a certain length of time the Lord would call him home and he would weep during his money pleas. I remember thinking if he believed the Lord would "call him home", wouldn't it be better to just be in Heaven than struggling on this old planet? Why weep and beg for money so you wouldn't have to go to Heaven???

[Observer]

This is the kind of story that makes Seventh-day Adventists feel smug because we aren't gullible enough to fall for the flash and glitter of the tv televangelists.

Oops , we have our own scandal don't we?

The Associated Press has distributed this story world-wide. This story is out, and the media is runnling with it.

Will the same happen with the 3-ABN mess?

In my opinion, the above is not the question. Rather the question is: When?

[LaurenceD]

Here's the way the Examiner-Enterprise described it:

ORU president responds to lawsuit
By Justin Juozapavicius Associated Press Writer
Thursday, October 4, 2007 2:37 PM CDT
http://www.examiner-enterprise.com/article...ate/news016.txt

TULSA (AP) — The president of Oral Roberts University responded Wednesday to a lawsuit filed against him and the private Christian school, saying God spoke to him and told him to say the suit was about “blackmail and extortion.”

“Here’s what he told me to say to you,” Roberts told students and faculty at his weekly chapel. “’We live in a litigious society. Anyone can get mad and file a lawsuit against another person whether they have a legitimate case or not.

“’This lawsuit ... is not about wrongful termination. It is about intimidation, blackmail and extortion,”’ he said.

A day earlier, three former professors sued ORU and Roberts, alleging they were wrongfully dismissed after they reported the school’s involvement in a local political race. Such involvement would violate state and federal law because of the university’s nonprofit status.

Former professors Tim and Paulita Brooker and John Swails also said their dismissals came after they gave regents a copy of an internal report documenting moral and ethical problems of the university’s president and his family.

The report documented more than 40 instances of alleged moral or ethical misconduct, including:

— Use of the university jet to take one Roberts daughter and several friends on a senior trip to Orlando, Fla., and the Bahamas at a cost of $29,411.

— University and ministry employees being regularly summoned to the Roberts’ home to do the daughters’ homework.

— That Richard Roberts’ wife, Lindsay, was given a white Lexus SUV and a red Mercedes convertible by ministry donors, who also picked up insurance costs.

The report was developed by the ministry’s community and governmental liaison, Stephanie Cantese, sister-in-law of Richard Roberts, according to the lawsuit.

Tulsa attorney Gary Richardson’s firm is representing the professors.

“This suit has been filed by an attorney who has over the years filed many suits against Oral Roberts University for more than, well multimillions of dollars,” Richard Roberts said Wednesday. “And he has lost every suit that he has filed against the university. I have been down this road with him before. I know him far too well.”

Richardson said he was involved in only one past lawsuit involving ORU, involving its hospital building, but that case never went to trial.

“I hate to call him a liar, but he’s a liar,” Richardson said.

Roberts told students and faculty that “some may think that I might ought to hang my head in shame. But, I won’t do that.”

Located in south Tulsa, ORU accepted its first students in 1965. More than 5,300 students are enrolled there, according to the school’s Web site

During the "merger talks" with AF, I remember DS saying one of the the things they lack at 3abn is an evangelism school...or something to that effect. If 3abn only had a university....and I wonder what they'd call it.

[Richard Sherwin]

The when will be when the press really notices the SDA church. In news items about religion many denominations much smaller than us get a lot more attention. The press just has not caught on about the SDA church, a blessing and a curse. Hopefully the press will never pick up the story. Our scandals are not big enough yet. Not since Waco has our church gotten a lot of press.

The Associated Press has distributed this story world-wide. This story is out, and the media is runnling with it.

Will the same happen with the 3-ABN mess?

In my opinion, the above is not the question. Rather the question is: When?

[PrincessDrRe]

Very interesting.....A big yes to your question regarding televangelists coming to the point of seeing their non-profit organization as their own, personal piggy bank! And all the people help to make that dream a reality with their check books sitting on the couch watching the TV saying Amen.

Another interesting note....I heard over 30 years ago there was talk in Tulsa about the Roberts family living lavishly and even having a number of fancy cars all the same make, model, and color so no one would know that was more than one.

Does anyone remember Oral Roberts getting on TV and proclaiming that God told him He would slay Oral unless he built a hospital? He had to raise the money and he would week after week plead with the people to give more so his life would be spared. Now at the time I wondered.....why would a "faith healer" need to build a hospital? At the same time you could request hankies that were blessed by Oral Roberts for healing...you just pin them to your clothes and wait for the prayer of good health to be answered.

No more blind giving for me.

Doesn't Richard Roberts also look like he done had some "serious" werk done to him face?



I don't remember him looking so...um.....stretched.....

[watchbird]

The Associated Press has distributed this story world-wide. This story is out, and the media is runnling with it.

Will the same happen with the 3-ABN mess?

In my opinion, the above is not the question. Rather the question is: When?

When Toto comes and pulls aside the curtain.



.....................

This post has been edited by watchbird: Oct 6 2007, 08:45 AM

[runner4him]

Doesn't Richard Roberts also look like he done had some "serious" werk done to him face?



I don't remember him looking so...um.....stretched.....

He DOES look.....well.....um.....like some of the donor $$ went to the local dermo Dr. Is that mean to say? No offense meant but I must agree with PrincessDrRe.

Also...... Daylily Posted -

I remember the Oral Roberts pleas for one million dollars. He said if he didn't raise the money in a certain length of time the Lord would call him home and he would weep during his money pleas. I remember thinking if he believed the Lord would "call him home", wouldn't it be better to just be in Heaven than struggling on this old planet? Why weep and beg for money so you wouldn't have to go to Heaven???

I remember well......Yes, he wept so much and had the look of sheer anquish all while pleading for the dollars to come in. The story was told how a poor elderly lady gave her all (what little she had) to save Oral Roberts from being slain by the hand of God....Her donation was the finishing touch on the money raised to build that hospital.

As for our story.................Where are we folks in our passion for truth?

When our Adventist Saga begins to be spun around the globe....what will WE say?

[Panama_Pete]

Well, it happened: Oral Roberts University is now on the New York Times web site. There's some interesting information there, too.

Here's a brief quote from the newspaper. Emphasis -- and underlining -- is mine:

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/11/educatio...&ei=5087%0A

"Tax law strictly limits the political activities of nonprofit groups, as well as the use of a charity’s assets by insiders like the Roberts family. The university’s reported ownership of a plane might also raise questions, lawyers said. Harvard, the nation’s wealthiest nonprofit institution, does not own a plane.

In the 1960s, the I.R.S. ruled that a college could require students to work on political campaigns as part of a class assignment. But the agency did not address whether a nonprofit group could direct students to work on a specific campaign in the way the suit contends that Oral Roberts students were managed.

The suit raises potential problems for the university that could jeopardize its tax-exempt status, said Marcus S. Owens, a lawyer at Caplin & Drysdale in Washington who previously ran an I.R.S. division that oversees nonprofit groups.

If it is determined that university officials misled the tax agency in the inquiry on the political activities, the Justice Department could begin a criminal investigation, Mr. Owens said."