Seven Churches, One Developer and Nearly $2 Million in Secret Payments: New York’s Attorney General Says Clergy Sold Out Their Congregations

• Seven churches in Harlem and Brooklyn were sold to one developer between 2015 and 2017
• The attorney general says three clergy took nearly $2 million in undisclosed payments
• Alleged benefits included cash, finder’s fees, a Rolex and a designer handbag
• Two clergy and the developer settled; one bishop kept fighting in court

Seven historic churches in Harlem and Crown Heights, Brooklyn, were sold to a single developer on the promise of new worship space, and, according to New York Attorney General Letitia James, the clergy who guided those sales were being paid on the side. Patch reported in September 2022 that the attorney general’s office had accused three church leaders of taking nearly $2 million in undisclosed payments from developer Moujan Vahdat.

The congregations included Childs Memorial Temple Church of God in Christ on Amsterdam Avenue, Healing from Heaven Temple COGIC, and five African Methodist Episcopal churches: St John AME, Ebenezer AME, Greater Bethel AME and Metropolitan AME in Harlem, and Bethel Tabernacle AME in Crown Heights. The plan was to replace the ageing buildings with multi-storey apartment blocks or shelters, with space set aside for the churches to keep worshipping.

The state alleges that Bishop Kevin Griffin of Childs Memorial received about $890,000, made up of a $450,000 payment at closing and $440,000 in so-called finder’s fees. AME Bishop Gregory G. M. Ingram is accused of receiving $610,000 in benefits, including cash, a Rolex watch and a designer handbag for his wife, while the Rev Melvin Wilson allegedly took $144,250 directly and around $300,000 more through church district funds. “The clergy placed their self-interest ahead of the interests of the churches,” the attorney general’s office said, adding that when the developer failed to meet his obligations the clergy let him alter protections meant for the congregations.

The pressure behind the sales was real. A 2015 board resolution from one Harlem church, quoted in the filings, said: “Not without a struggle, over the past several years we have worked hard to maintain the upkeep of the house of God.” By 2017, an Ebenezer AME pastor was complaining that promised pictures of the new building had never arrived.

Vahdat settled in October 2021 without admitting or denying the allegations, and Wilson and Ingram agreed settlements the following month that required repayment and limits on nonprofit roles. Griffin’s lawyers insisted he “never betrayed” his church. The developer’s attorney, Jason Gottlieb, said the aim had always been to bring “vibrant new church facilities to the community.”

Harlem and Brooklyn are home to some of the largest Jamaican and wider Caribbean communities outside the region, and many diaspora families worship in exactly this kind of ageing, land-rich but cash-poor building. The lesson travels to congregations in Kingston or Montego Bay too: when a church sells or swaps its land, every trustee should see every payment, the terms should be enforceable, and no single leader should be negotiating alone.

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