Oral Roberts University May Improperly Funneled $1Billion a Year

The previously alleged financial improprieties at Oral Roberts University pale in comparison to the newest allegations that indicate that perhaps a billion dollars or more per year may have been laundered through the finances of the university. Unfortuantely, based on the other stories that have been reported to date, I would not be surprised if the allegations were true. Yet another example of the corrupt practices of the supposedly holier than thou set at ORU. Here are some highlights from Yahoo News (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080208/ap_on_re_us/oral_roberts_scandal;_ylt=AvdtTbb5uKN4oHSLsRvrLhME1vAI):

TULSA, Okla. - A former senior accountant at Oral Roberts University alleges that more than $1 billion annually was inappropriately funneled through the school. Trent Huddleston claims in a lawsuit filed Thursday that he discovered an "unrestricted" account used to funnel "unusually large" sums of money through the university each month — which would exceed $1 billion on an annual basis — that wasn't used for any legitimate university purpose.

Named as defendants are Richard Roberts, the school's former president, and his wife, Lindsay, along with former regents. Huddleston's lawsuit, the latest to hit the scandal-plagued university, amended a complaint he filed in late November against ORU.

The initial complaint alleged Huddleston was ordered to help Richard and Lindsay Roberts "cook the books" by hiding improper and illegal financial wrongdoing from authorities and the public. It also claimed that he was directed against his will to falsely list thousands of dollars as expenses rather than assets — which were spent remodeling the home of Richard and Lindsay Roberts — in order to defraud the Internal Revenue Service and other agencies.

Oral Roberts University Faculty Gives Vote of No Confidence

Meanwhile, the meltdown at Oral Roberts University continues as reported by the Tulsa World (http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/article.aspx?articleID=071114_1_A1_spanc48573). A quorum of tenured Oral Roberts University faculty voted "no confidence" in President Richard Roberts and voted in favor of "greater faculty governance and transparency of university finances" in a 3-1/2-hour meeting Monday night at the University. Few things warm my heart more than seeing Christianist hypocrites taken down and exposed for the frauds far too many of them are in fact. It is about time that Robert's little cult of the personality (and his wife's use of under age boys for toys) came to an end. Here are some story highlights:

The vote of no confidence in Roberts as president and CEO of the university was made "without regard to the outcome of the current lawsuit against the university" and "is not to be construed as a judgment of guilt or innocence with regard to the present lawsuit against the president and the university," according to the list of motions and summary of the meeting faxed to media by Gary Richardson, an attorney for the three former professors who are suing ORU, Roberts and other ORU leadership. The tenured faculty also approved a motion to be involved in "determining selection criteria for and the actual selection of university leadership."

Evaluators who visited ORU last week told administrative staff members that they will recommend the college keep its accreditation, according to the university. The visitors spent four days on campus as part of a regular peer review to ensure the university meets minimum standards. The accreditation team sent by the Higher Learning Commission also is recommending that commission representatives return to ORU in 2009 to review ORU's leadership, governance and finances, according to ORU's written statement e-mailed by Burton.

The Fall Out at Oral Roberts University Is Increasing

Bob Felton at Civil Commotion has a new post (http://www.civilcommotion.com/index.php?p=3326) that indicates the fall out [and fun for some of us watching it unfold] is increasing at Oral Roberts University. I suspect as this mess goes forward there will be LOTS of dirt coming out. It is also instructive that three of the university regents are also televangelists now under scrutiny by the Senate Finance Committee in respect to improper uses of non-profit funds for lavish lifestyles. True, I am perhaps biased, but I believe most of these folks are crooks hiding behind the shroud of religion in their quest for money and power. Pretending to preach the Gospels of Christ are merely a smoke screen. Here are some highlights:

The Plaintiffs . . . have asked the court for permission to expand the suit to include Oral Roberts Ministries and its Board of Directors, arguing that the ministry and university funds are commingled and, effectively, comprise a single entity. Additionally, subpoenas have been issued for the pilot of the university jet, the private investigator that took all those photos of Lindsay Roberts and her little buddy1, and the staffer who oversees work at the guardshack at the family compound. The university declined to comment.

Here’s what she [a former nanny] said she found [in the Roberts' closet]:

275 pairs of shoes for Lindsay Roberts, arranged by color on five shoe shelves taking up an entire wall. Richard Roberts had nearly 120 pairs of shoes, including 18 pairs of golf shoes of different colors. “It looked like a shoe store,” she said.

165 suits for Richard Roberts, of all different colors and patterns, were hanging in the closet. There were 454 ties.

Two “huge cases” of jewelry belonging to Lindsay Roberts.

In the bedroom was an entire dresser of unopened men’s dress shirts, in addition to the 50 hanging, pressed dress shirts in the closet. “Rows and rows” of shirts, blouses, dresses and other clothing hung on Lindsay’s side of the closet, Culpepper said, but the woman’s shoe collection stuck out the most.

It surely does not seem to jive with Jesus' directive to sell all that you have and give to the poor. Lindsay Roberts must be channelling Imelda Marcos.

Revised Lawsuit Against ORU Makes New Allegations

Having read the first lawsuit filed against Oral Roberts University, one would have thought that there was not much more that could come out. Wrong!!! A revised lawsuit was filed yesterday (see it here: http://www.tulsaworld.com/webextra/content/2007/pdfs/orusuit.pdf) that alleges even more titillating misbehavior, particularly by Lindsay Roberts [pictured at left], the University's "first lady," who seems to have a real liking for underage boys. Here are some highlights:

The suit also alleges that three days after the original lawsuit was filed earlier this month, the school's financial comptroller, a 26-year ORU employee, was fired.''Within hours of this loyal employee's unceremonious removal from his office, witnesses have reported that voluminous materials and documents were shredded and destroyed....''

[M]ore details are added to several of the allegations, especially allegations involved Lindsay Roberts and an unnamed teen boy.The report says that dead-bolt locks were installed on all bedroom doors at the Richard Roberts residence at the insistence of his oldest daughter.'' This was precipitated by Mrs. Roberts repeatedly moving into the home her 16 year old male 'friend,' which made her daughters uncomfortable,'' the assessment says.

The assessment also says: ''Mrs. Roberts has personally spent the night in the ORU guest house with an underage male on nine separate occasions.''The report also says there are photos of Lindsay Roberts and an underaged male smoking at the president's residence, and 29 photos of her and an underage male alone in her sports car after midnight.The assessment goes on to say a longtime employee was fired so the same underage male companion could have the position.

Readers might also want to check out comments being posted on the Tulsa World article, (http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/article.aspx?articleID=071012_1__Three43533) some of which are by former Oral Roberts University employees - many are most unflattering. Here's are two examples:

Former ORU Slave, Tulsa WOW!!! No big surprise. I worked at ORU and was disgusted from day 1. On my very first day, I saw the youngest Roberts daughter, Chloe, driving a Lexus SUV, when she was 16 years old!!! And Lyndsey driving a little red german sports car!!! And Tricky Dick with his entourage of cronies!!! Showing up at athletic events like he was the "King of the castle". Richard Roberts is no more a holy-man, than I am the president of the United States. He's a preacher's kid (if you can even consider his daddy a preacher & not a crook/quack), that noticed that evangelism was where the money was. PERIOD!!! He was lazy & arrogant, and saw the way to make an easy buck. Riding daddy's coat-tails has brought him riches beyond most people's belief. And, now, his arrogance has brought about his undoing. This whole debacle can be explained a very simple way. He & his family thought they were above earthly & divine laws.

Cherry, Tulsa: I hear that Mrs. Roberts was a Mrs. Robinson at some time. That does not surprise me. She was blaming her girls for making cell phone calls to boys. Yeah, right. Now I know why females are NOT allowed in male dorms. Because Mrs. Robinson, oops I mean, Mrs. Roberts was on the prowl and didn't want to be caught. Well, guess what, we all know now. I can't wait to see this all come out in court. I hope all evangelist's learn from this. We common folk are only going to take so much.