Religious Ponzi schemes have been on the rise both in America and abroad, reminding us of the dangers of exploiting people’s need to feel part of a chosen community while simultaneously appealing to their greed. In this episode, we explore the story of Gerald Payne and Greater Ministries International, a fraudulent Christian ministry that conned over 18,000 people out of over 500 million dollars.

Payne and his co-conspirators used elements of prosperity gospel teachings and fictitious social proof generated by elaborate investments in African diamond mines and bogus cancer treatments to seduce innocent investors into an unholy union of lies that, like all Ponzi schemes, came crashing down in spectacular fashion.