2020 just got a whole lot worse for the Guadalajara-based evangelical Luz del Mundo church.
With its leader languishing in jail in Los Angeles and facing a trial for alleged sex crimes, the church has now been accused by Mexican authorities of money laundering and tax evasion.
The charges were filed after audits of the church’s accounts carried out by the Financial Intelligence Unit (UIF), part of Mexico’s tax agency, the Ministry of Finance and Public Credit (SHCP).
According to a UIF press release, the Luz del Mundo failed to declare income and repeatedly “carried out activities with eminently lucrative purposes, such as the purchase of real estate and shares … which are not related to the object and purposes for which they were established.” The agency said the church also transferred funds to “individuals and companies in countries classified as tax havens.”
The Luz del Mundo’s spiritual leader, Naason Joaquin Garcia, faces trial next year on charges that include human trafficking, forcible rape and forcible oral copulation of a minor, and possession of child pornography.