A federal grand jury in Michigan has indicted a third defendant in an alleged forced labor conspiracy tied to the Kingdom of God Global Church. Prosecutors said the church was so large that it used coercion, abuse and threats of divine punishment to run a multi-state call center operation that brought in about $50 million in donations over more than a decade.
The U.S. Department of Justice announced that 53-year-old Kathleen Klein, known within the church as “the prophetess,” was named in a superseding indictment returned on February 11 in the Eastern District of Michigan(1). She was first indicted in July 2025, along with co-defendants David Taylor and Michelle Brannon, and arrested the following month in a nationwide arrest operation coordinated by the FBI.
Klein was charged with conspiracy to commit forced labor, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison. Taylor, the church’s founder, and Brannon, its executive director, each face up to 20 years in prison on charges of forced labor, conspiracy to commit forced labor and conspiracy to commit money laundering. All three defendants deny the charges.
“This case reflects the seriousness of forced labor programs that deny victims their basic human rights and subject them to physical and brutal psychological abuse,” Assistant Attorney General A. Tysen Duva said in a statement. “Combating human trafficking is a top priority for the Department of Justice. We will relentlessly pursue those who facilitate and profit from forced labor and fight for justice for survivors.”
The superseding indictment also adds new allegations that Taylor frequently requested and received sexually explicit photos and videos from female church staff — some of whom prosecutors said were too afraid to say no.
The church, formerly known as Joshua Media Ministries International, is headquartered in Tyler, Michigan, a suburb of Detroit. According to court documents, Taylor calls himself an “apostle” and claims to be Jesus Christ’s “best friend” and “second in command” (2). The Justice Department said the church operated at least nine call centers in Michigan, Missouri, Florida and Texas(3).
Prosecutors say the victims were forced to work long hours — sometimes more than 20 hours a day, according to the federal indictment — and solicit donations over the phone for free. Staff members were assigned aggressive daily, weekly and monthly fundraising goals that the Justice Department said were unattainable.
According to the indictment, workers were instructed to tell donors that their money would be used to build water wells in impoverished areas of the world and combat human trafficking—and the organization was allegedly trafficking the very workers who made those calls (4).
Those who failed to meet the mark or delayed faced a range of punishments: public humiliation, sleep deprivation, physical violence, withholding food and shelter, forced penitential rituals, and the threat of “divine judgment in the form of disease, accident, death, and eternal damnation.”
According to a 29-page federal indictment reviewed by FOX 13 Tampa Bay (5), Klein allegedly sent text messages to a “Houston manager” in 2024, assigning victims to do “hard labor” and threatening to put people “on the streets.” Workers reportedly slept in call center facilities or in houses belonging to departments and were not allowed to leave without permission. Taylor’s personal servant, known internally as an “armor bearer,” was also allegedly exploited.
The group has raised about $50 million in donations since 2014, according to prosecutors. Church leaders allegedly invested the funds in a portfolio of luxury real estate, high-end cars and personal belongings.
Properties purchased include an $8.3 million mansion in Tampa’s upscale Avila neighborhood that was previously owned by Tampa Bay Buccaneers co-owner Darcie Glazer Kassewitz, according to a deed filed in Hillsborough County (6), and a 10,000-square-foot mansion in Wildwood, Missouri, previously owned by rapper Nelly. The church also owns multiple properties in the St. Louis suburb of Chesterfield, as well as properties in Ocala, Florida, Houston and Michigan.
Proceeds also were used to purchase a Mercedes-Benz, Bentley, Rolls-Royce, multiple bulletproof vehicles, $105,000 worth of boats, jet skis, all-terrain vehicles, airline tickets and designer clothing, prosecutors said.
Taylor’s lavish spending had come under scrutiny years before the federal charges. In a deposition that went viral around 2015, he struggled to explain a $2.8 million home, three luxury cars, and an annual clothing budget of approximately $30,000, which he attributed to “sweating his clothes” from frequent travel (7).
MinistryWatch, a nonprofit that tracks the transparency of religious organizations, gave the ministry an “F” transparency grade and a donor confidence score of zero — the lowest possible rating (8).
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While the Kingdom Global Church case is notable in its own right, it illustrates broader vulnerabilities in the way the United States oversees religious organizations and the billions of dollars that flow through them each year.
Unlike all other types of 501(c)(3) nonprofits, churches are not required to file IRS Form 990, the annual financial disclosure that requires secular charities to publicly report their income, expenses and executive compensation (9). This means donors, regulators and the public have virtually no way of knowing how a church spends its money unless the organization voluntarily discloses that information.
The Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (ACFE) estimates that the average organization loses approximately 5% of its annual revenue due to fraud (10). Religious groups may be particularly vulnerable to what researchers call “affinity fraud,” in which bad actors take advantage of the trust that naturally exists within faith groups. An analysis applying the ACFE methodology to global Christian giving estimated that annual losses due to church fraud and corruption are approximately $62 billion, exceeding the total revenue of foreign missions worldwide (11).
This means that the KOGGC incident was not an isolated incident. In Minnesota, the Feeding Our Future scandal became one of the largest nonprofit fraud cases in U.S. history, with defendants accused of fabricating meal programs to steal approximately $250 million in federal aid (12). In Kansas, six former cult members were sentenced in 2025 for conspiracy to commit forced labor against minors (13). In Missouri, the director of the nonprofit New Heights Community Resource Center was accused of diverting approximately $10 million from a federal child nutrition program to fund a lavish lifestyle.
Congress has the authority to require churches to disclose financial information, just as secular churches must. But it has historically refused to do so, citing concerns about religious freedom. Critics say this creates a blind spot that bad actors can exploit.
For donors who want to make sure their donations go according to plan, experts recommend watching for red flags: a lack of public financial information, pressure to donate, leaders’ apparently lavish lifestyles and a refusal to answer basic questions about how donations are used.
Before donating, check independent watchdog sites such as MinistryWatch, GuideStar (now Candid), CharityWatch, and the Better Business Bureau’s Wise Giving Alliance. Churches that voluntarily release annual financial reports or Form 990 equivalents generally send out a positive signal. The IRS Tax Exempt Organization Database can also verify an organization’s tax exempt status.
Anyone who suspects human trafficking or forced labor can call the National Human Trafficking Hotline at 1-888-373-7888, which operates 24/7.
If convicted, Klein faces up to 20 years in prison. Taylor was denied bail in October 2025 and remains in federal custody. Brannon was released on $10,000 unsecured bail after suffering a heart attack while in jail; conditions of her release included surrendering her passport and having no contact with Taylor or former church members.
The church denies all accusations. Taylor’s attorney, Larry Margolis, told the Detroit Free Press that the charges lacked merit, arguing that Taylor and church members “have always exercised their First Amendment rights to freely practice their religion” (14). Brannon’s attorneys separately argued that she was manipulated and controlled by Taylor at a supervisory level and did not pose a danger to the community.
Despite the federal charges, Kingdom Church Global appears to be still operating — posting a Sunday service video on its YouTube channel as recently as February. In December, the church filed a petition asking the government to return more than $4.2 million in seized bank funds, as well as precious metals, jewelry, designer clothing and other assets seized during the August raid. The church argued in the filing that the government had seized far more than the $700,000 alleged in the money laundering charges and that holding the assets violated the church’s First Amendment rights to conduct religious activities, including worship, community outreach and charity. The church also claims it maintains records proving legal ownership of seized property, including logs tracking individual donations. The government argued that proper procedures were followed in the seizure. The court has not yet made a final ruling.
The FBI and IRS-Criminal Investigation continue to investigate the case.
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U.S. Department of Justice (1, 13); click Detroit (2); Houston Public Media (3); St. Louis Magazine (4); FOX 13 Tampa Bay (5); ministry observation (6, 8, 14); Christian Post (7); National Council of Nonprofit Organizations (9); Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (10); Overseas Commission Learning Center (11); Charity Watch (12)
This article provides information only and should not be considered advice. It is provided without any warranty of any kind.
