A federal jury last week convicted co-pastors  Anthony and Harriet Jinwright of multiple counts of tax evasion and fraud. From the Charlotte Observer:

[C]hurch finance expert Dan Busby, who heads the national Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability, reviewed the trial and called it "one of the most egregious cases" of pastoral misconduct that he's seen. Jinwright led Greater Salem City of God, a church in west Charlotte, since 1981. A jury convicted him and wife Harriet, after hearing the following: They took the church credit card to Vegas, had the congregation pay for their luxury cars [a Bentley, a BMW 530i, a Maybach 57, and five Lexus's] and their daughter's college tuition, demanded his $50,000 raise be taken out of money the church had borrowed, and failed to report more than $2.3 million in taxable income to the IRS.

The jury did not buy the defense's argument:

Anthony Jinwright's lawyer Ed Hinson told jurors this afternoon that the government is attempting to punish his client for following church tradition of accepting "love offerings" and similar financial gifts. Any errors on the Jinwright's tax returns, Hinson said, were innocent mistakes — not crimes.

"The kingdom of God is not run on generally accepted accounting principals," Hinson said during closing arguments. "Thank God. If it were, we'd all be in trouble."

"Neither Bishop (Jinwright) nor the church got these technical things right…(but) that does not make him a criminal."

Joe Kristan notes that the Jinwrights are looking at a 33-41 month sentence under federal sentencing guidelines applicable to tax cases.