MULTIMILLIONAIRE TELEVANGELIST CROUCH DEAD AT 79

Trinity Broadcasting Network televangelist Paul Crouch, whose religious empire covered every inhabited continent via 84 satellite channels and more than 18,000 TV and cable affiliates, has died of heart disease in Orange, CA at the age of 79. Registered as a non-profit religious organization, Trinity Broadcasting collects hundreds of millions of dollars in tax-free donations each year, allowing Crouch and his wife to purchase several homes in Texas, California and Florida and two private jets worth $57 million. The New York Times reported that the Crouches spend hundreds of thousands of dollars each year on their two dogs. In 2011, Crouch’s granddaughter, Brittany Crouch Koper, was fired as TBN’s chief financial officer after writing a confidential memorandum to Crouch in which she warned that TBN’s “practices and procedures violate the IRS Code and State and Federal Laws.” Koper subsequently filed a lawsuit in which she alleged graft among the TBN board members.