Major Lawsuit Claims Church Officials Promoted $200 Million Crypto Ponzi Scheme to Congregants
On Sunday, May 25, 2025, a class action complaint was filed in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York against the General Conference Corporation of the Seventh Day Adventist Church, several regional conferences, and multiple pastors and individuals.
The lawsuit, filed by plaintiffs Jacques Chelder, Williams Petion, Smith Ganthier, Angie Lazard, Jean Mary Jean Misere, Margarette Dominique, Ernst Paul, Phucien Baptiste, and Garry Sylvain, represents over 15,000 members of the Seventh Day Adventist Church and investors in EminiFX, alleging losses exceeding $200 million due to a Ponzi scheme operated between January 2020 and May 2022.
The complaint names defendants including the Northeastern Conference, Texas Conference, North American Division, Southern New England Conference, Allegheny East Conference, Florida Conference, Southeastern Conference, and Theodore Norman Clair Wilson, CEO of the Seventh Day Adventist Church. Individual defendants include pastors Frantz D’Haiti, John Edvard Maisonneuve, Smith Olivier, Philip Monpremier, William Jean Charles, and others, along with EminiFX founder Eddy Alexandre and his wife, Clarelle Dieuveuil, the company’s chief financial officer. The plaintiffs allege these individuals and entities orchestrated a fraudulent scheme through EminiFX, a purported cryptocurrency investment platform.
According to the filing, the defendants used their positions within the church to promote EminiFX during weekly services and financial seminars, falsely claiming the platform utilized a “robo-assisted advisor account” to generate guaranteed 5% weekly returns, equating to 242% annually.
The lawsuit states that pastors, with the knowledge or consent of regional conferences and the General Conference Corporation, encouraged parishioners to invest, assuring them the investments were church-backed and insured. The plaintiffs claim these representations were false, as no such technology existed, and funds were not invested but diverted for personal use or to pay earlier investors in a pyramid structure. The complaint details that each pastor received a 10% commission for recruited investors, with some allegedly earning thousands or millions.
Eddy Alexandre, arrested by the FBI on May 22, 2022, and who pleaded guilty to commodities fraud in February 2023, is accused of leading the scheme with co-conspirators, including pastors who knowingly promoted the fraud. The lawsuit alleges over $300 million was collected from investors, with plaintiffs like Jacques Chelder losing $500,000 and Williams Petion losing $150,000, among others who suffered significant financial and emotional distress.
The plaintiffs assert violations of the Federal Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO), New York RICO Act, and state laws, including breach of contract, fraud, intentional misrepresentation, unjust enrichment, conversion, theft, embezzlement, civil conspiracy, negligent hiring, training, and supervision, and intentional and negligent infliction of emotional distress. They seek compensatory damages of at least $500 million, treble damages, punitive damages of $150 million, attorneys’ fees, and injunctive relief to prevent further asset transfers by defendants.
Please contact BlockTribune for access to a copy of this filing.
