Ponzi Scheme Exposed: Christian Fraud at Gex's Le Rucher
Explore the shocking Ponzi scheme linked to Gex's Le Rucher that defrauded Christian investors, revealing layers of deceit within religious organizations.
The Editors·
This piece by Ken Walker was first published by The Essential Edge 10 June, 2011.
Gex, France — When Jan and Henny Pauw visited Le Rucher, a Christian retreat centre outside Gex, they never dreamed it would cost them their retirement nest egg. The Dutch couple became ensnared in a faith-based Ponzi scheme that defrauded well over a hundred similar individuals, many embittered by the lying and cover-up perpetrated by fellow Christians linked to the swindle. Nestled at the foot of France’s Jura mountains near Gex, Le Rucher, which once served as a Gestapo brothel during World War II, opened in 1994 to help Christian missionaries and aid volunteers to recuperate from stints in conflict or humanitarian crisis zones. But the pink-painted former hotel also became the setting for the promotion of the hoaxter Nordic Capital Investments (NCI) company. This has created deep resentment toward Le Rucher co-founder Erik Spruyt. Last October, Swedish businessman Kristian Wesstergard, the founder of NCI and a close associate of Spruyt’s, was convicted of gross fraud in Sweden and sentenced to prison. Ken Walker of Christianity Today, a monthly magazine, reports.
Link here to the Christianity Today article.
For those living in the Lake Geneva Region or others who wish to have further information, please contact Petrapeople, a web-based advocacy group former to press for further investigation and demand the return of money to the investors: https://sites.google.com/site/petrapeople/
The Essential Edge will be pursuing this story with Le Rucher and others suspected of covering up or victims allegedly swindled by NCI.