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.
