Mathew Ashimolowo confirms his church invested $5m in Ponzi scheme

The Senior Pastor of Kingsway Internation­al Christian Centre (KICC) in London, Pastor Mat­thew Ashimolowo, has said for­mer trustees of the church and not himself, invested $5 million in a Ponzi scheme.

Ashimolowo, in a state­ment signed on his behalf by his Chief Executive Officer, Dipo Oluyomi and Chief Operating Officer, James McGlashan, con­firmed that the investment was made over seven years ago.
The church said that the trustees of the church made the decision to invest in the scheme, but denied Ashi­molowo had anything to do with it.

The statement read: “Our attention has been drawn to a headline in a publication about the involvement of the church in a Ponzi scheme. We wish to state that the headline was un­fortunate and misleading and has caused damage to the rep­utation of Pastor Ashimolowo.
“The sensational headline suggests that Pastor Matthew Ashimolowo lost $5million when in fact he did not make the decision to invest.

“Pastor Matthew Ashi­molowo is the Senior Pastor of KICC and not her trustee and has never been a trustee of the KICC.

“As you are aware from the Charities Commission’s report, the decision to invest was sole­ly that of the UK trustees with­out any involvement of Pastor Matthew Ashimolowo.
“Importantly, as the report states, it is the trustees who have the responsibility for in­vesting Charity Funds and not Pastor Mathew Ashimolowo.”