Securities regulators have called Greater Ministries a Ponzi scheme, and it has been dogged by an escalating series of legal attacks. On December 11, two of Greater's California representatives pleaded no contest to state securities violations. Four days later, Florida officials obtained a guilty plea from Jonathan Strawder on grand theft and securities fraud charges. To verify the refunds, the ministry must turn over the names and addresses of all contributors in the state and the amounts they gave. Ross likewise ordered Greater to stop promoting its new herbal food supplement program in the state.
All donations made to it in the state are to be refunded.
Nearly a thousand people crowded into a November meeting in Lebanon, Pennsylvania. Records of all these solicitations are to be furnished to the court. Total fines could easily reach several million dollars. Ross directed Greater Ministries' founder Gerald Payne to appear in court March 1 to testify about the ministry's compliance with the order or face arrest. Greater Ministries' attorney, Al Cunningham, sees threats to religious freedom in Pennsylvania's action against the ministry.