Editing Word of Faith Fellowship (section)

==Other charges==
On May 11, 2018, Jerry Gross and his son Jason Lee Gross were charged in U.S. District Court. The U.S. attorney's office claimed their business received $150,000 between 2009 and 2013 by claiming they had laid off employees who as a result became eligible for unemployment benefits, when in fact the employees continued to work at the business. Eleven former members claimed in September 2017 that Word of Faith leaders insisted church members take similar actions.

Randy Fields told the Associated Press that during the [[Great Recession|2008 economic slowdown]], he asked to be able to donate less to the church. Fields said Jane Whaley told him to take fraudulent actions to keep giving 10 percent of his income to the church, calling this "God's plan." The Associated Press found six cases of companies allegedly making fraudulent unemployment claims, in which many of the companies' employees belonged to Word of Faith.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.citizen-times.com/story/news/local/2018/05/11/2-members-secretive-word-faith-sect-charged-benefits-scheme/603989002/|title=2 members of secretive Word of Faith sect charged in unemployment scheme|last1=Weiss|first1=Mitch|last2=Mohr|first2=Holbrook|work=Asheville Citizen-Times|publisher=Associated Press|date=May 11, 2018|accessdate=May 12, 2018}}</ref> Jerry Gross and Jason Gross pled guilty to [[wire fraud]] on May 25.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.citizen-times.com/story/news/local/2018/05/25/2-word-faith-members-plead-guilty-fraud-charges/646441002/|title=2 members of secretive Word of Faith sect plead guilty to fraud charges|last1=Dalesio|first1=Emery P.|last2=Mohr|first2=Holbrook|work=Asheville Citizen-Times|publisher=Associated Press|date=May 25, 2018|accessdate=May 26, 2018}}</ref>

Minister Kent Covington was sentenced to 34 months in prison in April 2019 for conspiracy to commit mail fraud. Diane McKinny pled guilty to making a false claim for unemployment benefits.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.thetimesnews.com/news/20190510/member-of-secretive-nc-church-pleads-guilty-in-benefits-scheme|title=Member of secretive NC church pleads guilty in benefits scheme|last=Drew|first=Jonathan|work=[[Times-News (Burlington, North Carolina)|Times-News]]|via=Associated Press|date=May 10, 2019|accessdate=June 6, 2019}}</ref>

The U.S. attorney's office announced in a September 26, 2019 press release that it ended its investigation.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.citizen-times.com/story/news/local/2019/09/27/word-faith-fellowship-investigation-closed-us-attorney-says/3785638002/|title=US Attorney closes case on Word of Faith Fellowship|last=Wicker|first=Mackenzie|work=Asheville Citizen-Times|date=September 27, 2019|accessdate=September 29, 2019}}</ref>