CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Members of the Internal Revenue Service's Criminal Investigation arm are searching for a man accused of taking millions of dollars in donations that supposedly were going to a Christian ministry in China.
45-year-old Jason Gerald Shenk, formerly of Georgia, is accused of misdirecting more than $30 million to a variety of shell corporations, including Shenkland LLC which is registered in North Carolina. He is now deemed a fugitive and is being sought internationally, with warrants out for his arrest.
Investigators say Shenk obtained the donations over the course of nine years from faith-based charities and individual donors, many of whom were in Amish and Mennonite communities in North Carolina and Ohio. He reportedly solicited donations with the promise of producing and distributing Christian literature and Bibles in China.
Shenk, claiming to be a Christian missionary working on various projects globally, reportedly ran the scheme from April 2010 through July 2019. He also appears to have renounced his U.S. Citizenship in 2016 to avoid federal financial reporting requirements. In addition to individual donations, one organization and its donors gave him $22 million, while another charity and its donors gave him $10 million.
Instead of using the funds for his claimed mission, however, the IRS says Shenk used the funds for his own uses, which included the following:
- Paying about $1 million to an online sports gambling website
- Purchases of equity shares of about $850,000 in a privately-held nuclear energy company
- About $4 million in purchases of about 16 life insurance policies in various peoples' names
- About $1 million total in purchases of diamonds, gold, and precious metals
- Purchases of foreign and domestic stock totaling more than $188,000
- $7 million of payments to the company running his family farm
- Purchases on at least 10 personal credit cards totaling more than $820,000
- Purchases of $320,000 in real estate in the "Galt's Gulch" development in Santiago, Chile
In addition to the Shenkland company registered in North Carolina, Shenk allegedly used seven other shell companies as part of the scheme, with bank accounts in the United States, Singapore, and China.
An unsealed federal indictment charges Shenk with a slew of financial crimes according to U.S. Attorney Jill E. Steinberg in the Southern District of Georgia. Those charges are as follows:
- Four counts of wire fraud
- Three counts of international concealment money laundering
- 13 counts of concealment money laundering
- 21 counts of money laundering involving transactions greater than $10,000
- One count of failure to file a report of a foreign bank account
If convicted, Shenk could face up to 20 years in prison. He would also have to forfeit property involved in or traceable to the alleged scheme, be responsible for financial penalties, and be placed under a period of supervised release once any prison sentence is fulfilled.
As of publication, Shenk remains a fugitive. Anyone who is aware of his whereabouts is urged to call 478-752-6810. Additionally, anyone who may have sent money directly or indirectly to Shenk is asked to call as well.
These are the companies Shenk allegedly used as part of the scheme in addition to Shenkland LLC:
- Morning Star Ministries
- Connect Connect Asia BV
- CLF Asia Limited
- Autumnvale Group Limited
- BCB International LLC
- Heartland Plantations LLC
- Global Paradigm LTD
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