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	I-team: Bishop Long and Ephren Taylor By Dale Russell My Fox Atlanta February 4, 2011 http://www.myfoxatlanta.com/dpp/news/iteam/i-team-bishop-long-and-ephren-taylor-020311 ATLANTA - The FOX 5 I-Team has uncovered a new scandal linked to Bishop Eddie Long and his church. Bishop long says members of his congregation may have lost a million dollars to a businessman he brought into the church.That businessman calls the charge character assassination and says the bishop's church also made money. When Bishop Eddie Long introduced a self-described millionaire to his congregation, the Bishop promised everything Ephren Taylor said was based on the word of God. “My friend, my brother, the great Ephren Taylor,” Long told the New Birth Missionary Baptist Church congregation of Taylor. JB Bailey listened and believed. When asked by FOX 5 if he trusted Taylor because Long told him he should trust him, Bailey answered yes. After all, it was a compelling story. Ephren Taylor claims he created a multi-million dollar company in high school by building a web site that sold job postings for high school kids. “We raised 750,000 in cash in high school,” Taylor said. Last year, after Ephren Taylor made his financial presentation at New Birth Missionary Baptist Church, parishioners began investing with Taylor in his new idea: sweepstakes video game machines. Now, some of those investors fear they may have lost their money. Instead of making big profits, they found that Ephren Taylor's company that sold them the sweepstakes game machines has been indicted for operating a gambling enterprise. “I'm not mad at Bishop long, but I do wish church maybe had did more follow up as well,” said Bailey. Bailey, trusting his Bishop and buying Ephren Taylor's pitch, put down nearly $14,000 to buy four sweepstakes vending terminals-- machines that would be put in gaming centers. It's the latest venture of 27-year-old self-made millionaire whiz kid. The Sweep Stakes Income website states the machines would allow customers to "play Sweepstakes games" and "win cash prizes" in "dozens of stores across the nation." Up to 11,342 each and every month, like clockwork. Bailey was hooked. His contract included a "Certificate of Guarantee" that the sweepstakes machines would "generate revenues greater or equal to the amount of the investment,” even though the contract also stated the company was making "no guarantee as to how much money may be earned." Bailey says he was promised as much as $1,500, but when his monthly checks came in, they were just a fraction of that. And after seven months, the checks stopped coming. When asked if he felt cheated, Bailey told FOX 5, “Oh, yeah, definitely. I wanted an explanation, never got it.” Bailey was better off than his roommate, John Meddling. His contract shows he put in close to $10,000 for two sweepstakes machines. He says he never received a penny. But it was worse than John and JB thought. The I-Team discovered last September that police in Virginia raided a number of sweepstakes store fronts and charged 11 owners or companies with illegal gambling. One of them, the company New Birth parishioners invested in-- through Ephren Taylor. “A lot of individuals, as well as a lot of companies, had a lot of money tied up in what I believe to be illegal gambling in the state of Virginia,” said Virginia Beach prosecutor Harvey Bryant. Bailey says he has received an email from the parent company, City Capital Corporation, promising to pay back "100 percent of their machine purchase value" in City Capital Stock, which is currently worth only pennies per share. Bishop Long refused to talk with senior I-Team reporter Dale Russell, and refused to answer any questions regarding Ephren Taylor. But a YouTube video talking about Ephren Taylor was posted Sunday night, after FOX 5 asked his spokesperson what went wrong. “About a million dollars has not been returned, the investment has gone sour,” Long said in the video posted on YouTube. The bishop claims he has made appeals to Ephren Taylor to return all the investors money. And then he added, “I want you to know New Birth, received, nor myself, any financial blessing or gift from Ephren Taylor.” Taylor claims that is simply not true. He wrote New Birth Missionary Church received a cut of all sales of his books and CD's sold at the church. Long responded that the money was only collected to cover expenses. City Capital wouldn't return our calls but has set up a trust and promised to pay back all the investors.
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