‘Brother Jerry Love’ gets 13 years in prison for large tax scam

A Kansas City man was sentenced Thursday to 13 years in federal prison for leading a tax scheme that sought to steal $96 million from the government.

Gerald A. Poynter II, 48, also known as Brother Jerry Love, encouraged people around the country to claim false tax refunds from 2008 to 2011. The Internal Revenue Service mistakenly paid out about $3.5 million. The conspirators shared some of the refunds with Poynter’s Jerry Love Ministries as “love donations.”

Poynter also was ordered to pay restitution of nearly $952,000. Eleven other defendants in the case pleaded guilty.

This story was originally published March 13, 2014 at 8:10 PM with the headline "‘Brother Jerry Love’ gets 13 years in prison for large tax scam."