Michael Baldwin may soon be moving on: from “Miracle Mansion” to a prison cell.
On Thursday night, a federal jury in Charlotte convicted the Virginia pastor and would-be developer of bilking investors out of more than $800,000 that ostensibly was to help Baldwin build a high-end, family-entertainment venue with a “Biblical worldview” near Washington, D.C.
The project, which Baldwin named “Miracle Mansion,” never got off the ground.
Meanwhile, the money the Alexandria, Va., pastor raised in Charlotte and around the country paid for his travel, restaurant meals, credit cards and other personal expenses, The Charlotte Observer has previously reported.
Almost half the amount Baldwin raised for his project came from one Charlotte congregation. At Harbor Baptist Church on Old Concord Road — which bills itself as “the friendliest church in Charlotte” — Baldwin leveraged his own friendship with church pastor Ken Simmons to successfully solicit some $370,000 in 2015 and 2016, court records show.
“Baldwin’s Miracle Mansion was a house of lies,” U.S. Attorney Dena King of Charlotte said after the verdict. She accused the minister of using “Biblical themes and empty promises” to cover up his fraud.
Now the bill has come due.
After a nine-day trial, Baldwin, 53, an assistant pastor and musical director for an Alexandria, Va., church, was found guilty of wire fraud and securities fraud, a conviction that could send him to prison.
The charges carry a combined maximum sentence of more than 40 years in prison and $5.2 million in fines, though Baldwin’s eventual punishment is almost certain to be significantly lighter.
Baldwin, who was represented by the Charlotte legal team of Melissa Owen and Jake Sussman, testified on his own behalf.
In a statement to the Observer, Baldwin’s lawyers said they plan to appeal, adding that they were “deeply disappointed,” in the verdict, and that their client already is working to make things right with his investors.
“Michael Baldwin has lived a life dedicated to his faith and family, and this ordeal has been a painful one,” the statement said. “As he was doing well before the federal government got involved, he will continue to work hard to ensure the full repayment of each and every loan that was made to support this work.”
The U.S. Secret Service led the investigation. According to his October 2021 indictment, Baldwin began marketing Miracle Mansion in 2009 as a “one-of-a-kind entertainment complex that (would) reshape the face of family entertainment in the Washington Metropolitan region.”
He posted architectural renderings of the future venue that resembled a French estate overlooking the Rappahannock River.
He falsely claimed the project had been endorsed by the Kennedy Center and top executives with Hobby Lobby and Chick-fil-A. Executives from both companies testified at trial that they never knew or supported Baldwin and his project.
Marketing pitch in Charlotte
As the Observer has previously reported, Baldwin began making financial inroads with Harbor Baptist in 2015, less than a year after Simmons took over as senior pastor.
That September, according to the indictment, the Charlotte pastor took a $60,000 advance from his church retirement benefits to invest in Miracle Mansion. Baldwin deposited the check in a private account, the indictment shows.
That October, the church cut a second check after the pastor persuaded it to make a $10,000 investment in Miracle Mansion on behalf of some of its employees. It, too, went into Baldwin’s personal account, not Miracle Mansion’s, the indictment says.
In January 2016, according to the indictment, Baldwin made a virtual pitch to the entire congregation. That February, the church wired $302,000 directly to the Miracle Mansion account.
Simmons did not immediately respond Friday to Observer emails to him and his church seeking comment.
“Churches should not be involved in lawsuits,” Simmons told the Observer at the time of Baldwin’s indictment. “... It’s disturbing to me this entire process.”
Instead of using the money for land, zoning and other development costs, Baldwin spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on his personal lifestyle, prosecutors claim. He spent an additional $150,000 to pay the salaries of other employees of Miracle Mansion. He spent even more for what the indictment describes as “Ponzi type payments” to earlier investor victims to cover the fraud.
A March 2011 post on the Miracle Mansion website promised a groundbreaking in late 2012. “Keep praying, keep investing and keep believing!” it urged.
Seven years later, the indictment claims, Baldwin again appeared at a meeting of the congregation at the Charlotte church to assure them that their investments were safe.
This story was originally published November 18, 2022 10:47 AM.
