Emanuel AME pastor sues former church members over financial mismanagement claims
The acting pastor of Emanuel AME Church, where nine parishioners were shot dead in June, is suing 11 members of his former church, citing defamation of character.
The 11, of Reid Chapel AME Church in Columbia, filed a lawsuit against Rev Norvel Goff earlier this year, alleging poor financial oversight.
According to The Post and Courier, similar accusations have been made by members of other congregations previously overseen by Goff.
He filed a lawsuit on December 2 naming the 11, and branding their allegations slanderous.
The suit is of particular interest as Emanuel AME Church begins to distribute the funds donated in the wake of the June shooting.
Millions of dollars were sent to the church after the massacre – much of it as cash and cheques – and the funds are being overseen by Goff.
The Post and Courier also reports that the husband of one of the nine victims has filed a civil lawsuit seeking accountability over the donations. Additional, the secretary to Rev Clementa Pinckney, another of the victims, said she lost her job at the church after "raising concerns about the oversight of incoming donations".
It was announced in September that a separate memorial fund totalling $2.5million would be distributed among the survivors and families of the nine victims.
Mayor of Charleston, Joseph Riley Jr, said the money – donated by 6,500 people from all over the US and abroad in amounts ranging between 50 cents and $100,000 – would be distributed using a formula developed by lawyers. Over half of the $2.5m would be given to the families of those who died, and $625,000 to the five survivors.
The rest of the money, which is tax-free, would be given specifically to the children of those who died, and also to those who provided for the families of those involved in the days following the shooting, Riley said. An additional $300,000 raised by the Mother Emanuel Hope Fund had already been released to pay for funerals.
Gunman Dylann Roof has been charged with nine counts of murder and three counts of attempted murder in addition to federal hate crime charges, which could mean he is given the death penalty.
