Ephren Taylor's 'Building Wealth Tour' Ponzi scheme through Black churches nationwide
Ephren Taylor II, CEO of City Capital Corporation, and co-defendant Wendy Connor ran a nationwide Ponzi scheme from at least 2008 through its 2010 collapse, touring churches on a "Building Wealth Tour" that defrauded over 400 investors, overwhelmingly from African American and Christian congregations, out of more than $16 million. Both pleaded guilty in October 2014 and were sentenced in March 2015: Taylor to 19 years and 7 months, Connor to 5 years.
- Year
- 2015
- Where
- United States
- Outcome
- Sentenced
- Reported loss
- $16.0 million
- Victims
- 400
- Schemes
- Affinity fraud
- Last reviewed
- 2026-10-09
The facts, as recorded
- Taylor, CEO of City Capital Corporation, directed a nationwide Ponzi scheme that defrauded over 400 victims of more than $16 million; from April 2009, when Wendy Connor joined, through October 2010, 278 of those victims lost over $5.8 million.
- Taylor travelled the country on a 'Building Wealth Tour,' giving wealth management seminars to church congregations and targeting the African American and Christian communities, falsely claiming to be a 'socially conscious investor' who donated 20% of profits to charity.
- Over 80 individuals at New Birth Missionary Baptist Church in Lithonia, Georgia, alone lost more than $2 million after Taylor and Connor pitched investors there during the tour.
- Investments sold included promissory notes claimed to fund small businesses such as laundries, juice bars and gas stations, and 'sweepstakes machine' investments falsely promised to return as much as 300% in the first year, marketed as '100% risk free.'
- Taylor and Connor encouraged victims to move retirement savings into self-directed IRAs to fund the investments, then directed that money to pay City Capital's business expenses, their own personal expenses, and in some cases interest to earlier investors, rather than investing it as promised.
- Both defendants pleaded guilty on October 8, 2014, Taylor to conspiracy to commit wire fraud and Connor to interstate transportation of money taken by fraud. On March 17, 2015, US District Judge William S. Duffey Jr. sentenced Taylor to 19 years and 7 months plus $15,590,752.81 in restitution, and Connor to 5 years, the first 18 months in home confinement, plus $5,818,299.13 in restitution.
- Acting US Attorney John Horn said Taylor's investment opportunities 'were nothing but a Ponzi scheme designed to build his own personal wealth,' and US Secret Service Special Agent in Charge Reginald G. Moore said Taylor took advantage of people 'during a time of reverence and trust.'
Why this case matters
Of the three cases on this page, this is the largest by both dollar figure and victim count, and the most explicit about using religious framing as a marketing device: Taylor did not simply happen to meet investors at church, he built a nationwide tour around church congregations specifically, branding himself a “socially conscious investor” to a population primed to find that credible.
A tour built for trust, not diligence
The “Building Wealth Tour” model let Taylor and Connor meet potential investors inside a space, a church service or a seminar held on church property, where a financial pitch would ordinarily face more scrutiny, not less. The products themselves, promissory notes tied to small businesses and “sweepstakes machine” investments promising up to 300% returns, were dressed in enough specific, plausible-sounding detail to survive a quick look, while the setting discouraged a slow one.
Retirement savings as the funding mechanism
Encouraging victims to move money into self-directed IRAs specifically to fund the investment is a recurring pattern in affinity fraud cases: a self-directed IRA’s custodian holds the asset without vetting it, unlike a conventional brokerage account, making it a comparatively frictionless way to move a victim’s retirement savings into a fraud.
The caveat
Both defendants were convicted by guilty plea, not trial, and have been sentenced; the facts above reflect the government’s description of the offence at sentencing, which the defendants admitted to through their pleas, rather than disputed allegations.
Sources
- Ephren Taylor Sentenced To Federal Prison. US Attorney's Office, Northern District of Georgia. Accessed 2026-10-09. Supports: All figures and quotes in this case file: the 400-plus victims, the $16 million total, the 278 victims and $5.8 million sub-period, the New Birth Missionary Baptist Church figures, the promissory note and sweepstakes machine investments, the self-directed IRA mechanism, the guilty pleas, the sentences, the restitution amounts, and the official quotes.