AME Church Sues Former Executive Over Alleged Embezzlement of Millions From Pension Plan

In May 2022, the AME Church filed a lawsuit against former Department of Retirement Services Executive Director Rev. Dr. Jerome Harris and ten other individuals and entities, according to a PR Newswire report that month. AMEC General Counsel Douglass Selby confirmed that lawyers hired by the church had filed the suit. The nine-count complaint, numbered 2:22-cv-02136, was filed in the United States District Court for the Western District of Tennessee in Memphis.

The complaint alleges that Dr. Harris used his position to defraud AMEC and to make payments from Department and Annuity Plan funds to himself and others. It states that only about $37,000,000.00 of Dr. Harris’s reported $128,000,000.00 valuation of the Annuity Plan was held by Symetra, and it says the $128,000,000.00 valuation was a baseless representation made without third-party verification, a reminder of why honest dealing with retirees’ savings matters (Proverbs 11:1). According to the same report, AMEC uncovered the scheme after the 2021 election of a new Executive Director. The church has committed to restoring the full initial investment plus interest to each retirement plan participant.

A MinistryWatch report, published in November 2024, describes the litigation differently. It states that lawsuits filed in 2022 by retired and current AME pastors alleged the church had mishandled tens of millions of dollars in pension funds. One lawsuit, filed in Maryland, claimed that a former leader of the church’s Department of Retirement Services made imprudent, highly risky investments that caused nearly $100 million in losses. That report says the lawsuits were consolidated into a single case in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Tennessee. The accounts differ on who brought the litigation, with PR Newswire reporting that the church filed suit and MinistryWatch reporting that pastors did.

According to MinistryWatch, the AME Church announced a tentative settlement agreement with the plaintiffs in August 2024. On November 27, 2024, the church, its retirement services department, and Newport Group reached a settlement agreement. The plaintiffs filed a motion for preliminary approval of the settlement on December 13, 2024.

The settlement includes a $60 million payment to the class of affected individuals, which the report says represents 69% of the difference between the misrepresented and true value of the pension plan. Attorneys’ fees will account for up to one-third of the settlement proceeds. The court has scheduled a fairness hearing to decide whether to finalize the settlement.