Jury Orders TV Evangelist to Pay $1.5 Million

DALLAS — Television evangelist Robert Tilton, who preached prosperity through faith, defrauded a couple by misusing their donation to his ministry, a jury decided Thursday in awarding them $1.5 million.

Mike and Vivian Elliott of Tampa, Fla., donated $3,500 toward a crisis center, but instead it was “nothing more than fuel for Tilton’s lavish lifestyle,” said their lawyer, Gary Richardson.

The Elliotts were awarded $500,000 in actual damages and $1 million in punitive damages in their lawsuit against Tilton, his former wife, Marte, and the Word of Faith World Outreach Center Church in suburban Dallas.

Tilton’s attorney, Rhonda Johnson Byrd, argued that the Elliotts were never promised that the donations would be used for a crisis center. She said religious faith itself was on trial.

“God inspired Rev. Tilton” to write to his viewers, she told jurors. “It is not for you to decide whether that inspiration came from God. That would be invading the First Amendment.”

The Elliotts accused Tilton of fraud and breach of contract. They also said Tilton’s television show improperly credited the preacher with dissuading Vivian Elliott from suicide.