Dr. Phil accused of massive fraud scheme by world's largest Christian TV network

[LetMyPeopleVote]

Dr. Phil is a con man

Dr. Phil accused of massive fraud scheme by world's largest Christian TV network - Raw Story www.rawstory.com/dr-phil-2673...

— Sue Stone (@knittingknots.bsky.social) 2025-08-20T01:07:29.774Z

https://www.rawstory.com/dr-phil-2673902311/

Dr. Phil McGraw was accused of committing a massive fraud against the world's largest Christian television network, according to a new report.

The Daily Beast reported Tuesday that McGraw, who goes by the stage name Dr. Phil on his eponymous TV show, "overpromised and underdelivered" in a more than $500 million contract that he struck with Trinity Broadcast Network after leaving CBS in 2023. The report cites a complaint filed in a federal bankruptcy court in Texas.

According to the complaint, McGraw's production company "reiterated numerous representations related to the then-current advertising revenue, product integrations, production costs, and viewership of the Dr. Phil Show.”

McGraw then allegedly used the false figures to convince Trinity Broadcasting Network to pay him $20 million up front and $50 million a year for a decade to produce 160 new episodes of "Dr. Phil," The Daily Beast reported.

The new episodes, which were supposed to be 90 minutes in length, never arrived, according to the lawsuit.

[wcmagumba]

1. Typical thuglican fake "christian" crook...dishonest criminal...

[walkingman]

2. One is a conman and the other is a con network. A no lose situation in my mind.

[JI7]

3. I love it when people I don't like fight each other

[UpInArms]

4. Is the alligator eating the python that is choking it?

[MuseRider]

5. One of his early workout

businesses started a few blocks from where I lived. I worked nights and my mother stayed with my kids so I would hit the gym for a short workout on my way home. They were always nice at Popeyes. I had a small membership and that was good because I went one morning and they were gone. Dr. Phil was one of the owners but nobody knew who he was then. (this is how it goes here anyway)

It was not too long, I really cannot remember but a larger gym was built and it was really nice and they had tennis and lots of classes. I joined but finally quit because it was getting pricey and my kids tennis teacher moved out of teaching there so...I think it closed down too and is now open again. There were rumors of Dr. Phil taking a lot of money but I never looked into it, life moves on. I wish I had, it would have been interesting to put a toe in and watch them fall.

It all comes up in the paper now and again. It sucks. You cannot even sweat without some rich guy selling it off you.

[ShazzieB]

16. I didn't even know he was ever involved in the gym business

Sorry you got burned on that membership and priced out of the larger one.

[Mysterian]

6. Well, if anyone knows anything about fraud....

it's a big Christian church.

[mountain grammy]

7. absolutely!!

Last edited Wed Aug 20, 2025, 08:28 PM - Edit history (1)

The biggest con of all!

Edited to add.. to hell with Dr. Phil because, even a non believer like me, wants to see him burn forever.

More than a few of his shows addressed issues with no context or history. He tried to bring down ICWA..

[llmart]

11. What a fraud he is.

Used to piss me off that at the end of the show he'd be hawking his wife's line of beauty products. She'd be in the audience looking at him adoringly a la Nancy Reagan and I'd want to vomit. She looked like she never ate anything more than a leaf of lettuce for dinner. What a couple of phonies.

[Heidi]

24. At the end of the show *exploiting people's misery* (nt)

[whathehell]

17. No, that would be a big FAKE Christian Church,

a televangelists or two, perhaps, but factually speaking, there are many different Christian denominations, some with 'big churches', with most not guilty of fraud.

[Emile]

8. Trinity Broadcasting Network wrote the book about fraud.

[Wiz Imp]

15. Exactly

From Wikipedia:

Full disclosure of TBN's financial statements have been evaluated by Charity Navigator, the largest evaluator of charities and non-profit companies in the U.S. TBN has received a three out of four star rating for four consecutive years, and in 2009 earned a rating of two out of four stars due to a 2% increase in administrative costs in 2009; the report also revealed that for the fiscal year ending December 2009, TBN president Paul Crouch, Sr. earned $419,500; co-vice president Jan Crouch earned $361,000; and co-vice president Paul Crouch, Jr. earned $214,137. TBN is currently under Donor Advisory status with Charity Navigator.

Another charity watchdog group, Ministry Watch, gave TBN an "F" in 2011 for its failure to provide financial statements, lack of timeliness in responding to correspondence, and its lack of clarity in the provided information. As a result, TBN was placed on the group's alert list annually since 2009.

In February 2012, Brittany Koper, TBN's former Director of Finance (and the daughter of Paul Crouch Jr.), filed a lawsuit against her former attorneys, Davert & Loe. The three counts of the complaint were for breach of fiduciary duties, intentional infliction of emotional distress, and professional negligence. In this lawsuit, Koper alleged that TBN unlawfully distributed over $50 million to the ministry's directors. Koper filed the suit following the termination of her employment with TBN. Davert & Loe, who also represented TBN, denied her claims. Koper's suit against Davert & Loe is pending; no official judicial ruling has been made in this matter. In a May 2012 interview with The New York Times, Koper claimed, "My job as finance director was to find ways to label extravagant personal spending as ministry expenses." Koper alleged that the network had herself and chauffeurs and sound engineers ordained as ministers in order to avoid paying Social Security taxes on their salaries. Brittany Koper said in a 2015 lawsuit that she was threatened with a firearm and dismissed on refusing to illegally transfer US$100 million of charitable assets to TBN directors' personal accounts.

In September 2004, the Los Angeles Times reported that Paul Crouch had paid former TBN employee Enoch Lonnie Ford a $425,000 formal settlement to end a wrongful termination lawsuit in 1998. Ford alleged that he and Crouch had a homosexual tryst during his employment with the ministry. TBN officials acknowledged the settlement but contested Ford's credibility, noting that he had previously been convicted for child molestation and drug abuse. In 1996, Ford was fired by TBN after he was arrested for drug-related offenses and returned to prison for a year. Ford allegedly threatened to sue TBN for wrongful termination and sexual harassment after the network refused to hire him following his release, resulting in his claims against Crouch. TBN officials stated that the settlement was made in order to avoid a lengthy and expensive lawsuit.

In June 2012, the Orange County Register reported that Carra Crouch, a granddaughter of Paul and Jan Crouch, alleged in a lawsuit that she had been raped by a TBN employee when she was 13 years old. Carra claimed to have been sexually abused while staying at an Atlanta hotel during TBN's "Spring Praise-a-Thon" in 2006. She also claimed that Jan Crouch and TBN attorney John Casoria blamed her for the incident, yet agreed not to turn the fired employee in to authorities if he did not file for unemployment, worker's comp or EEOC benefits. TBN attorney Colby May "vehemently denied" Carra's claims. In 2017, a year after Jan Crouch's death, a jury awarded Carra $2 million in damages for "mental suffering", but found that Jan had not been acting as a "Trinity Clergy Member" and therefore wasn't legally required to report the assault.

TBN faced scrutiny regarding its broadcasting license and whether it used a "sham" minority company to bypass limits on the number of stations it could own.

More recently, TBN faced a proposed class-action lawsuit for allegedly sharing information about viewers' video consumption on its streaming service with Facebook (Meta Platforms Inc.) without proper consent, potentially violating the Video Privacy Protection Act.

[Just Jerome]

9. Tsk, tsk.

A falling out amongst thieves!

[KentuckyWoman]

10. Translation

"We planned on using the revenue Dr. Phil brought in to milk every drop out of the faithful and instead got screwn by a liar bigger than us."

[DanielCronk]

12. Only if we grow up....

...by acknowledging that religion is the original scam will we make progress. Christian and fraud is redundant language. Do your own survey - who are the bullshit peddlers?

[LetMyPeopleVote]

23. Welcome to DU

[Trueblue Texan]

13. Thank you, Jesus! Nt

[maspaha]

14. Phil has always been a fraud...

Love Oprah, but she has saddled us with both Phil and Oz

[Ping Tung]

18. Is their version of God broke again (or, as usual)? Pass the basket and set up a GoFundMe beggars bowl.

Considering that their God is omniscient and knows the past and future He could tip the preachers off about the future winners of horse races or football games that they could bet on.

Or the bit about Omnipotent, omniscient, and Omnipresent, is just false advertising.

[Orrex]

19. Let them fight.

[Pacifist Patriot]

20. Cry me a fucking river.

Fraudulent entity meet fraudster. Enjoy your life together.

[Initech]

21. *Pretends to be shocked*