Harlem Pastor Sold Church To Developer While Pocketing Cash: AG

HARLEM, NY — The leader of a historic Harlem house of worship pocketed nearly a million dollars when he sold the church to an inexperienced developer — then lied to authorities about his stake in the deal, according to state prosecutors.

On Monday, Attorney General Letitia James's office filed the action in state court against Bishop Kevin Griffin, the senior pastor and president of Childs Memorial Temple Church of God in Christ.

For decades, Childs Memorial operated out of a former theater space on Amsterdam Avenue near West 147th Street. It was there that mourners gathered on Feb. 27, 1965 for the funeral of Malcolm X, six days after the civil rights leader's assassination.

In the ensuing decades, the building fell into disrepair, with holes opening up in the structure's roof. In 2014, Griffin agreed to sell the church property to Moujan Vahdat, a wealthy developer who heads the firm Elmo Realty. Vahdat had no prior experience with church developments, according to prosecutors.

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As part of the deal, Vahdat paid the church $2 million for the site and promised to spend $2.5 million to construct a new building with space for the church and apartments on the upper floors. Church leaders described the deal as a win-win; indeed, Griffin's online biography touts his "extraordinary acumen in business, overseeing a 10-million dollar development project" for Childs Memorial.

What Griffin did not disclose, according to prosecutors, was his own interest in the sale. Starting in 2014, Vahdat paid Griffin $220,000 in separate transactions, during which time Griffin "agreed to amend the terms of the Childs Memorial contract to the church's detriment" — including by allowing the developer to take longer to complete the project.

Griffin, a New Jersey resident, also holds leadership roles in the Pentecostal Christian church of Antigua and Barbuda, and in the New York state division of the Church of God in Christ — a predominantly Black denomination.

$440K in "finder's fees"

Griffin also received $440,000 in "finder's fees" from Vahdat as a reward for introducing the developer to the pastor of Childs Memorial's sister church, Healing from Heaven Temple — a house of worship on Frederick Douglass Boulevard which was also in a tough financial situation. When Vahdat bought that church in 2015, Griffin was credited with facilitating the sale — but did not reveal his own interest in it, the state says.

In 2016, when the Childs Memorial sale closed, Griffin got $450,000 in proceeds; his wife, too, received $100,000 of her own, prosecutors say. All told, Griffin made $900,000 from his relationship with Vahdat — but did not disclose the payments to the state when the Childs Memorial sale went up for final approval, prosecutors allege.

The state contends that Griffin betrayed his duty to his parishioners by acting in his own self-interest instead of the interests of the church — his obligation under state law. Prosecutors are now asking a judge to force Griffin to pay back his church for his "waste and misuse of its charitable assets," including the salary he received while allegedly taking the illicit payments.

The filing also seeks to permanently bar Griffin from holding a leadership role in any New York-based nonprofit or charity, though it allows him to continue serving as a pastor.

Emails sent to the church were not immediately returned on Monday, and phone numbers listed for Childs Memorial were either disconnected or unattended.

Site remains empty

Since the Childs Memorial church was demolished in 2018, no new building has sprung up to replace it. The new apartment building on the site — supposed to be completed in 2019 — has stalled, and the site sits empty. (Childs Memorial has temporarily relocated to a storefront on West 148th Street.)

Ironically, that delay has been welcome for some in the community, who were unhappy with Vahdat's plan for the Childs Memorial site: a building full of studio apartments that he would lease to the city for use as a family shelter.

In a protest in January, community leaders argued that studios would be ill-suited for homeless families, and called on the city to develop permanently affordable housing there instead.

"If you want to end homelessness you have to give people homes," Community Board 9 chair Barry Weinberg said at the time. "You cannot build an ever-growing homeless shelter system."

There are signs that neighbors may get their wish: another developer, Broadway Housing Communities, has come forward with a proposal to buy the Childs Memorial site, Weinberg told Patch on Monday. In a meeting last week, the board voted to support the nonprofit's bid.

Related coverage: West Harlem Leaders Oppose New Shelter, Call For Housing Instead

Have a Harlem news tip? Email reporter Nick Garber at nick.garber@patch.com.