THE camp of Kingdom of Jesus Christ (KJC) founder Pastor Apollo Quiboloy said the sex trafficking charges are "another vicious attempt" to discredit the pastor.
"Once again, another vicious attempt to bring down Pastor Apollo C. Quiboloy and some of the Kingdom leaders has been organized just recently in the United States," the KJC Legal Counsel said in a press statement issued on SMNI News Friday afternoon, November 19.
Quiboloy was charged with having sex with women and underage girls who faced threats of abuse and “eternal damnation” unless they catered to the self-proclaimed “son of God," federal prosecutors in the United States announced Thursday, November 18, 2021.
Quiboloy and two of his top administrators are among nine people named in a superseding indictment returned by a federal grand jury last week and unsealed on Thursday. The indictment includes three Los Angeles-based administrators of Quiboloy's church who were charged last year. The new indictment also names a church administrator in Hawaii.
The superseding indictment contains a raft of charges, including conspiracy, sex trafficking of children, sex trafficking by force, fraud and coercion, marriage fraud, money laundering, cash smuggling, and visa fraud.
The indictment accuses Quiboloy and others of recruiting women and girls, typically 12 to 25 years old, as “pastorals" who cooked his meals, cleaned his houses, massaged him and traveled with him around the world. Some also had sex with Quiboloy on scheduled “night duty," including some minors such as a 15-year-old girl, according to the indictment.
Quiboloy's legal team said that the church and its followers "remain steadfast and committed to faithfully respond to its mission, its ministry and its divine calling despite all the detraction efforts made against them."
"The people who accused him today in California are the same dissidents who miserably failed in their attempt to bring Pastor Quiboloy into the case in Hawaii," the KJC counsel said.
The pastor's camp said they are "confident and ready to face" any allegations thrown against Quiboloy and the church leaders.
"We trust the process of justice and we certainly expect the truth to prevail, and the Kingdom ministry will continue to prosper," they said.
The pastor's camp said from only 15 members since it was formed in 1985, KJC's followers had already reached millions.
Quiboloy, 71, is head of the Kingdom of Jesus Christ church, founded in 1985. The church claims to have six million members in about 200 countries. Its United States headquarters is in the Van Nuys area of Los Angeles.
The church backed the 2016 candidacy of Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, a close friend of Quiboloy. Duterte used the group’s radio and TV program in southern Davao city to express his views on issues way back when he was mayor of the southern port city.
Quiboloy claims to be “the appointed son of God” and in 2019 claimed he stopped a major earthquake from hitting the southern Philippines. (With reports from AP)