>Christian University at the Center of Federal Trafficking and Fraud Probe
Part 2 of 3
"The remoteness of the campus I think made it very impractical for people to leave," the former DHS official said, recalling at least one person who managed "to escape."
Sergeant Brandi Swan of the Riverside County Sheriff's Department said the Sheriff's Department had assisted the Riverside County District Attorney's Office and HSI with the investigation on the date of the raid. A U.S. Labor Department official was on the premises during the raid, the former DHS senior official said. Asked about its role in the investigation, the Department of Labor offered no comment beyond pointing Newsweek to sections of its website that explain workers' rights under the Fair Labor Standards Act.
IBT—along with Olivet, religious publisher Christian Media and leasing company Oikos—pleaded guilty to fraud charges brought by the Manhattan DA. Previous Newsweek reporting disclosed that each of those entities was run by members of David Jang's sect and several of them pleaded guilty; Jang himself was not charged in the 2018 probe.
Johnathan Davis accused Newsweek of reporting on the new probe because of an ownership dispute with Pragad. "You should be aware that your CEO Dev Pragad is attempting to leverage the newsroom and yourselves for his personal advantage in a corporate shareholder dispute. He has said publicly and privately said that he wants my shares and full control of the company.
"To further those aims, he has threatened multiple times to use the Newsweek newsroom to mischaracterize our relationship with Olivet University, including the topic of your article….
"The reality is that our relationship with Olivet University has been long-standing, mutually beneficial."
Johnathan Davis shared what he said were screenshots of messages which he characterized as threats by Pragad to use the newsroom in any battle with Olivet. Newsweek was unable to verify those messages.
"Finally, you say in your question that 'IBT Media is under investigation again'—however, you should be aware that your own CEO [Pragad] is the target, not me," Davis said.
Pragad did not respond to requests for comment on this story.
"Dev Pragad is not a target of any federal investigation," a Newsweek spokesperson said. The spokesperson said Newsweek had not been contacted by authorities about the investigation, nor informed of it by Johnathan Davis or any other entities.
"The Newsweek company has been independent from the Olivet organization since the separation from IBT Media. Johnathan Davis has had no role in the management of Newsweek after the split," the spokesperson said. "Any association Davis and his wife have maintained with Olivet is their personal matter."
Olivet emailed a statement to Newsweeksaying, "The DHS visit was based on misinformation. In fact, the raid ended with agents apologizing. The money laundering charges and all felony charges have been dismissed and the case is fully resolved as a misdemeanor matter."
Olivet also said that Tracy Davis was Academic Dean until November 2021 and "currently holds no role in the university."
Tracy Davis and Olivet President Matthias Gebhardt did not respond to requests for comment made via their Olivet emails and LinkedIn messages. Emails and calls to IBT Media and Olivet University corporate telephone lines and email addresses went unanswered.
https://www.newsweek.com/christian-university-center-federal-trafficking-fraud-probe-1699857