Philanthropy was receiving praise in the press for giving money to religious organizations and involving high school students in charitable events. However, the end came swiftly. On May 15, 1995, a skeptical article about the Foundation appeared on the front page of The Wall Street Journal. The same day, the Foundation capitulated in the face of a lawsuit demanding repayment of a $44,000,000 loan and filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. In filing, the foundation stated that its assets were worth $80 million with liabilities of $551 million. A close examination of the documents filed in the subsequent lawsuits reveals that more than $354 million had passed through New Era's hands and that Bennett had taken $8 million of that for himself. In the end, by liquidating all of Bennett's personal assets and reclaiming funds that had been paid to earlier participants, the court was able to bring the total loss down to $135,000,000, spread among all participants in the scheme. In other words, participants who got out early and suffered no losses were required to give the money back, to be shared with others who were less careful (or less lucky). Bennett faced 82 federal counts of money laundering and wire, mail and bank fraud. He planned to claim in his defense that he had been possessed by "religious fervor", but the judge did not allow this. In the end, Bennett pleaded no contest to all the charges in March 1997. Though federal sentencing guidelines indicated a sentence of 22 to 27 years, the judge gave him 12. He spent ten years at Ft. Dix Federal Correctional Institute before being released to a halfway house on September 11, 2007. He remained there until March 2008. The scandal touched 1,100 individuals and charities, including more than 180 evangelical groups, colleges, and seminaries. A partial list appears below. Reasons for collapse All Ponzi schemes die sooner or later, as they are inherently unsustainable. Bennett's particular scam collapsed because of an investigation headed by Mary Beth Osborn, head of the Charitable Trust Section of the Pennsylvania Attorney General's office. She had received a letter in 1993 from a suspicious whistleblower within New Era. Her inquiry eventually resulted in New Era's registry with the IRS. As Bennett started to disclose greater financial details, New Era caught the wary eye of Albert Meyer, a Spring Arbor University accounting professor, whose institution in Michigan had