The Foundation for New Era Philanthropy was a Ponzi scheme that operated from 1989 until its collapse in 1995 after having raised over $500 million from 1100 donors and embezzling $135 million of this. Most of the money was stolen from Christian religious organizations and charities in the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania area. The scheme was publicly discovered by Albert Meyer, an accounting teacher at a Spring Arbor College and the auditing firm Coopers & Lybrand working with its client, a local religious college in Los Angeles who suffered no loss in its participation. Origin The Foundation was founded by John G. Bennett Jr., a prominent Christian businessman from the Philadelphia area who had previously run a variety of different entities, including some Pennsylvania state drug education centers and a corporate training business. In 1989, Bennett invited several Christian friends to become "beneficiary donors" in a new organization he was founding. They were told that if they contributed at least $5,000 for three months, he would double it. He explained that he had identified secret donors who would match charitable contributions raised by his friends. So rather than donating $5,000 to charity, a sponsor gave the money to New Era Philanthropy for three months, then he or she could donate $10,000. His friends obliged by giving him various amounts, which Bennett used to pay his bills. He was able to pay them their doubled funds in January 1990 by tapping a payment made to a consulting business he ran on the side. This was the last "real" income paid to investors. To have funds ready to pay off the climbing number of deposits, he increased the minimum "contribution" to $25,000 and lengthened the minimum waiting period. Different donors were told different things; over time the waiting period grew from six to nine to ten months. The number of anonymous donors, anonymous benefactors, and anonymous philanthropists also varied, though Bennett eventually settled on claiming to have nine of them. John M. Templeton, Jr., son of John Templeton, Sr., the famous investor and philanthropist, was a friend of Bennett, and people believed that he was one of the anonymous donors. In addition, Prudential Securities was a prominent part of the setup (and became the subject of a $90 million lawsuit accusing them of complicity). In 1994, Bennett expanded the program to allow "donations" by nonprofit organizations. The program remained small until 1993, when the