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The wife of a pastor charged with tax evasion and mail fraud has also been indicted on similar charges.
A federal grand jury indictment filed Sept. 16 alleges that Harriet P. Jinwright, co-pastor of Greater Salem Church in Charlotte, avoided taxes while living a life of luxury cars, travel and million-dollar houses.
Her husband, Anthony Jinwright, the church's senior pastor, pleaded not guilty to related charges in June.
The Jinwrights face 13 counts of tax evasion, conspiracy to defraud the IRS and filing false tax returns. They're accused of not reporting $1.8 million in taxable income.
Anthony Jinwright also faces six additional counts of mail fraud and lying to federal agents.
The new indictment alleges that Harriet Jinwright received more than $1.2 million from Greater Salem Church between 2001 and 2007, in the form of a $175,000 salary, $100,000 worth of honorariums, a $25,000 travel allowance and various other reimbursements.
Her husband, the indictment says, made $4.1 million from the church during the same time.
The Jinwrights forbade the church's finance committee to count money from the church's special collections and simply took the cash themselves, the indictment alleges.
Their underreported incomes from the church fueled the pair's lavish lifestyle, the government alleges.
The indictment says they've leased 18 cars since 2001, including a Maybach 57 valued at $244,182, a Bentley GT worth $175,232 and a Rolls-Royce Phantom worth $352,500.
The couple also is accused of using unreported income to buy a million-dollar house, lease a nearly $4 million dollar house, and purchase a long list of luxury items and services.
Anthony Jinwright, 52, has preached at his Charlotte church for almost 30 years. Combined with his Greater Salem at the Lake church in Cornelius, he and his wife have drawn almost 2,000 worshippers, a church official said.
