KHOU 11 anchor Len Cannon sat down with the longtime megachurch pastor, community leader and spiritual advisor to presidents for an exclusive interview.
HOUSTON — Nearly a year after being released from prison, longtime Houston pastor Kirbyjon Caldwell sat down with KHOU 11 anchor Len Cannon for his first interview. He talked about the crime that landed him in prison, as well as his return to the pulpit this Sunday, Aug. 10.
Caldwell served as pastor of Windsor Village United Methodist Church for 40 years before his 2018 indictment for defrauding investors of $3.5 million.
The megachurch pastor, who served as spiritual advisor to Presidents Bush and Obama, initially insisted he was innocent. But in 2020, he pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud.
In 2021, a federal judge sentenced Caldwell to six years in prison.
“This defendant used his status as the pastor of a megachurch to help convince the many victim investors that they were making a legitimate investment, but instead he took their hard-earned money from them and used it for his own personal gain,” then Acting United States Attorney Alexander C. Van Hook said when Caldwell was sentenced.
The investments were worthless Chinese bonds issued by the former Republic of China before losing power to the Communist government in 1949. The bonds are not recognized by China’s current government, so they have no investment value.
“You have an MBA from a prestigious university and worked on Wall Street. How could you not know?” KHOU 11 anchor Len Cannon asked Caldwell on Friday.
“That’s exactly what the courts have said. Not only did I not know, the attorney working with me did not know either,” Caldwell said in his first sitdown interview since he got out of prison last September.
Even so, Caldwell admits he’s responsible for his actions.
“Let me say in a clarion and clear way with a bullhorn, I accept full responsibility for my poor judgment and subsequent illegal action,” Caldwell told Cannon.
He’s made full restitution to his victims.
Caldwell’s co-defendant, Shreveport investment adviser Gregory A. Smith, pleaded guilty to the same charge in 2019.
Watch the full interview between Cannon and Caldwell below: