35. Robert Tilton Earnings Go Up To $100 Million
Texas native Gibson Robert Tilton is the author of several self-help books about financial success and televangelist of the prosperity gospel. His infomercial-styled religious television program Success-N-Life has aired in 235 American TV markets. In 1991 Primetime Live investigated Tilton’s fundraising methods and accused him of exploiting vulnerable people by throwing away prayer requests and only keeping donations. Acting on this information Trinity Foundation members and ABC started digging through dumpsters outside Tilton’s many banks as well as dumpsters outside the office of Tilton’s lawyer, J.C. Joyce and in December 1991 called a press conference to present what was described as Tilton’s “Wheel of Fortune”. Tens of thousands of discarded prayer requests, bank statements, computer printouts containing the coding for how Tilton’s “personalized” letters were generated, and-and other damaging information was exposed. Interviews with one of Tilton’s former prayer hotline operators claimed the ministry didn’t care for desperate followers saying Tilton had a computer to make sure the phone operators talked to callers for no longer than seven minutes and they were told to always ask for a $100 “vow” at a minimum.
