The camp of controversial church leader Pastor Apollo Quiboloy has denied any connections with a Los Angeles paralegal who earlier admitted to participating in an alleged conspiracy to illegally obtain United States residency for the supposed leaders of Quiboloy’s Kingdom of Jesus Christ (KOJC).
In a statement over the weekend, Quiboloy’s lawyer Ferdinand Topacio said that paralegal Maria De Leon is not connected with the pastor and the KOJC.
"Si Ms. or Mrs. Maria De Leon ay hindi kaanib ng Kingdom of Jesus Christ. Siya po ay namumuno sa isang paralegal services bureau sa California. Ito po ay isang independent contractor," Topacio said.
[Ms. or Mrs. Maria De Leon is not a member of the Kingdom of Jesus Christ. She leads a paralegal services bureau in California. It is an independent contractor.]
De Leon, a 73-year-old resident of Los Angeles and owner of Liberty Legal Document Services, “agreed to plead guilty to participating in a scheme with administrators of the church, which is known as the Kingdom of Jesus Christ, The Name Above Every Name (KOJC),” the US Justice Department said, citing a plea agreement filed at the United States District Court.
De Leon also admitted to submitting "fraudulent ‘Petitions for Alien Relative’ and related paperwork on behalf of KOJC members knowing or believing that the marriages were arranged for purposes of securing favorable immigration status."
The statement added that church members who are successful at soliciting were forced into sham marriages or obtain fraudulent student visas to acquire legal status in the U.S. so they could continue soliciting donations for the church.
According to Topacio, De Leon has no personal or official connection with Quiboloy.
“‘Yun pong pag-amin ni Maria De Leon, iyun po ay tinatawag sa ating legal system, hindi lamang po dito sa Pilipinas, kundi pati rin sa Amerika na ang tawag po rito ay res inter alios acta o ibig sabihin ay acts of a third person,” he said.
[The confession of Maria De Leon is called in the legal system in the Philippines and America as res inter alios acta or acts of a third person.]
“Hindi po maaaring makaapekto ang kahit anong pag-amin niya laban kay Apollo Quiboloy o kahit kanino sa kanyang mga co-accused,” he added.
De Leon is one of nine defendants who were charged in November 2021 in a 42-count superseding that alleges a labor trafficking scheme that used fraudulently obtained visas to bring KOJC members to the US, where they were allegedly forced to solicit donations for a bogus charity, the Glendale-based Children’s Joy Foundation (CJF).
The indictment alleges that the donations were used to finance church operations and its leaders' lavish lifestyles.
The superseding indictment also alleges a sex trafficking scheme that implicates Quiboloy, who was referred to as “The Appointed Son of God.”
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) earlier included Quiboloy and two other church members on its wanted list for sex trafficking charges.
