FBI Captures Fugitive Televangelist Accused of Leading Global Sex Abuse and Trafficking Ring
“In 2021, an American federal grand jury indicted Mr. Quiboloy and other church officials operating in the United States on charges that include conspiracy to engage in sex trafficking by force, fraud and coercion, the sex trafficking of children, and smuggling huge amounts of cash.”
The Appointed Son of God, as his followers call him, favors satiny white suits. The young women who surround him in photos are often clothed in the same virginal hue.
Apollo Carreon Quiboloy, the 74-year-old founder of the Kingdom of Jesus Christ, The Name Above Every Name, is a charismatic doomsday evangelist who claims millions of followers in about 200 countries. His sermons have drawn the faithful in Ukraine, Hong Kong, Brazil and New York. He served as spiritual adviser to Rodrigo Duterte, the powerful former president of the Philippines.
And now Mr. Quiboloy, who is also known as The Owner of the Universe, is in custody after a manhunt in the southern Philippines that enlisted thousands of security forces. On Sunday evening, Benjamin Abalos Jr., the interior secretary of the Philippines, announced that the fugitive preacher had been caught. The pastor’s lawyer said that Mr. Quiboloy had voluntarily surrendered. The police said that security forces had negotiated the surrender from the pastor’s compound.
Mr. Quiboloy is on the F.B.I.’s most-wanted list. He faces charges in the United States and at home of masterminding a human trafficking and child sex abuse ring. He has been accused of rape, including of minors. Through his lawyers, Mr. Quiboloy has denied all the charges.
The search for the fugitive pastor, to serve him a Philippine arrest warrant, is also about a megachurch that American and Philippine prosecutors say has depended on labor exploitation and the deception of people least able to afford the financial burden placed on them.
And Mr. Quiboloy’s fate exposes an array of rifts in Philippine society: between a Roman Catholic majority and a growing evangelical population; between a moneyed elite from the Philippine capital and power brokers from the country’s periphery; and between the president of the Philippines and his vice president.
For more than two weeks, rows of police officers had stood guard behind riot shields on the perimeter of a sprawling church compound in the southern Philippine city of Davao, some fanning themselves with laminated wanted posters of the pastor. Police officers swarmed the campus, searching for Mr. Quiboloy. Police helicopters circled over a cathedral, a college and a stadium with 75,000 seats, which, when finished, was to be one of the biggest megachurches in the world.
*Reader discretion is advised. As per laws surrounding victims who chose to share their stories publicly, all claims are “alleged”; however, relevant evidence that can be shared publicly is also being shown to assist others in forming their own conclusions about the reality of the story. This site shares a true story based on real events that are categorized by the date around which they happened as accurately as possible. It covers traumatic topics such as loverboy method grooming, sex trafficking, exploitation, severe and long-term mental abuse, public and private defamation, public exposures with tampered evidence, and sexual violence, mainly for intimidation and punishment for speaking out. It may trigger strong emotions and flashbacks in those with similar trauma; please prioritize your well-being before proceeding. Some details have been altered for privacy, clarity, and brevity, but the essential context remains intact.
