Former Baptist Missionary Sentenced for Wire Fraud   RICHMOND, VA—Brady Nurse, 38, of Bothell, Washington, was sentenced today to 24 months in prison, followed by three years of supervised release for his role in connection with the fraudulent reimbursement of expense invoices while he served as a Baptist missionary in Portugal. Dana J. Boente, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia; and Adam S. Lee, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Richmond Division, made the announcement after sentencing by U.S. District Judge James R. Spencer. Nurse pleaded guilty on October 21, 2014, to wire fraud. According to court documents, Nurse admitted that from 2008 to 2012, while working in Portugal as a Baptist missionary for the International Mission Board (“IMB”), he fraudulently obtained $284,479.74 through 135 fraudulent reimbursement requests. The IMB is an entity of the Southern Baptist Convention, the nation’s largest evangelical denomination, with more than 40,000 churches and nearly 16 million members. It is headquartered in Richmond, Virginia. The IMB is dedicated to evangelizing around the world with approximately 4,800 missionaries worldwide. During the course of the fraud, Nurse served as the Logistics Coordinator (“LC”) in Portugal, responsible for ensuring the payment of certain expenses for himself, other missionaries, and the IMB overall while overseas. He was also responsible for the financial support activities for IMB field personnel assigned to Portugal. As a Logistics Coordinator, Nurse was paid on an as-needed basis, for field personnel housing, car maintenance, applicable taxes, and major purchases. IMB LC’s located overseas conducted business from both IMB bank accounts and personal accounts. Nurse acknowledged that when an authorized expense was incurred, he would prepare a request for reimbursement, supported by appropriate documentation. He would then submit the reimbursement request by wire transfer/e-mail from Portugal to the IMB offices in London, U.K., which were then routed to IMB offices in Richmond, Virginia. Once the reimbursement requests were approved by the IMB, Nurse was paid by electronic funds transfers to his overseas bank account through on line banking from Richmond. The internal auditing and control staff of the IMB initially detected, and then determined the extent of Nurse’s fraudulent scheme, subsequently reporting it to the FBI. In pleading guilty, Nurse admitted using a variety of techniques to submit for, and fraudulently receive, funds from IMB. For instance, he increased amounts on valid documents/invoices submitted on expense reports to fraudulently increase his reimbursement; submitted fraudulent, manufactured, and/or duplicated documentation on expense reports for reimbursement; submitted inadequate documentation, such as quotes and estimates for services to be performed by vendors rather than actual paid invoices, but falsely represented them as services actually provided; altered documentation; and was reimbursed for non-reimbursable expenses such as a jewelry purchase disguised as vehicle painting. On January 30, 2014, Nurse officially resigned from IMB. This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorney S. David Schiller prosecuted the case on behalf of the United States.

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