Lawsuit accuses former Mars Hill Church pastor, executive of fraudulently using donor money

SEATTLE -- Former former members of the Mars Hill Church filed a lawsuit accusing former Pastor Mark Driscoll and another church leader of racketeering by fraudulently using thousands of dollars of donor money.

The Seattle Times first reported on this lawsuit.

Court documents show that former church members Brian Jacobsen, Connie Jacobsen, Ryan Kildea and Arica Kildea filed the suit against Driscoll and former church executive John Sutton Turner.

According to the suit, "defendants and their co-conspirators engaged in a continuing pattern of racketeering activity by soliciting, through the internet and the mail, contributions for designated purposes, and then fraudulently used significant portions of those designated contributions for other, unauthorized purposes. It was a pattern of racketeering activity that extended through a myriad of MHC projects, including the Global Fund, the Campus Fund, the Jesus Festival, and the promotion of Driscoll’s book Real Marriage: The Truth About Sex, Friendship, and Life Together (“Real Marriage”)."

They said much of this happened in 2014, when allegations of financial improprieties and other problems prompted Driscoll to resign from the church.  Driscoll has since moved to Phoenix, where he is starting another church.

Neither Driscoll nor Turner could be reached for comment.