From Magistrate Judge Edwin Torres's Report and Recommendation in U.S. v. Stevens (S.D. Fla.) recommending denial of defendant's motion to dismiss, just adopted yesterday by Judge Darrin Gayles:
This case involves a religious psychic trying to break a family curse by "cleaning" "dirty" money. Far-fetched as that might be, the Government has chosen to make a federal case out of it. And not just any federal case; a criminal wire fraud and money laundering case against the self-professed psychic, Defendant Stevens. Defendant squarely takes aim at the government's indictment, however, as an assault on a wide range of religious evangelism for profit in America, despite the fact that such profit-making enterprises are now ubiquitous. Defendant fancies herself as a religious prophet and follower who believes in her psychic abilities and carried through on her promises. Defendant thus challenges the legal validity of the indictment and argues that it represents selective prosecution on the government's part in favor of one type of religious activism while trying to criminalize her own unique beliefs.
It is undoubtedly true that millions of religious faithful, in reliance on messages communicated by wire and mail through channels of interstate commerce, contribute millions (if not billions) of dollars to religious institutions and enterprises (non-profit entities that do not pay taxes on those millions) on the belief that, directly or indirectly, their efforts will prove to be fruitful and worthwhile. After all, if one believes in God, one may also believe that religious prophets are worth investing in as symbols or agents of one's God who do God's work here on earth.
A humanist or atheist, however, would see things very differently. They would say that anyone who buys that religious message with monetary strings attached is foolish or gullible or naïve. They would say that one who contributes money to a religious prophet, in the hope that God will be more merciful towards them or bestow upon them some favor or benefit, has been defrauded.
Ordinarily, especially in our country where the First Amendment is sacrosanct in its protection for those who exercise or believe in religion, the government is not supposed to come down on one side or the other of this fundamental debate. So what makes this case different? Has the government arguably come down on the side of a non-believer by seeking to criminalize a non-traditional religious-based practice even though religious profiteering by established religions are purportedly carried out every day?
