A lawsuit accusing worship leader Christopher John “Sean” Feucht of misusing $250,000 has been dismissed for lack of evidence, a federal court ruled last week.

But U.S. District Court Judge David O. Carter also told California businessman Steve Bray that he may refile his complaint with additional information that supports his allegations.

An amended complaint would need to show that “funds provided by Plaintiff to the Defendants are the same funds diverted … toward alleged ‘fraudulent conduct,’” Carter wrote. According to the court, it is not enough for Bray to allege that Feucht took money for his 2023 tour and spent money on real estate around the same time. The court needs to see allegations that include “times, dates, places” and specific dollar amounts.

A lawsuit’s claims must rise, Carter said, above the “speculative level.”

An amended complaint would also need to offer concrete evidence that Feucht misled Bray, according to the judge. The court said the lawsuit filed in Los Angeles in March fails to provide facts that, if proven, would show Feucht “made the representations without reasonable grounds for believing them to be true.”

Feucht celebrated the decision on social media Monday. He said the ruling confirmed that he did nothing wrong.

“Today is a day of VINDICATION,” Feucht wrote, adding a praying hands emoji and fire emoji.

The worship minister, who rose to prominence staging large, outdoor worship gatherings during the COVID-19 pandemic, claimed the judge was politically liberal and biased against him. Yet, the case was so weak, even “a Clinton-appointed federal judge,” Feucht said, had no choice but to dismiss it.

According to Feucht, the lawsuit is just the latest wave of failed attacks trying to stop his worship ministry. He said he has stood, undaunted, against antifa radicals, Satanists and left-wing politicians. Now he will notch another win against what he characterized as “lawfare” — people misusing the legal system for harassment.

“They attacked us, slandered us, and spread allegations they couldn’t support in court,” Feucht wrote. “These accusations traveled around the world — amplified by many of the same hostile voices that have attacked us since the COVID lockdowns. … Now let’s see who will report the DISMISSAL with the same energy they reported the accusations.”

Donor wanted questions answered

Bray, who has also donated to Roys Report (RR), does not consider himself an enemy of public worship at state capitals. He rejects the idea that he was trying to use the courts to harass Feucht.

Bray gave $250,000 to Feucht because he believed in what Feucht was doing, he told RR earlier this year. Then, he had concerns about whether Feucht was really doing what he promised.

Nine people who worked with Feucht signed a public statement accusing him of financial misconduct, including embezzlement and wire fraud. They said the worship leader has “a consistent pattern of misusing ministry resources” for his own personal benefit.

The Associated Press found Feucht’s ministry has spent millions on property, including a townhouse in Washington, D.C., 458 acres in Texas and another 40 in Montana. Feucht also personally owns an estimated $4.5 million worth of property in California, Montana and Pennsylvania.

Feucht, whose ministries are registered with the IRS as associations of churches, does not publicly disclose any financial information. When Bray had questions about ministry spending, he found Feucht would not disclose financial information privately either.

That was unacceptable, Bray told RR.

“If you’re in ministry, you better be willing to, you know, pony up,” he said. “And when they don’t want to do it — huge red flags, sirens, yellow lights, red lights.”

The California businessman hoped the lawsuit would force Feucht to open his books.

“When something doesn’t fit, you have to take it apart, which, you know, is the point of the lawsuit,” Bray told RR. “I basically said, ‘I think that the only way to get my money back is to file this lawsuit.’”

Feucht’s attorneys argued the lawsuit was an illegitimate “fishing expedition.” They also made the case, in their motion to dismiss, that Bray was not entitled to any information about how his money was spent because the money was given through a donor-advised fund.

They added that Feucht’s ministry is constitutionally protected from government interference, and the federal court has no jurisdiction to decide whether money was misspent.

The court accepted the first argument. To force a ministry to disclose financial information, a donor must have specific information showing funds were misused, Carter said.

The judge, however, rejected the claim that the federal court has no jurisdiction.

Court leaves door open

A donor has a “right to be free from fraudulent inducement to part with a quarter of a million of his dollars,” even if the inducement is religious or the donation is going to a religious cause, the judge ruled Friday. The case does not raise theological questions about the proper use of funds and does not require “entanglement with religious doctrine,” the court said.

If Bray offers more specific evidence to support the allegations of fraud, the case can go forward.

Feucht’s attorneys asked the court to dismiss the suit “with prejudice.” Instead, the judge dismissed the suit “without prejudice,” giving Bray’s attorneys 21 days to file an amended complaint.

Christine Jones, who is representing Bray and also sits on the board of RR, told RR she is planning to do that.

“This ruling is a pleading-stage decision, not the end of the case,” Jones said. “We intend to provide the additional detail the Court requested and proceed accordingly.”

Daniel Silliman is senior reporter/editor at The Roys Report. He began his two decades in journalism covering crime in Atlanta and has since led major investigations into abuse and misconduct in Christian contexts. Daniel and his wife live in Johnson City, Tennessee