Two self-proclaimed American religious leaders have been arrested on federal indictments for their alleged roles in a nationwide forced labor and money laundering conspiracy.
The two people involved are 53-year-old David Taylor and 56-year-old Michelle Brannon, both associated with the Kingdom of God Global Church (KOGGC), formerly Joshua Media Ministries International (JMMI), an organization led by Taylor and executive director Brannon.
Taylor was arrested on Wednesday in Durham, and Brannon was arrested in Tampa, Fla., for their alleged forced labor organization, according to a press release from the U.S. Department of Justice.
According to the indictment, this scheme began no later than 2018 and continued through at least July 2025.
Sky 5 captured the scene of an FBI raid at a Durham home after Taylor was arrested and taken to jail. The home does not belong to Taylor, but it is assumed it belongs to someone affiliated with KOGGC, since video showed a large banner of the organization outside the home.
The federal indictment alleges that Taylor refers to himself as “Apostle and Jesus’s best friend.” The official KOGGC website stated that, “God has personally taught Taylor, face to face, the mysteries of the Kingdom of God! His teaching ministry is characterized and was birthed by face to face visitations from the Lord!”
The organization ran a call center that solicited donations for KOGGC/JMMI every day. Taylor established the first call center in Taylor, Michigan, and then expanded to other locations in Florida, Texas, and Missouri, according to the Department of Justice. The indictment stated that KOGGC received approximately $50 million in donations since 2014.
Taylor allegedly used these donations to support an extravagant personal lifestyle, which included a series of residences, airline tickets, personal vehicles, such as a Mercedes-Benz, five ATVs, two jet skis, a Rolls Royce, and four “bulletproof automotives, and other luxury goods, such as over $10,000, 125-pound worth of seafood.
According to the indictment, Taylor and Brannon compelled people to work at call centers and to work for Taylor as his “armor bearers,” who were Taylor’s personal servants who fulfilled his demands around the clock.
Demands included providing food for him, transporting him, maintaining his houses and cars, transporting women, and ensuring the women who were transported to Taylor to take emergency contraceptives.
Taylor and Brannon allegedly controlled every aspect of their victims’ daily lives, as some even slept in the call center facility or in a “ministry” house and were not permitted to leave without permission, according to the documents. In addition, the victims were required to work in the call centers for long hours without pay or for performing other services for Taylor.
Victims were allegedly told to lie about their reasonings for donations such as saying it would be spent on charitable works, such as providing water wells or supporting victims of human trafficking.
Taylor and Brannon also demanded that victims cut off any family or friends that questioned the righteousness of KOGGC, and that any full-time staff give up any outside employment.
Taylor allegedly set unobtainable monetary donation goals for the victims and required them to follow his orders without question.
If they disobeyed or failed to reach a goal, Taylor and Brannon allegedly punished the victims with public humiliation, additional work, food and shelter restrictions, psychological abuse, forced repentance, sleep deprivation, physical assaults, and threats of divine judgement in the form of sickness, death or eternal damnation.
Messages obtained by the FBI from Taylor to his victims included, “Media team no going to sleep until the Mosaic video is done!” and “you’ll have to raise $164K today !! Each hour you fall behind consequences will start .. we will mess with the food.”
The pair also demanded their victims apply for EBT cards and claim homelessness. Afterwards, they could be given the EBT cards and funds to purchase food for KOGGC staff.
Both Taylor and Brannon face charges of conspiracy to commit forced labor, forced labor and conspiracy to commit money laundering — all of which, if found convicted, add up to more than 60 years in prison and fines upward of $1 million each.
This case was investigated by the FBI and IRS and will be prosecuted by the Eastern District of Michigan. Nationwide FBI offices, including the one in Charlotte, aided in this investigation.
