By Lloyd Mackey

TWO MEMBERS of the Mainse family have left their posts at 100 Huntley Street and Crossroads Television, following allegations that linked them to a software developer who was recently accused in an American court of running a $14 million Ponzi scheme.

Ron Mainse was president of Crossroads and his brother Reynold was mission/host advisor. Their father, David Mainse, founded the ministry that became Crossroads in the 1960s, and began broadcasting 100 Huntley Street in 1977.

Crossroads CEO Doug McKenzie confirmed the change in status for the two men in a June interview with Toronto-based Maranatha News, and said he hoped the change would be temporary. "Once the board has more information about the investigation it will be in a better position to make a fully informed decision on next steps," he said.

McKenzie's interview followed an earlier published report linking the brothers to software developer Gordon Driver, who, it was alleged, ran a US$14.1 million Ponzi scheme. The allegations had appeared in a security law violation complaint filed May 14 in the California District Court by the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

None of the SEC allegations, at this point, have been proven in a court of law.

The complaint alleged that Driver and his company, Axcess Automation, had raised $14.1 million from over 100 Canadian and American investors.

The SEC alleges that Driver represented to prospective investors that he would use their funds to trade futures using a proprietary software program. Further, Driver is said to have maintained that he generated substantial profits from such trading and would use a portion of the trading profits to pay investors a weekly return of one to five per cent.

"In reality," the SEC complaint maintains, "Driver used only $3.7 million to trade futures, incurring $3.55 million in cumulative net trading losses, and misappropriated $10.7 million to pay investors and another $1.1 million to pay personal expenses."

The story broke in Canada on May 21, in the Hamilton Spectator, the major daily newspaper circulating in Burlington, the Hamilton suburb where Crossroads and 100 Huntley Street are headquartered.

The Spectator reported that, according to SEC court filings, Driver testified that he had worked for 100 Huntley Street as a teenager. David Mainse, he said, was a "father figure" to him.

He said he had subsequently worked in the film industry in California, and had returned to Canada to write screenplays. He ended up living on the same street as Ron Mainse. Reynold Mainse, in turn, was impressed with Driver's trading software, and both brothers invested in Axcess.

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In the SEC complaint, unnamed "close relatives of the television ministry's founder invested in Axcess and became finders or 'point persons' for Axcess."

For his part, Crossroads CEO McKenzie told Maranatha News that "Ron and Reynold are dealing with some personal financial matters and that the Crossroads' board of directors feels it is best for our ministry that they step aside while those matters are resolved."

McKenzie urged that Christians pray for the two men and that their prayers be "without judgment and without ceasing."

Lorne Jackson, president of the Canadian National Christian Foundation (CNCF), told CC.com that he believed the Mainse brothers to be men of integrity. He said they both had taken training from the CNCF's 'Advisors with a Purpose' program, which attempts to equip financial advisors and ministry leaders with tools to deal wisely with investment decisions.

Jackson said the first he had heard of the SEC complaint or the Crossroads' board action was from the CC.com reporter.

While declining to talk about the case in question, Jackson had some guidelines for ministry leaders who also are expected to be investors.

There are three rules that, if broken, will create problems for such leaders, he suggested.

The first rule is not to assume that an investment recruiter is a Christian just because he or she says so. Following closely, is not to invest just because the recruiter asks you to. "Do your due diligence first," he noted, suggesting that anything less is "unscriptural."

There are a few other guidelines, as well, he said, such as: "If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is."

If the Driver-Mainse situation turns out to be in line with the complaint information, it will not be the first time in recent Canadian history, said Jackson.

"One (such scheme) in Peterborough a few years ago, guaranteed a 15 per cent return," he pointed out.

There is no wrong in Christian people seeking the advice of a Christian financial advisor, but "they should do their own due diligence," he reiterated.

The result of checking things out may not necessarily be "the discovery of a Ponzi scheme -- just a bad investment," he said.

"Scripture talks about misuse of the name of the Lord," he added.

Before starting CNCF, Jackson operated a highly-regarded Ottawa-based financial services firm, Balanced Financial. It was out of that experience that he developed the 'Advisors with a Purpose' program, now involving financial advisors in various parts of Canada who do what they do out of their Christian perspective.

July 2/2009