The Legionaries of Christ used undue influence to persuade a dying man
to leave it $1 million in his will, the late man's son claims in Federal
Court.
Paul Chu, of Connecticut, sued the Legion of Christ aka
The Legionaries of Christ, several affiliated entities, and Grupo
Integer, a Mexican holding company that manages the order's donations.
Chu sued individually and as executor of the Estate of James Boa-Teh
Chu.
Chu claims that while the Legionaries were soliciting his
late father for donations, "the Order was being investigated by the
Roman Catholic Church hierarchy in Rome for grave improprieties within
the Order."
According to the order's website, "the Legionaries
of Christ are a religious Congregation of priests, of pontifical rite,
founded in 1941 in Mexico." The congregation includes three bishops, 920
priests and more than 2,000 novices, candidates and seminarians in 22
countries.
The order's leader, Fr. Marcial Maciel, a Mexican
priest, made world headlines in 2010 when the order acknowledged that he
had committed "reprehensible actions."
The Vatican ordered Maciel, who
died in 2008, to retire to a life of "prayer and penitence."
No criminal
charges were filed and the order continued to deny accusations against
Maciel until 2009, when a woman accused him of fathering his child. The
next year, the order apologized for Maciel's action, which the Vatican
had been investigating, allegedly, since the 1950s.
In his
complaint, Chu says that his father, a retired professor of mechanical
engineering and devout Roman Catholic, died in November 2009, naming Chu
as his only heir.
Chinese-born James Boa-Teh Chu had converted to Catholicism during his marriage, his son says.
"Decedent
was an annual charitable contributor to numerous charities over the
course of his lifetime," the complaint states. "Decedent made annual
contributions to the 'Legionaries of Christ' and related defendants
beginning in the 1990s."
Chu says The Legionaries of Christ and
affiliated entities solicited donations from his father while he lived
in Rhode Island.
"Unbeknownst to decedent, while decedent was
being solicited and consecrated as laity to the Legionaries, the Order
was being investigated by the Roman Catholic Church hierarchy in Rome
for grave improprieties within the Order," the complaint states.
"That
investigation determined that the Order's founder had led a 'wasted
life,' committed criminal acts and serious immoral behavior, including
acts of sexual molestation, financial impropriety, and other deviant
behavior repugnant to Catholic teaching and morals.
"The
Legionaries pattern of exploitive fund raising activities in the United
States has been subject to scrutiny including in the diocese of
Baltimore and other areas."
Chu claims that his father would
have never made donations or named the order as the beneficiary of his
assets had he known about its founder's misconduct.
"During the
period 1997 through 2008 and while decedent's health and mental capacity
was declining, emissaries of the Legionaries of Christ began to coerce
decedent into changing beneficiaries on his TIAA CREFF [retirement
accounts] and related accounts, in 2008 so that his most significant
asset would pass to defendants," the complaint states.
Chu
claims that the order "visited and solicited decedent at his residence
in East Providence, through agents and or emissaries of The Legion of
Christ, Inc. and solicited decedent in East Providence during his last
years while decedent was in declining capacity and in declining health,
offering to provide him an attorney to change his will and redirect
assets. Said visits were witnessed by family members who were suspicious
that the nature of said visits was not to provide pastoral care or
spiritual wellness but for the beneficial interest of the Legion of
Christ, Inc. and its interrelated entities for its circumspect
activities.
"On or about May of 2008, acting under undue
influence from the Legionaries, decedent changed beneficiaries on said
accounts naming the Legionaries or their related entities as sole
beneficiary of his retirement accounts and leaving only a small estate
for the benefit of the Estate of James Boa -Teh Chu. Despite direction
from the decedent's estate, the Legion of Christ, Inc. converted said
funds and failed to report said transactions to the estate of decedent
or proper taxing authorities."
Chu says he was unsuccessful in his attempts to recover the money, which exceeds $1 million.
He wants the money returned, and seeks $10 million in punitive damages for undue influence and fraud.
Chu is represented by John Flanagan of Warwick.
Named
as defendants are Legion of Christ Inc. aka/dba The Legionaries of
Christ, Ocean State Pastoral Center aka/dba The Legion of Christ (RI)
Incorporated and/or dba The Legionaries of Christ, Vocation Action
Circle Inc. dba The Legionaries of Christ, Overbrook Incorporated dba
The Legionaries of Christ, and Grupo Integer dba The Legionaries of
Christ.