Edir Macedo & family

About Edir Macedo & family

Birth Day: February 18, 1945
Birth Place: Brazil
Birth Sign: Pisces
Occupation: preacher and theologian
Website: www.bishopmacedo.com

Edir Macedo & family Net Worth

Edir Macedo & family was born on February 18, 1945 in Brazil. Edir Macedo, founder of the Universal Church of the Kingdom of God, is among the richest religious leaders in the world and a Brazilian media mogul to boot. Raised a Catholic, he converted to evangelical Christianity in the early 1970s. In 1977 he founded his own sect in Rio de Janeiro, which follows "prosperity theology," asserting that faith and commitment to a church are rewarded with wealth. In July of 2013 he also became a banker after acquiring a 49% stake in privately-held bank Banco Renner, which boasts among the highest interest rates in Brazil. The transaction raised eyebrows in part because Brazil's central bank treated Macedo as a foreign investor since he is based in the U.S. The bulk of Macedo's fortune stems from his ownership of Rede Record, Brazil's second-largest broadcaster, which he acquired in 1990 from entertainer Silvio Santos. It's unclear how he got the funding to purchase the company: Brazil's Public Ministry has probed into the question for more than ten years while some reports have alleged that he used church funds. Macedo has declined to comment. His media empire also extends to an Atlanta-based Telemundo affiliate, W67CI. In 2014 Macedo inaugurated a huge replica of Solomon's Temple in Sao Paulo, which seats 10,000 congregants and is twice the height of the iconic Christ the Redeemer, located in Rio de Janeiro. The mega-church cost a reported $200 million to build and serves as Universal's headquarters.
Edir Macedo & family is a member of Media

💰Edir Macedo & family Net worth: $1.1 Billion

2013 $1.1 Billion
2014 $1.1 Billion
2015 $1.1 Billion
2018 $1.1 Billion

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Biography/Timeline

1945

Edir Macedo was born in Rio de Janeiro in 1945 (one of seven surviving children). In 1963 he began a career as a civil servant, initially working with the state-run lottery of Rio de Janeiro, Loterj, and also at the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics, IBGE, as a researcher in the economic census of 1970. After 16 years he left the civil Service to set up the UCKG.

1992

His rapidly growing religious movement and his teaching of prosperity theology have been a source of controversy. His sermons partly focus on freeing his followers from unclean spirits that oppress them, which manifest in them, and are cast out in the name of Jesus, in order for them to overcome their problems. His views about other faiths, particularly Catholicism, are also controversial. In 1992 he spent eleven days in jail on accusations of charlatanism. There were several protests, with his religious followers camping in front of the police precinct he was held in, according to his autobiography "Nothing to Lose". His prosperity theology is used by church Leaders to justify his lifestyle, "If I preach prosperity and my clothes are ragged, who will follow me?"

2003

According to Forbes and Business Week he is continuously involved in scandals, mostly due to allegations that the UCKG illegally channeled donations of billions of US dollars intended for charity overseas, then returned the money to Brazil. The São Paulo Public Ministry said in a statement "it was proved that the money from donations, instead of being used for the maintenance of services, was diverted to serve the private interests of the accused". Macedo is accused of using the donations received from his poor followers to buy jewelry, TV stations, and other businesses for himself. The São Paulo state prosecutor said that Macedo and his associates had misappropriated more than US$2 billion in donations from 2003 to 2008 alone, and that the alleged scheme went back 10 years. There have also been unofficial charges of fraud and money laundering. As of January 2013 Macedo was still under prosecution by US and Venezuelan authorities. In 2007 Macedo was also criticized for the acquisitions by his church which include: twenty-three TV stations, forty radio stations, two major daily newspapers, a real estate agency, a health insurance company, and an airline. The church's acquisitions are suspicious due to the church's short history of about thirty years.

2010

Edir Macedo was indicted by the Federal Justice for import of equipment and use of public documents and legal proceedings, but not convicted. Ten years later he was prosecuted again by the prosecutors of the State of São Paulo. On 19 October 2010 the São Paulo Justice Court (TJ-SP) annulled all accusations made by the São Paulo Public Ministry against the UCKG and its principal representatives by a majority vote. The judges deemed that the São Paulo prosecutors did not have jurisdiction to investigate the case, as the accusations were of a type that fell into the federal jurisdiction.

2013

From March 2013 to 2015 Macedo has been on the Forbes billionaires list with a reported US$1.1 billion, and $1.24 b for Macedo and family, making him by far the richest pastor in Brazil and the world. He was not on the list for 2016.