Brazil 'Prosperity' Preachers – Victims or Swindlers?
By Stan Lehman
Associated Press Writer
Sat, Apr. 28 2007

SAO PAULO, Brazil (AP) - As Brazil's most infamous evangelical couple waits in electronic ankle bracelets for a cash-smuggling trial in U.S. federal court, Brazilians are taking a closer look at the husband and wife team whose case has been compared to that of Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker in America.

Their adoring followers refer to them as Apostle Estevam and the Bishop Sonia. But Brazilian authorities say Estevam Hernandes Filho and Sonia Haddad Moraes Hernandes used the faithful's donations to buy mansions, horse farms and other luxury properties in Brazil and the United States.

Brazil is now seeking to extradite the couple from Florida, where they await trial Monday in Miami on federal charges that they smuggled $56,000 cash — including $9,000 stashed in a Bible and $10,000 in their son's backpack — on a flight from Sao Paulo. the rest