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It was a can’t-miss opportunity that would make parishioners rich.
All they had to do, Brett Bartlett allegedly told members of the Vineyard Church of Central Illinois and others, was invest in his company, the 7M E-Group. The outfit bought assorted products from bulk liquidators for cheap—including a hot-ticket plastic laser tag gun, for example—and resold them at higher prices on Amazon.com.
Bartlett, 36, was in business with his father-in-law, Scott Miller, who allegedly told the potential investors he was heavily involved with the Vineyard, a neo-charismatic evangelical sect that has faced past claims of being “cult-like.” Bartlett, who has been hustling low-budget merch since at least 2013, also portrayed himself as a devout Christian—one who knew how to manipulate Amazon’s algorithms to get his listings placed near the top of people’s search results. This, he claimed, would result in big returns for those lucky enough to have a stake in the undertaking.