AME clergy, staff await possible return of some lost retirement funds
The opening of the African Methodist Episcopal Church quadrennial general conference on August 21, 2024, in Columbus, Ohio. (Video screengrab)
Jimmy Thorn was counting on a retirement spent enjoying time with and providing support for the next generations of his family.
But Thorn, 79, one of some 4,500 clergy and staffers who lost funds in a retirement plan of the African Methodist Episcopal Church, continues to await the fulfillment of a pledge made by the historically Black denomination to make “participants whole.”
The AME Church has been accused of mishandling the retirement funds, leaving many plan participants with about 30 percent of what they had hoped to use for retirement. The denomination accused its former retirement department head of embezzlement after discovering in 2021 that he provided “deceptive, false and grossly inflated financial statements” about the retirement plan.
