Historic Manhattan Church, Samuels Temple Urging Support From Community In Fight To Save Church

Feb. 17, 2014 - PRLog -- New York, NY. February 17th 2014 — Samuels Temple Church located on 125th Street between Park and Madison Avenue in the center of Historic Harlem, is one of the oldest churches in New York City. It is an influential church with a record of helping the lives of countless New Yorkers. The Church was founded over half a century years ago by Bishop Leon and his wife Shirley Holmes Sulton.

Samuel’s Temple Church provides a vast array of community services, including a food pantry, shelter for both the homeless and victims of domestic violence, education programs for youth, as well as anti-gang & gun, anti-violence programs.

Samuel’s Temple Church has been embroiled in a mammoth battle to save the church from outside forces seeking to bamboozle and defraud the church of its historic church building worth million of dollars.

According to court documents, Allstate’s insurance top agents has embezzled a significant amount of Church funds. Even more harmful and destructive to the Church, a high profile attorney/real estate developer, according to legal documents filed in the Federal Court, has perpetrated extensive fraud on Samuel’s Temple Church.

According to the Complaint filed by Samuel’s Temple Church, an attorney/real estate developer by the name of Saadia Shapiro, his wife Marla Shapiro and their corporation, Parade Place LLC, entered into a contract with the Church to renovate the Church, along with adjacent properties. The alleged Defendants in this case have done absolutely nothing to keep their promises in that Contract, despite the fact that a personal guarantee was made and the Defendants further waived any rights to a discharge of that obligation through Bankruptcy. The Complaint details the actions of Shapiro’s and Parade Place, LLC, alleging extraction of refinance monies by means of fraud with a local “hi-profile” bank in which the Defendants had ties.

The Complaint further alleges that the Shapiro’s and Parade Place have engaged in Bankruptcy Fraud. As a result, Samuel’s Temple Church is now faced with a “Notice of Foreclosure” sale. According to the filed Complaint the Shapiro’s and Parade Place have fraudulently extracted all of the Church’s equity. Equity that was worth millions of dollars. Samuels Temple Church seeks the support of the community at this pivotal time.