Edir Macedo

Edir Macedo
Edir Macedo in 2007, during grand opening ceremony of Record News.
Born	(1945-02-18) February 18, 1945 (age 72) Rio das Flores, RJ, Brazil
Nationality	Brazilian
Occupation	preacher and theologian
Website	www.bishopmacedo.com

Edir Macedo Bezerra (born February 18, 1945) is a Brazilian evangelical leader and media mogul; he is the owner and chairman of the second-largest television network in Brazil, Rede Record, since 1989 with its parent Central Record de Comunicação, which he also founded after he bought the network. Macedo was raised Catholic, but by 1970 converted to Pentecostalism. He founded with others the Universal Church of the Kingdom of God in Rio de Janeiro state, Brazil in 1977. He is referred to with sneer quotes as "Bishop" Edir Macedo by Forbes.

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?"

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^[update] 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 state agency, a health insurance company, and an airline. The church's acquisitions seems very suspicious due to the church's short history of about thirty years.