A Vaughan pastor is part of an alleged $99,600 fraud scheme that targeted homelessness prevention funds
Police have charged 15 suspects with fraud-related offences
A pastor in Vaughan is among a group facing charges in connection to an alleged fraud scheme that police say took funding from a program intended to support homeless and at-risk individuals.
According to York Regional Police, $99,600 worth of fraudulent claims were made by the group in 2024. An alleged “principal suspect” has been identified as Isaac Oppong, who was a pastor at Miracle Arena for All Nations from 2018 until 2025.
On April 3, said the statement issued by police, the Regional Municipality of York reported that fraudulent claims had targeted the social assistance program. Police then executed search warrants at 12 residences and on 10 vehicles, and charged 15 suspects with fraud-related offences, including identity fraud, laundering proceeds of crime, possession of property obtained by crime and conspiracy to commit an indictable offence.
Police claim Oppong “used his position to recruit others to participate in the frauds.”
The Miracle Arena for All Nations church made headlines in 2024, when Oppong and other church members housed asylum seekers on its property. Local officials said doing so was in contravention of by-laws, while Oppong told the Toronto Star at the time that the church was trying to help newcomers to Canada who needed shelter.
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Carly Lewis is a journalist whose work has appeared in the New York Times and the New York Times Magazine, Vanity Fair, Wired, Interview Magazine, Pitchfork, Elle, and Maclean’s, where she is a contributing editor. Her work has been recognized by the National Magazine Awards and the Digital Publishing Awards. She reports on city life, culture—including what people do online—politics, art and crime. She received the Dave Greber Freelance Writers Award for “The Murder of Ashley Wadsworth,” an investigative feature about a Canadian teenager who was killed by a man she met on social media, published by Maclean’s.
