Televangelist Paul Crouch dies, leaves behind a private jet, 13 mansions and a $100,000 home just for his dogs

[link to www.dailymail.co.uk]

Paul Crouch, who built what has been called the world's largest Christian broadcasting network, has died. He was 79.

Trinity Broadcasting Network reported Saturday that Crouch died after a decade-long fight with degenerative heart disease.

A message was left for Crouch's grandson Brandon, who wrote about Crouch's death on his Twitter page.

Based in Costa Mesa, the network says it has 84 satellite channels and more than 18,000 television and cable affiliates as well as a Christian amusement park in Orlando.

Last year in March two former employees sued the non-profit of spending $50 million of its funding on extravagant personal expenses.

Among purchases, the Crouch couple were accused of misappropriating its 'charitable assets' toward a $50 million jet, 13 mansions and a $100,000-mobile home for Mrs Crouch's dogs.

Their granddaughter, Brittany Koper, 26, recently filed her allegations in court after a brief appointment as the network's chief finance director in July.

TBN raked in $92 million in donations in 2010 and cleared $175 million in tax-free revenue, but its net income plummeted from nearly $60 million in 2006 to a loss of $18 million in 2010, the most recent year available.

Donations fell by nearly $30 million in the same period — a hit the network blames on the bad economy.

TBN is no stranger to outside scrutiny.

In 1998, the elder Crouch secretly paid an accuser $425,000 to keep quiet about allegations of a homosexual encounter.