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Now they face a legal battle, as Maryland's attorney general issued a cease and desist order on March 9.

FWC, based in a suburb of Washington, D.C., describes itself as "a financial literacy education company focusing on the African-American Christian community." Its stated goal is to "empower this community to become more actively involved in the wealth creation of the capital markets."

In a February Webcast, Dukes asserted that "as the African-American church, we create over $4 trillion of wealth [on] Wall Street. Financial warfare is a way to get this wealth back into the community." Individuals were drawn into the club expecting to make huge returns on their investments after FWC startup corporations sold common shares in the financial markets.

The background of the two promoters is sketchy. Dukes, a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy, claims to have been in business during the 1990s. Hodge describes herself as "assisting the church community with strategic partnering" and "marketing Financial Warfare Club to the church community exclusively, traveling the country professing the good news of Jesus Christ."

The club has an office in Camp Springs, Maryland, which it shares with the Victorious Church of Jesus Christ. Financial Warfare also runs an elaborate Web site, FinancialWarfare.com.

"We had to bring a case quickly to stop Financial Warfare from continuing to solicit investor funds," Curran said. "We are very concerned that Financial Warfare is making misleading representations to potential investors."

Lucy Cardwell, an attorney in the Maryland Securities Division, told CT that Curran's order would also seek fines. Financial Warfare can challenge the attorney general's order in court.

Financial Warfare memberships were supposed to provide courses in "financial literacy" and shares in several Internet startup companies, including GlobalCom InterNetworks Inc. (GCI). According to a September 2000 "corporate overview" posted on the Web site, gci was to be the "first media convergence company with the knowledge, skills, access, and ability to successfully target the minority (African-American, Hispanic, and Asian) populations of the United States."

Besides Internet access, the document said, gci planned to launch a network of "community tv stations" in "the top 50 minority markets" in the country. This Internet and television network was to be backed by "community-based newspapers and magazines" in these same markets. Money from advertising sales would make the network a profitable "mini-USA Today" for minority communities. Financial Warfare also claimed to be starting a bank and a marketing company.

Black churches and their members were to provide the startup capital for these ventures. Curran's order asserts that Financial Warfare has not offered the promised financial literacy courses, has yet to distribute any shares, has no business activity, and has failed to disclose these facts to potential investors. Dukes and Hodge did not return phone calls seeking comment.

They have plenty to say, however, in several hours worth of talk-show audio on their Web site. Joined by Sam Hairston, pastor of the Victorious Church of Jesus Christ, the trio preaches an African-American version of the familiar prosperity gospel.

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May 21 2001, Vol. 45, No. 7