The Next Generation | North Carolina | Covid-19 Fraud

In 2018, Mitchell Summerfield stepped into the role of lead pastor at Word of God Fellowship, a church founded by his late parents. His church biography described him as “a next generation leader.” Although that claim is based off his real estate deals valued at over a million dollars and not his acts of good deeds. Dig a little deeper and discover that Summerfield is actually the “next generation fraudster” scheming to use his stagnate if not closed businesses to steal almost a half a million dollars from the U.S. taxpayer in fraudulent COVID-19 Relief loans.

Summerfield owned various entities that had little or no business activity, including Winning Ways, KHS Investments, and Vision and Destiny. Between July 2020 and July 2021, he submitted multiple Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans and Economic Injury Disaster loans (EIDL) on behalf of these entities and made various false statements in the applications to get lending agencies to approve and send out the maximum loan amounts. Summerfield provided fabricated IRS tax forms, including false income tax returns claiming false information about the number of employees, business income, or other key details to support the fraudulent loan applications.  

As a result of the fraudulent applications, Summerfield received more than $400,000 in PPP and EIDL funds. At one of the companies, Winning Ways, which Summerfield claimed is a home for teenage mothers, investigators said it never operated. Yet he still received nearly $150,000. He did not use it for helping teenage mothers, but for helping himself.

On May 30, 2025, Summerfield pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit bank fraud and wire fraud in connection with a scheme to fraudulently obtain COVID-19 loan funds. 

Great job by the Internal Revenue Service- Criminal Investigation in this case the case. 

Today’s Fraud of The Day is based on article “Raleigh pastor pleads guilty to Covid-19 loan fraud charges, facing up to 30 years in prison” published by WTVD News on May 30,2025.

A Raleigh pastor is facing decades behind bars after pleading guilty to receiving more than $400,000 of fraudulent government-funded COVID-19 loans. According to the U.S. Department of Justice, 45-year-old Mitchell Summerfield was found guilty of conspiracy to commit bank fraud and wire fraud in connection with a scheme to fraudulently obtain COVID-19 loan funds.

According to court documents, Summerfield was the pastor of the Word of God Fellowship Church in Raleigh and owned various other businesses, including Winning Ways, KHS Investments, and Vision and Destiny.