In Maryland, a United States district court has ordered
Daniel Olukoya, general overseer of the Mountain of Fire and Miracles
Ministries (MFM), to pay $7,320 within 30 days to Omoyele Sowore, publisher of
Sahara Reporters.
SaharaReporters had published stories involving Olukoya in
September 2017 when some members of the church in Maryland accused him of
importing religious books without paying customs duties.
Olukoya, then in October 2018, instituted a court action
against Sowore and Sahara Reporters Media Incorporated.
In the case with suit number 8:18-cv-02922, the clergyman highlighted the Sahara Reporters publication of September 27, 2017, entitled “former Mountain Of Fire Miracles Ministries pastors accuse general overseer, Olukoya, Of illegal importation of goods in US property dispute”.
Olukoya and the church lawyers had stated in a 49-paragraph
complaint their three causes of action which were “defamation, defamation per
se and false light”.
In the suit, the defendants had sought information related
to the UK Charity Commission’s investigation of Olukoya’s church. When Olukoya
failed to provide the requested discovery, the defendants filed a motion to
compel him.
But Olukoya stated that he had responded to the discovery
requests and that the motion to compel him was therefore moot.
Ruling on the suit on June 24, 2021, Theodore D. Chuang, the
judge, held that “unfortunately, Olukoya’s response to the motion to compel
contained a serious misrepresentation; he had not produced any documents
relating to proceedings before the U.K. Charity Commission related to Mountain
of Fire and Miracles Ministries International”.
“The conclusion is that; for the reasons set forth above,
the defendants’ motion for sanctions will be granted in part and denied in
part,” the court held.
“The court will enter the following sanctions against the
defendants: Olukoya is prohibited from (1) making any use of any documents
related to the U.K. Charity Commission that he produced to the defendants after
January 2, 2021; and from (2) challenging the admissibility of these documents
on any basis other than Fed. R. Evid. 401 and 403.
“Olukoya will also be required to pay the defendants’
reasonable attorney’s fees incurred in connection with his discovery failures,
which total $7,320.00, within 30 days of the date of this order. Payment should
be made directly to the defendants’ attorneys. These sanctions are entered
against Olukoya pursuant to Rules 37(c) and 26(g).”
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