Harvest Christian Fellowship seeks to dismiss sex abuse lawsuits ex-pastor calls ‘ugly lies’

Attorneys for Harvest Christian Fellowship and its founder, Greg Laurie, are seeking to dismiss 22 federal lawsuits filed by former wards of the California megachurch’s now-defunct children’s homes in Romania. The claimants allege they were sexually abused and trafficked by former pastor Paul Havsgaard, who has dismissed the allegations as “ugly lies.”

“I am angry because the lawsuit states these accusations as if they are facts," Havsgaard wrote in a Jan. 20 letter to U.S. District Court Judge Sunshine S. Sykes in response to the lawsuits, adding he could not afford a lawyer.

"They are not. Everything I am accused of in these lawsuits are blatant, ugly lies manufactured for one purpose, to achieve a payout. If things were as bad as these accusations claim, each child could have left whenever they wanted to. In fact, the children were allowed to go and come as they pleased."

In addition to allegations of abuse against Havsgaard, the complaints name Harvest Christian Fellowship and accuse Laurie and missions pastor Richard Schutte of negligence by failing to prevent their abuse and covering it up for 20 years. 

The plaintiffs in the case include seven women and 16 men. The seven women are: Marian-Liviu Mihaila, 38; Alexandra-Elena Langa, 28; Ioana Cosmina Pirvu, 32; Gheorghita-Bogdana Tici, 36; Maria Ghenciulescu, 37; Denis-Vasile Otcuparu, 32; Emilia-Mariana Tudosie, 38; Roxana-Maria Turuianu, 39; Cristina-Bianca Popescu, 33; and Alexandru Ioniță, 39.

The alleged male survivors include Marian Barbu, 33; Mihai-Constantin Petcu, 40; Cristian Aeroaiei, 36; Constantin-Alin Nitu, 36; Razvan-Georghe Nitu, 38; and George-Adrian Vasile, 33; Aurelian Busca, 37; his brother Alexandru-Cristian Busca, 38; Marian Dragne, 36; Bogdan Ionescu, 35; Alexandru Badaluta, 36; and Florin Cristian Caragea, 32.

While all 22 cases were filed individually on behalf of the plaintiffs by attorney Jan Cervenka of the law firm McAllister Olivarius, the judge ordered the cases to be consolidated into a single filing on Feb. 3, following a proposal from attorneys for Laurie and Harvest Christian Fellowship.

Barbu is the lead plaintiff in the consolidated case, and the alleged victims all reside in Romania or other European countries.

In making their case to consolidate the complaints, attorneys for Laurie and Harvest Christian Fellowship told Judge Sykes that they have begun legal proceedings in Romania to determine whether the alleged survivors' claims are “barred by the Romanian statute of limitations.”

They stated in a Jan. 16 filing that a determination by the Romanian Court will form part of their defense.

“This case is one of 22 related cases currently pending before the Court. In each case, the plaintiff is a citizen of Romania who currently resides in Romania or in another country in Europe. None of them resides in the United States. In each case, the plaintiff purports to state claims based on allegations that the plaintiff suffered abuse in Romania at least 18 years ago,” the attorneys argue in the federal court filing. 

“Before these cases were filed in this Court, Defendant Harvest initiated civil proceedings in Romania seeking a determination of whether the plaintiffs’ claims are barred by the Romanian statute of limitations. Those proceedings are currently pending before the Romanian court in Bucharest,” they add.

Laurie and Harvest Christian Fellowship will seek to stay or dismiss all the cases “based on a variety of applicable doctrines and principles including the international abstention doctrine, international comity, judicial economy, and forum non conveniens," the filing notes. 

“In essence, the Reporting Defendants will ask the Court to allow the Romanian court to exercise primary jurisdiction over the claims of its citizens,” it adds.

The plaintiffs claim they were groomed into a life of sadistic sexual torture and abuse for years before being forced back on the streets when the homes were quietly shuttered in 2008, four years after an alleged investigation by Harvest Christian Fellowship officially confirmed the abuse at the insistence of concerned missionaries, according to the lawsuits.

The lawsuits allege that Laurie and Schutte kept Havsgaard in place in Romania with minimal oversight despite repeated warnings about his abuse of children. Harvest reportedly deposited $17,000 each month into Havsgaard’s personal bank account to cover expenses associated with running the homes, but did not require detailed accounts. The filings allege that Havsgaard was able to "divert funds into purchases for his sexual favorites and hush money for employees."

Havsgaard, who currently resides in California, also frequently returned to Harvest Christian Fellowship in California to raise money for the homes in Romania. The plaintiffs allege he sexually assaulted certain boys selected to join him on trips from Romania to the U.S. 

In his letter to Judge Sykes, Havsgaard maintains his innocence and argues that the alleged victims are only interested in money.

“I have dealt with a lot of anger since receiving Attorney Ann Olivarius' and Attorney Jan Cervenka's claims. I spent nearly 12 years, along with thousands of dollars of my own finances, to help these kids. There are many wonderful kids that indeed needed to be helped and sincerely wanted to be helped. The former street kids behind all of these lawsuits are only one part of the kids we were able to help and it is all about money for them,” Havsgaard states in his letter.

“It has always been all about money to them when I was still there and now. They even asked me when they found out we were selling our house in America; how much they were going to get individually from the sale!”

Havsgaard also accused Olivarius of making "fraudulent  statements in order to gain a greater number of plaintiffs" and using the "promise of financial gain to coax witnesses to testify against me."

"The entire correspondence shows the lengths that Ms. Olivarius will reach, in order to deceive witnesses and malign my character so terribly that she can achieve financial gain through this litigation," Havsgaard added in his letter. "The accusations against me in her communications are ludicrous. Most of these former street kids would not have come up with these accusations on their own and especially would not have, were it not for the promise of financial gain."

Havsgaard also highlighted what he says is a "prior history of dishonesty" by Olivarius.

"She was previously found guilty of making materially false statements with nine specifications of the single charge by Appellate Division of NY, entered on April 5, 2012. ... Please also note that D.C. Bar subsequently suspended her on May 15, 2014," he wrote. 

In her lawsuit, Emilia-Mariana Tudosie, who claims she was sexually abused inside the Harvest homes from the age of 10 to 15, recalled travelling to California with Havsgaard and claimed he raped two boys at his home there.

“In or around 2000, Havsgaard took Emilia, Mark M., Stefan S., and Victor V. to California to visit Harvest Riverside. They stayed at Havsgaard’s house with his son, daughter-in-law, and grandchildren. The boys slept upstairs and Emilia slept downstairs on a sofa, alone. Havsgaard told her that he did not have a free room for her and did not allow her to see the boys’ upstairs room,” the lawsuit states.

“Havsgaard raped Stefan S. and Mark M. on this trip to California. Emilia, Stefan S., Mark M., and Victor V. met Laurie during a church service at Harvest Riverside,” the lawsuit adds.

Tudosie alleges that after she returned to Romania from the California trip, she began taking drugs and drinking heavily.

Havsgaard’s driver, Cătălin Manescu, who was later promoted to the position of Harvest Homes’ finance director, allegedly “knew about Havsgaard’s sexual abuse of children," and "felt emboldened to abuse children himself," and “primarily preyed on minor girls.”

Tudosie claims in her filing that Manescu sexually assaulted her while she was incoherent under the influence of drugs and threatened to tell her boyfriend about her drug use if she resisted. 

Since The Christian Post began reporting on the filings in September 2025, Harvest Christian Fellowship has not responded to additional requests for comment. A Harvest Christian Fellowship spokesperson had previously told CP that the allegations are "serious and disturbing," but denied that the church knowingly covered up alleged sexual abuse.

Since being contacted by the representatives of the alleged survivors, the spokesperson said that Harvest Riverside has reported the case to law enforcement and plans to cooperate with authorities in the investigation. Harvest said they also view the lawsuits as a "form of financial extortion" and expect to "vigorously defend against these claims" in court.  

Contrary to the allegations in the lawsuits and information gathered by CP in interviews, Havsgaard claims in his letter to the judge that Harvest could not have known anything about his alleged abuse because “The church was never put on notice because nothing had ever happened.”

“This lawsuit has cost me everything. I was teaching a Bible study for senior citizens but had to step down when I told them about these lawsuits. These lawsuits have ruined any hope of being able to minister because no church wants to risk a potential lawsuit as well. My wife and I live paycheck to paycheck on Social Security and my veterans benefits. I worked as a pastor for 27 years prior to becoming a missionary in Romania and there was never, ever, a complaint about me,” he writes.

“This lawsuit is about money, it's all about money. I don't know what will become of this lawsuit. Prayerfully I will be proven innocent. But if not, and my accusers gain wealth, when the money is gone and our bodies decay, there is a judgment coming. We will all stand before God and see Him with our own eyes. But as for me, I know that my Redeemer lives and He will prove me to be innocent on that day.”