Filipino religious leader arrested for sex trafficking

Television preacher and personality Apollo Quiboloy surrendered on Sunday from his compound in the Philippines, authorities said. The United States Department of Justice indicted him and several others in 2021 on charges that he trafficked people for sex, for labor, and to solicit donations for a bogus charity. Quiboloy claimed divine authority, according to the indictment. The DOJ and Filipino authorities alleged that he physically and verbally abused women and girls as young as 12 years old. His so-called church allegedly sent representatives to the United States to raise money, forcing members who succeeded in fundraising to enter into sham marriages or obtain fake student visas. Quiboloy’s church amounts to a non-Christian, Trinity-denying cult, according to the Nampa, Idaho-based ​Christian Apologetics and Research Ministry.

How did authorities catch him? Quiboloy went into hiding in April, after a Philippine court issued a warrant for his arrest. The leader tried to bargain for concessions in exchange for his surrender. But Filipino authorities found him last week at one of his compounds. He surrendered after authorities gave him 24 hours to either give up or be taken by force. Quiboloy has maintained his innocence. President of the Philippines Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. on Monday said the U.S. had not yet asked for him to be extradited.