Barbu v. Harvest Christian Fellowship Lawsuit, 22 Survivors Allege 20-Year Cover-Up of Child Sexual Abuse in Romania

Twenty-two plaintiffs who claim they were abused at Christian children’s homes in Romania have consolidated their lawsuits into one against California megachurch Harvest Christian Fellowship, its pastor Greg Laurie, former missions pastor Richard Schutte, and the alleged abuser Paul Havsgaard. The 201-page federal complaint alleges the California-based megachurch utilized internal surveillance, financial payoffs, and purged records to hide child sexual abuse in its international operations. No settlement exists. The case is in active federal litigation.

Quick Case Snapshot

What Actually Happened — The Full Story

Who Is Greg Laurie and What Is Harvest Christian Fellowship?

Harvest is a megachurch in Riverside, California, started as Calvary Chapel in 1976 and renamed in 1982. It has about 15,000 in attendance each Sunday. Laurie is also known for his Harvest Crusades, claiming that over 11 million people have attended and over 1 million people have made decisions to follow Christ. It is one of the largest and most prominent evangelical churches in the United States.

How It Started: Romania, 1998

Paul Havsgaard first visited Romania in 1998 with Samaritan’s Purse to distribute shoeboxes of gifts to needy children in Bucharest. After that visit, Havsgaard suggested that Harvest establish a permanent mission in Romania. Later in 1998, Havsgaard returned to Bucharest to begin setting up the Harvest Homes, including establishing the Romanian Harvest Foundation to handle the formalities.

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 homes housed and cared for vulnerable Romanian orphans and street children. The lawsuit alleges that arrangement gave Havsgaard near-total, unsupervised control over the children in his care for nearly a decade.

The Abuse the Lawsuit Alleges

The lawsuits allege that Paul Havsgaard, a former Harvest missionary and pastor, subjected plaintiffs and dozens of other children to severe abuse at the shelter. The lawsuits claim Havsgaard lured vulnerable street children with promises of fast food, shelter, and education.

Cristina-Bianca Popescu, one of the plaintiffs, claims Havsgaard repeatedly sexually abused her from 1998 to 2002 when she was between the ages of 10 and 15. The 22 plaintiffs — men and women — all reside in Romania or other European countries and allege abuse spanning the full decade from 1998 to 2008.

The First Warning — And What Happened Next

It wasn’t long before abuse reports began from residents, volunteers, and local Romanian employees. According to the lawsuit, the first reports of abuse were made in 1999. Mami Tina, the home’s cook, reported suspicions of Havsgaard’s abuse to Schutte early on during a visit to Romania. Upon returning to California, Schutte reported to Laurie’s deputy, John Collins, but nothing was done.

The alleged abuse at Harvest Homes grew over the next few years, so that in 2004, an investigation was authorized by Schutte and conducted by another Harvest missionary, Steve Quarles. The investigation team, according to the complaint, was alarmed by what they found and asked Schutte to come see for himself.

However, Schutte reportedly told Quarles that Havsgaard “is very important because he’s the face of the ministry. He’s the one who goes and talks to the churches and raises the money. And we can’t have him not be part of things.”

When Havsgaard refused to leave, the lawsuit claims Harvest leadership did not fire, suspend, withdraw, or discipline Havsgaard despite “their clear authority to do so under California law and Laurie’s unquestioned authority over all Harvest Riverside policies, decisions and activities.” Nor did they report Havsgaard to the authorities, the lawsuit states.

Havsgaard remained in Romania for four more years — until 2008. The abuse, the complaint alleges, continued throughout.

The Abuse in California Too

The lawsuit extends beyond Romania. Havsgaard 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 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.

The Cover-Up Allegations: What the March 6 Filing Reveals

The March 6, 2026 consolidated complaint goes far beyond the original September 2025 filings. It alleges a broader, systemic pattern of institutional concealment across multiple decades and multiple incidents — not just the Romania abuse.

The $4 Million NDA: Former Harvest Assistant Pastor Jeff Lasseigne allegedly engaged in extramarital affairs while his wife was suffering with Alzheimer’s. In 2021, he signed an NDA, was relieved of his duties, given a severance package reported to be worth $4 million, all with no explanation to the congregation.

The Vanishing Pastors: Senior pastor Greg Laurie didn’t say why two top leaders at his Riverside, California, church left suddenly in the early 2020s. No one acknowledged pastors Jeff Lasseigne and Brad Ormonde’s absences to the 15,000 people at Harvest Christian Fellowship’s three Sunday services, even though the pair had overseen the church’s in-person pastoral ministry. Instead, online bios, teaching videos and Facebook photos quietly disappeared.

Some church staffers furtively tried to piece together facts. But when they asked questions, church leaders reportedly scolded them for gossiping and sternly warned volunteers not to talk about it. Six former employees told The Roys Report the claims about the cover-up are accurate and widely known behind the scenes at California’s fourth-largest megachurch.

Digital Evidence Scrubbing: In 2018 — the same year Laurie praised Havsgaard’s work in Romania and compared him to Moses — Harvest leadership allegedly purged its digital archives and video library to remove all evidence of Havsgaard’s extensive fundraising and ministry work.

Internal Surveillance: Former employees report the use of covert audio and video surveillance throughout the Riverside campus to identify and silence potential troublemakers and whistleblowers.

False Fundraising: Harvest continued to accept donations earmarked for the Romanian homes despite knowing they had been closed.

A Pattern Beyond Romania: The consolidated complaint contends that these are not isolated incidents but part of a documented pattern of institutional failure. This includes similar reports of physical and sexual abuse at U-Turn for Christ, a Calvary Chapel boot camp in Mexico that Harvest recommended to its congregation. The camp was later shut down by police.

According to McAllister Olivarius’ updated court filing, the hushed departure of two top ministers in 2021 and 2022 is evidence of conspiracy. The complaint alleges a systemic practice of buying silence.

What Does the Lawsuit Allege?

The consolidated complaint filed March 6, 2026 asserts the following claims against Harvest Christian Fellowship, Greg Laurie, Richard Schutte, and Paul Havsgaard:

The plaintiffs are asserting claims for negligence, negligent supervision, negligent retention, a civil conspiracy to commit tortious acts — including intentional infliction of emotional distress and sexual battery — and sex trafficking. The complaint also includes claims that Laurie and Schutte knowingly gave substantial assistance to Havsgaard’s commission of sexual battery and intentional infliction of emotional distress on the plaintiffs.

The complaint specifically alleges that Laurie, as the supreme authority of Harvest, bears personal responsibility — not merely as a figurehead, but as the person with the power to act and who chose not to.

What Laws Are Allegedly Violated?

Negligence and Negligent Supervision — Under California law, an organization that places an individual in a position of care and authority over children has a legal duty to supervise that person reasonably. The complaint alleges Harvest breached this duty by ignoring repeated warning signs dating back to 1999 and keeping Havsgaard in place despite confirmed reports of abuse.

Negligent Retention — A legal claim that holds an employer liable when it keeps an employee in a role despite knowing — or having strong reason to believe — that the employee poses a danger to others. Plaintiffs allege Harvest had definitive proof of Havsgaard’s abuse by 2004 and retained him for four more years.

Federal Sex Trafficking Violations (18 U.S.C. § 1591 and related statutes) — Federal law prohibits knowingly benefiting from or facilitating sex trafficking. The complaint alleges Harvest’s financial support of Havsgaard’s operation — and continued fundraising on his behalf after learning of abuse — constitutes the “substantial assistance” element of trafficking liability.

Civil Conspiracy — A legal claim that multiple parties agreed to work together to cause harm and took concrete steps toward that goal. Plaintiffs allege the cover-up conduct — NDAs, purged records, surveillance, silencing of staff — constitutes a coordinated conspiracy rather than a series of independent decisions.

Intentional Infliction of Emotional Distress (IIED) — Requires proof that the defendants’ conduct was extreme and outrageous and caused severe emotional harm. The complaint alleges that both the original abuse and the decades-long concealment meet this standard.

What Is Harvest Christian Fellowship Saying?

After the first lawsuit was filed in September 2025, Harvest Christian Fellowship issued a statement: “The allegations in the lawsuit shock one’s conscience, as they shocked ours. The allegations are serious and disturbing, but the target here should be the alleged perpetrator, not our church. This misplaced lawsuit wrongly targets Harvest and our pastor as a form of financial extortion. It does not seek the truth nor does it seek to stop the purported wrongdoer.”

Harvest Christian Fellowship and Greg Laurie are seeking to dismiss several of the sex abuse lawsuits. Representatives for the church have stated that the claims made in the lawsuit do not accurately represent the actions of church leadership.

Havsgaard, who currently resides in California, maintains his innocence and argues that the alleged victims are only interested in money.

Laurie, Lasseigne, and Ormonde did not respond to requests for comment from The Roys Report. Harvest and its lawyers also did not respond to emails from the publication as of March 10, 2026. AllAboutLawyer.com will update this article when a formal legal response to the consolidated complaint is filed.

Legal Context: Why This Case Matters

This lawsuit arrives in the middle of a national reckoning over institutional child safety failures in religious organizations. AllAboutLawyer.com’s coverage of the Kanakuk lawsuit — where survivors allege a prominent Christian summer camp concealed serial abuse for decades — shows how courts evaluate the same negligent supervision and retention theories at the center of the Harvest case. Both cases share a common thread: early warning signs, institutional silence, and leadership prioritizing organizational reputation over child safety.

Plaintiffs’ lead counsel Dr. Ann Olivarius stated: “Havsgaard may be one of the most prolific child abusers alive in America today. Yet Harvest and Laurie knowingly suppressed the scandal rather than clean it up. Our clients have been treated as collateral damage to protect a national brand.”

The case also has strategic significance in how it was structured. Attorneys for Laurie and Harvest Christian Fellowship actually proposed consolidating the cases into one — telling Judge Sykes they have begun legal proceedings in Romania to determine whether the alleged survivors’ claims are time-barred. That defense strategy — attempting to invoke foreign statutes of limitations — signals how Harvest intends to fight the case procedurally before ever reaching the merits.

What Happens Next?

• Harvest has filed motions to dismiss portions of the lawsuits and has launched parallel legal proceedings in Romania challenging whether the claims are time-barred under Romanian law.
• The court must rule on those dismissal motions before the case can proceed to full discovery — the phase where internal Harvest communications, financial records, and employee statements would be compelled.
• If the case survives dismissal, discovery is likely to be extensive and contested. The complaint specifically references purged digital records — meaning plaintiffs’ attorneys will seek to recover or reconstruct what was allegedly deleted.
• The 201-page consolidated complaint is just the opening move. Harvest’s formal answer — expected within weeks — will lay out its full defense for the first time in a single document.
• Cases of this complexity involving institutional defendants, international witnesses, and historical abuse typically take three to five years to resolve through settlement or trial.

This page will be updated as the case develops.

Important Case Dates

Frequently Asked Questions

Is the Greg Laurie / Harvest Christian Fellowship lawsuit real? 

Yes. The case is filed in the U.S. District Court, Central District of California under case number 5:25-cv-02428-SSS-MAA. The original complaints and the 201-page consolidated filing are publicly available through the federal PACER court docket and through plaintiffs’ law firm McAllister Olivarius.

Who is Paul Havsgaard and what is he accused of?

 Paul Havsgaard is accused of being a former pastor at Harvest Christian Fellowship who sexually abused and trafficked children at a shelter he ran in Bucharest, Romania, for nearly a decade. He currently resides in California. He has not been criminally charged in the United States. He denies all allegations and claims the plaintiffs are motivated by money.

Why is Greg Laurie personally named — isn’t he just the pastor? 

The complaint alleges Laurie was the supreme authority at Harvest and made all important decisions concerning Harvest Riverside. Plaintiffs’ legal theory is that Laurie had both the knowledge and the authority to remove Havsgaard and protect the children — and chose not to, making him personally liable under negligence and conspiracy theories.

Can I file a claim against Harvest Christian Fellowship right now? 

This is not a class action with an open claims process. These are individual plaintiffs who filed their own lawsuits. If you believe you were abused at a Harvest-affiliated ministry, you should consult a civil litigation attorney experienced in clergy abuse cases immediately — statutes of limitations vary by state and by the type of claim, and Harvest is already arguing in court that some claims may be time-barred.

What is an NDA and why does the $4 million payment matter?

 A nondisclosure agreement (NDA) is a legal contract requiring one or both parties to keep information confidential. Former Pastor Jeff Lasseigne was reportedly paid $4 million in severance and signed an NDA in 2021, all with no explanation to the congregation. The lawsuit argues this payment is evidence of a deliberate cover-up strategy — paying people to stay silent rather than disclosing misconduct to church members or law enforcement.

Has Greg Laurie personally responded to the allegations? 

Greg Laurie has not issued a personal public statement directly addressing the consolidated complaint as of March 14, 2026. Harvest Christian Fellowship has issued institutional statements calling the lawsuits misplaced and financially motivated, and the church is seeking dismissal. Laurie did not respond to media requests for comment from multiple outlets covering the March 6 filing.

What does “consolidated complaint” mean and why does it matter?

 A consolidated complaint combines multiple individual lawsuits into one unified filing before a single judge. The judge ordered the cases to be consolidated into a single filing on February 3, following a proposal from attorneys for Laurie and Harvest Christian Fellowship. The strategic significance: consolidation forces all 22 plaintiffs’ stories to be heard together, which amplifies the pattern-of-conduct narrative that is central to the plaintiffs’ case.

Will survivors in Romania receive compensation if the case settles? 

All 22 alleged victims reside in Romania or other European countries. If a settlement or judgment is reached, they would be eligible to receive compensation regardless of where they live. International distribution of U.S. civil judgments is logistically complex but not unprecedented in abuse litigation of this type.

Last Updated: March 14, 2026

This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Allegations in a complaint are not findings of fact. All parties are presumed innocent unless and until proven otherwise in court.

About the Author

Sarah Klein, JD, is a licensed attorney and legal content strategist with over 12 years of experience across civil, criminal, family, and regulatory law. At All About Lawyer, she covers a wide range of legal topics — from high-profile lawsuits and courtroom stories to state traffic laws and everyday legal questions — all with a focus on accuracy, clarity, and public understanding.
Her writing blends real legal insight with plain-English explanations, helping readers stay informed and legally aware.
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