An entrepreneur is accused of impersonating divine messages through text messages to manipulate a devout elderly investor into funding a planned theme park rivaling Disney.
Richard M. Silanskas Jr. admitted in a deposition to sending text messages to 91-year-old O. Gene Bicknell labeled “Today’s Word” and signed as a nun named “Sister Catherine,” reports Inc.
The messages allegedly aimed to convince Bicknell that God commanded him to fund the American Heartland Theme Park in Vinita, Oklahoma, and grant Silanskas and partner Larry Wilhite two-thirds ownership of the $2 billion venture.
A 2025 complaint outlines Bicknell’s lawsuit against Silanskas and business partners Larry Wilhite and Stephen Hedrick, accusing the men of invoking religion to persuade him to hand over money for the theme-park project.
As stated in the court documents:
“Silanskas and Wilhite executed a predatory conspiracy of psychological manipulation—convincing Gene, through fraud and impersonation, that God himself was commanding him both to finance the park’s construction and to grant Silanskas and Wilhite two-thirds ownership over the completed venture, which was to be worth $2 billion.”
Silanskas used multiple email accounts while posing as a nun, but did not disclose that information during earlier hearings and only revealed it in June of this year.
Court documents further state:
“He made the ‘difficult decision’ to ‘tell the complete truth.’ By his own depiction, Silanskas decides for himself what information to withhold, when he feels comfortable revealing it, when he’ll lie, and when he’ll tell the truth.”
The project was canceled after minimal construction, and the suit includes RICO claims, civil conspiracy, fraud, deceit, and intentional infliction of emotional distress, mentioning Bicknell’s “crippling stroke in July 2024.”
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The post Entrepreneur Accused of Posing as God in Texts to Defraud Investor of $60,000,000 appeared first on The Daily Hodl.
