Hillsong Church Founder Denies Sexual Abuse Cover-up

Brian Houston, the founder of megachurch Hillsong Church, started in Australia and popular with celebrities around the world, has pleaded not guilty in a case accusing him of covering up his late father Frank Houston’s rampant sexual abuse of children over the decades, the Australian Associated Press reports.

“I have no doubt now my father was a serial pedophile and we’ll probably never know the extent of it,” Houston admitted to the court last week. Houston described payments his father and he paid to one victim decades prior, but claimed he tried to set payments up so they would not prevent the victim from going to police or talking about the abuse in the future. Frank Houston was removed from preaching after accusations against him came to light, but authorities were never alerted.