The lawsuit, filed Friday, January 2, was brought by Giuseppe Corletto, who claims McClurkin repeatedly sexually assaulted and raped him between 2007 and 2015. The case hits hard in faith communities where power dynamics and sexuality often collide. Corletto is seeking unspecified financial damages for alleged emotional distress, physical pain, mental health harm, and loss of enjoyment of life.
According to the complaint, Corletto joined Perfecting Faith Church in Long Island, New York, in 2003 when he was 21 years old. He says he turned to Donnie McClurkin for spiritual guidance while struggling with his sexuality, influenced by the pastor’s public statements about being “delivered from homosexuality.”
Corletto alleges McClurkin began counseling him, encouraged him to “pray the gay away,” and later hired him as a personal assistant. The lawsuit claims that during church- and business-related travel, McClurkin began sexually abusing him.
The first alleged assault reportedly occurred in 2007 in a California hotel room. Corletto claims similar incidents happened over the years in Atlantic City, Manhattan, Boston, Niagara Falls, Florida, and at McClurkin’s Long Island home.
The plaintiff alleges he tried multiple times to end the working relationship but says McClurkin pressured him to stay, claiming his spiritual “deliverance” and life purpose were tied to McClurkin himself. While Corletto says he stopped working for the pastor in 2008, the lawsuit claims the abuse resumed after they reconnected in 2012, continuing until 2015.
McClurkin, through his attorney, denied the claims as “categorically false,” saying the allegations “grossly mischaracterize” their interactions.
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