The first scandal of course , as others have pointed out was C. Russell's self serving proclamations that he was a modern day prophet
of the Gospel. He played an opportunistic role that was played out to draw attention toward himself and to his literature that he himself was
publishing and producing. In reality he was nothing more than a religious scam artist that wouldn't stop at anything in selling himself
and his literature to the public, as it can be observed now he was somewhat successful in that effort.
Russell was a man who both wanted to be notarized by the public and who intensionally fronted his business aspirations deviously with
religiosity and aggressive personal hype.