LARGO, Fla. (Court TV) — Producing a box of bank records that mysteriously surfaced this week, defense lawyers for Rev. Henry Lyons tried to disprove state allegations that the Florida minister used a secret banking account to defraud several companies out of millions of dollars.

Lyons is on trial — along with Convention public relations director Bernice Edwards — for racketeering and grand theft. Investigators allege that Lyons and Edwards siphoned millions of dollars intended for the National Baptist Convention into secret bank accounts and used the money to buy diamonds, designer clothes, luxury cars and a $700,000 waterfront home.

But on Thursday, the second day of their presentation, Lyons' attorneys used records from the Baptist Builder's Fund to suggest that a secret account never existed and that the National Baptist Convention president was not trying to conceal anything.

Prosecutors say that Lyons used the Baptist Builder's Fund to funnel more than $5 million intended for the convention over a two-year period to support a lavish life style. Through the testimony of the convention's general secretary, Roscoe Cooper, Jr., jurors learned that Lyons sent the records to financial auditors before the fire on July 7, 1997 that destroyed the waterfront home he owned with Edwards. That fire sparked the investigation that led to this trial. Cooper uncovered the records this week and claimed he originally received them in 1997 from the firm of Marlin and Edmondson, the convention's former independent auditor.

Prosecutors, however, found a weakness in the defense's evidence, particularly with the date on one of the checks. One check was dated July 27, 1997, weeks after the fire. During cross-examination, prosecutor Bob Lewis told Cooper that the date proved the convention's auditors could not have had the records before the fire.

Cooper agreed with the prosecutor's assessment, which appeared to weaken Lyon's attempts to diffuse the state's secret bank account theory. The existence of the Baptist Builder's Fund in not noted in the National Baptist Convention audits in 1995 and 1996.

Testimony also focused on allegations that Lyons misused donations from the Anti-Defamation League intended to help rebuild burned black churches. Lyons claims he did not distribute the money right away because he was searching for truly needy churches. A former convention pastor, Russell Odom, testified that it was difficult to find churches that needed help.

But during cross-examination, Lewis suggested that needy churches were not difficult to find and noted that Lyons brought pastors from three burned churches when he personally accepted the donations from the Anti-Defamation League during a trip to New York.

As his trial progresses, the pressure may be mounting for Rev. Lyons to testify on his behalf. Described by his congregation as a charismatic preacher, Lyons may be the key to proving his innocence and lifting the suspicion clouding his business dealings — or he may provide further cement the state's case against him.

Court TV's Bryan Robinson contributed to this report.

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