SAO PAULO, Brazil (AP) — Brazilian prosecutors on Thursday sought the extradition of two church leaders arrested in the United States on money smuggling charges.The husband and wife who founded Brazil's Reborn in Christ Church are accused of taking parishioners' money and purchasing "mansions, real estate and other valuable assets worth millions of dollars both in Brazil and in the United States," said Jose Reinaldo Guimaraes Carneiro, a prosecutor with Sao Paulo state's organised crime unit.

Estevam Hernandes Filho, 52, and Sonia Haddad Moraes Hernandes, 48, were arrested by US customs agents after they arrived in Miami with $56,467 in U.S. currency, but claimed to only have $10,000, according to an affidavit.

The church called the charges against Hernandes Filho and his wife "slander" and said there was simply a "mistake" in their customs declaration but declined to provide details.

The two were charged with failing to declare US currency and bulk cash smuggling, federal charges that each carry a maximum sentence of five years in prison.

A Sao Paulo criminal court in December ordered the couple arrested on money laundering, larceny and fraud charges, but a superior court suspended the order. The court reissued the arrest warrant Thursday.

Hernandes Filho, a former Xerox marketing executive, and his wife founded the Reborn in Christ Church in 1986 and rode the wave of popularity of evangelical churches in Brazil, the world's largest Roman Catholic country.

Critics say the churches exist to enrich their leaders, who demand big donations and offer vague promises that providence will reward the faithful with riches.