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Latter-Day Saints Church Fined Millions for Allegedly Using Shell Companies to Hide Assets: SEC

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The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, commonly referred to as the Mormon church, has been fined millions of dollars for supposedly hiding the size and scope of its actual investments, which now likely total more than $40 billion.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission announced on Tuesday that it had conducted an extensive investigation into the finances of the LDS church that stretched back decades. According to the SEC, between 1997 and 2019, the church and its investment firm, Ensign Peak, funneled funds through 13 shell companies in order to obscure the extent of the church’s assets, which are currently estimated to be close to $44 billion. The LDS church manages to maintain such a well-stocked treasury because it asks its members to donate a tenth of their earnings, a biblical practice known as “tithing.”

The SEC statement claimed that church and firm leaders believed that the LDS church would face “negative consequences,” should the full scope of its investments be made known. To prevent that from happening, “the LDS Church’s investment manager, with the Church’s knowledge, went to great lengths to avoid disclosing the Church’s investments,” the SEC said.

The SEC also alleged that the names of different church leaders were utilized on various disclosure forms to further obfuscate the appropriation of funds. Meanwhile, the church and Ensign Peak had actually invested heavily in global enterprises, like Apple, Microsoft, United Health, Google, Exxon Mobil, and Doe Chemical, the Daily Mail reported. (Read more from “Latter-Day Saints Church Fined Millions for Allegedly Using Shell Companies to Hide Assets: SEC” HERE)

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Mormon Church Hit With Lawsuits Alleging Boy Scouts Abuse Cover-Up

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Seven lawsuits were filed against the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on Monday, alleging the church participated in covering up decades of sexual abuse in Arizona Boy Scout troops.

Hurley McKenna & Mertz, the firm representing defendants in the suits, said in a statement that the church “must be held accountable in order to bring healing and closure to Mormon victims of childhood sexual abuse,” according to the Associated Press.

All seven lawsuits allege church officials failed to notify authorities about allegations of abuse that occurred between 1972 and 2009. According to the suits, when bishops were notified of abuse allegations, victims were told to “keep quiet” while the church conducted its own internal investigation — while the accused troop leaders and volunteers continued to participate in scouting activities. (Read more from “Mormon Church Hit With Lawsuits Alleging Boy Scouts Abuse Cover-Up” HERE)

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Churchwide Sunday School Manual Revives Mormon Racial Concerns

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A recent blunder with a Sunday school manual for use by all members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints could set back progress the Utah-based faith has made on the issue of racism in the past few years — and alienate people of color.

Last year, the church produced a new manual for its 2020 curriculum, which will be a study of the faith’s signature scripture, the Book of Mormon, which Latter-day Saints believe tells the religious history of peoples in the ancient Americas.

Several passages describe a “dark skin” descending on one of the clans, and for much of the faith’s history that has been seen as a racial “curse.” These days, though, that interpretation is no longer part of church teaching.

That is why several early readers of the 2020 “Come, Follow Me” manual were troubled to see a note in one lesson that is a throwback to previous thinking.

“The dark skin was placed upon the Lamanites so that they could be distinguished from the Nephites and to keep the two peoples from mixing,” the book explains, citing a statement made some 60 years ago by then-apostle and future church President Joseph Fielding Smith. “The dark skin was the sign of the curse. The curse was the withdrawal of the Spirit of the Lord. … Dark skin … is no longer to be considered a sign of the curse.” (Read more from “Churchwide Sunday School Manual Revives Mormon Racial Concerns” HERE)

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Mormon Church Allegedly Stockpiled $100 Billion in Donations

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The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints allegedly amassed $100 billion in tax-free funds “intended for charitable purposes,” a whistleblower claimed in a report to the Internal Revenue Service obtained by the Washington Post Monday.

The allegations: Per WashPost, the Nov. 21 complaint to the IRS alleges church leaders misled congregants “by stockpiling their surplus donations instead of using them for charitable works” and “possibly breaching federal tax rules.” . . .

The big picture: The complaint by David A. Nielsen, a 41-year-old Mormon who until September worked at Ensign Peak Advisors, the investment division of the church, offers a glimpse into the finances of the church, which has not publicly disclosed its financial statements in the U.S. since 1959, per the Salt Lake Tribune.

By the numbers: Nielsen’s complaint estimates the church collects $7 billion in annual contributions, $6 billion of which covers yearly operations costs, while the remaining $1 billion goes to Ensign Peak Advisors for he church’s investment portfolio.

(Read more from “Mormon Church Allegedly Stockpiled $100 Billion in Donations” HERE)

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