LDS investments exposed to FTX fraud

[Dr Moore]

Don't ask how I know this, but the church's Ensign Peak has been investing in Sequoia's venture funds for many years. Thanks in large part to a couple of senior people at Sequoia who are also LDS.

As a result, while the losses to the church are small in absolute terms, it is a certainty that church investments were impacted by the FTX fraud.

For background, Sequoia was one of FTX's most prominent investors. Partners claimed to have done extensive diligence on FTX before investing, which we now know was, at best, self-deception. The whole business was fraudulently transferring customer deposits over to a separate crypto-fund called Alameda, effectively taking customer funds and using them to speculate. This is not only illegal, but the magnitude makes FTX one of the largest financial frauds in history.

The WSJ article below says $150 million of Sequoia investments were wiped out in the FTX bankruptcy. Sequoia management actually held a call with investors to apologize! One wonders who from Ensign Peak was on that call.

I recall seeing elsewhere that the total losses to Sequoia were over $200 million... whatever.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/sequoia-ca ... 1669144914

Regardless of the relative triviality of this loss (likely single digit millions of dollars to the church) compared with over $150 billion in secretive Ensign Peak investments, it is a sobering reminder that even the "best" and "safest" money managers sometimes are fooled and sometimes they are fooled worst by fooling themselves.

[drumdude]

I bet the amount they lost on that specific fraud totaled more than they have donated to COVID and the war in Ukraine. We will never know because they are the largest “charity” on earth whose finances are a complete black box.

What more urgent world event is it going to take to really open up the Mormon coffers? How rainy does the rainy day need to be?

[Philo Sofee]

I bet the amount they lost on that specific fraud totaled more than they have donated to COVID and the war in Ukraine. We will never know because they are the largest “charity” on earth whose finances are a complete black box.

What more urgent world event is it going to take to really open up the Mormon coffers? How rainy does the rainy day need to be?

California is getting the rainy days of a century right now, so there is that.

[Poly G Porter]

I bet the amount they lost on that specific fraud totaled more than they have donated to COVID and the war in Ukraine. We will never know because they are the largest “charity” on earth whose finances are a complete black box.

What more urgent world event is it going to take to really open up the Mormon coffers? How rainy does the rainy day need to be?

California is getting the rainy days of a century right now, so there is that.

Damn California Mormons need to stop paying extra tithes. Or get Russ to ask Elohim to send cold snow to the Sierra Nevada mountains instead of warm rain!

We need cold snow for planned run-off through the summer. Good snowpack is like a second reservoir. Too much rain now means the reservoirs must let enough out just in case we need space for another big ass storm..

[IHAQ]

As Church leaders believe in being honest and transparent I’m sure the members will be briefed about how much of their donations the Church has lost playing the investment casino…

[Moksha]

... because they are the largest “charity” on earth ...

Is charity one of those words that have been redefined?

[BeNotDeceived]

The 'church' could lose $50 billion and hardly even notice. 'Church'...

[Wonhyo]

It's hard to feel badly about the possibility of the church losing money on its cryptocurrency investments. In the end, it might mean one fewer, empty, new McTemples in the fiscal year.

[Dr Moore]

The 'church' could lose $50 billion and hardly even notice. 'Church'...

No one would notice, literally. Besides a small number of deep insiders. This isn’t right or a good thing.

[drumdude]

It's hard to feel badly about the possibility of the church losing money on its cryptocurrency investments. In the end, it might mean one fewer, empty, new McTemples in the fiscal year.

They’ll just skip the 5 million dollar chandelier in the lobby waiting room for all the family members who can’t be there for their childrens’ weddings. They’re riff raff anyway.