Church comments on SEC settlement

[Fence Sitter]

If the Church is really true shouldn't the fine be 10%?

[Dr Moore]

As I read through this latest news, I keep thing about past statements like this:

"There has been no attempt on the part of the church leaders to try to hide anything from anybody." —M. Russell Ballard

He said this in Nov. 2017, fully 20 years into the scheme. Maybe he just didn't know about EP's Clone LLC scheme, but then was he ever corrected by the First Presidency? No, he wasn't. Bad look in terms of quality control.

[MG 2.0]

The other two reasons given by church officials are/were:
(a) they worried members would stop paying tithing upon learning how much money the church had saved. That's going to be self-fulfilling. The only fix is to actually invest in humanitarian infrastructure and become like Jesus. Will not be easy but I hope they do it.
(b) they worried that the public would critique the church's use - or more correctly, non-use - of "sacred funds." This one also is self-fulfilling. Just use the funds like Jesus, rather than accumulate a top-100 stake in American capitalism, and the problem goes away. The critique they feared is warranted in every way.

Back to ignore for the inane troll.

Separating the wheat from the chaff.

Then ignore, will ya’?

You can make stuff up all day long to support your warped views as to what motivates the Brethren.

It will come back to bite you in the butt.

Regards,
MG

[MG 2.0]

Dollars to donuts, the church paid more money in attorneys fees than the $5m settlement charges. Kirton McConkie is the real winner here.

Indeed. It is no wonder that corporations scoff when they get off so lightly. The damaging thing here is the clear evidence that the LDS Church breaks the law and operates dishonestly.

Another thread where critics default to nefarious intent.

What’s the endgame?

Regards,
MG

[Marcus]

...This ended up being a mistake. Good intentions with an unfortunate result. It’s fixed...

This is an uninformed oversimplification. The church gave that as 1 of 3 reasons for hiding the assets. This 1 may be "fixed," but only with a stain of being lawbreakers forever, and then there are the other 2 which you conveniently choose to ignore, which are more problematic. All 3 are fear-based reasons and ultimately will break more shelves, even if not your own evidently titanium one (assuming you are capable of comprehending what comprises a shelf in the first place - I am not convinced).

The other two reasons given by church officials are/were:
(a) they worried members would stop paying tithing upon learning how much money the church had saved. That's going to be self-fulfilling. The only fix is to actually invest in humanitarian infrastructure and become like Jesus. Will not be easy but I hope they do it.
(b) they worried that the public would critique the church's use - or more correctly, non-use - of "sacred funds." This one also is self-fulfilling. Just use the funds like Jesus, rather than accumulate a top-100 stake in American capitalism, and the problem goes away. The critique they feared is warranted in every way.

Back to ignore for the inane troll.

Wow. those are three really, really weak reasons.

[Fence Sitter]

I am surprised that "lying for the Lord" hasn't been used as an excuse yet. But I suppose if you're comfortable with the church hoarding a 100 plus billion dollars then lying to the SEC is nothing.

[Moksha]

The profit leads them astray.

The action of the Church when exposed to the light casts an ill shadow. The mindset of being deceptive rather than honest worked against the Church.

[IHAQ]

I’m not seeing an apology from the First Presidency for bringing the Church’s name into disrepute. Nowhere do they say they are sorry for this wrongdoing. There’s been no acceptance of personal responsibility - nobody has resigned, nobody has been fired, nobody is facing Church discipline. If this was a member they’d be excommunicated for a serious breaking of the law. The Church has warned members over and over again about affinity fraud, financial responsibility, financial self reliance etc whilst knowing they were secretly breaking the law in order to save a few dollars in tax payments.

The First Presidency has been shown, and has admitted, to not being able to be trusted to do the right thing when they think nobody is looking. The arrogance of their actions and words in this matter is not the way a disciple of Jesus would behave. And that’s really all you need to know.

More fool you for staying in this organisation, more fool you for paying 10% of your income to admitted financial fraudsters, more fool you for supporting their homophobic rhetoric and systems.

It’s never been more plain to see that the first and foremost mission of the church, is money grubbing.

[IHAQ]

Here is the SEC’s statement about it, it’s a little more open and direct than the Church has been…

The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced charges against Ensign Peak Advisers Inc., a non-profit entity operated by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to manage the Church’s investments, for failing to file forms that would have disclosed the Church’s equity investments, and for instead filing forms for shell companies that obscured the Church’s portfolio and misstated Ensign Peak’s control over the Church’s investment decisions. The SEC also announced charges against the Church for causing these violations. To settle the charges, Ensign Peak agreed to pay a $4 million penalty and the Church agreed to pay a $1 million penalty.

The SEC’s order finds that, from 1997 through 2019, Ensign Peak failed to file Forms 13F, the forms on which investment managers are required to disclose the value of certain securities they manage. According to the order, the Church was concerned that disclosure of its portfolio, which by 2018 grew to approximately $32 billion, would lead to negative consequences. To obscure the amount of the Church’s portfolio, and with the Church’s knowledge and approval, Ensign Peak created thirteen shell LLCs, ostensibly with locations throughout the U.S., and filed Forms 13F in the names of these LLCs rather than in Ensign Peak’s name. The order finds that Ensign Peak maintained investment discretion over all relevant securities, that it controlled the shell companies, and that it directed nominee “business managers,” most of whom were employed by the Church, to sign the Commission filings. The shell LLCs’ Forms 13F misstated, among other things, that the LLCs had sole investment and voting discretion over the securities. In reality, the SEC’s order finds, Ensign Peak retained control over all investment and voting decisions.

“We allege that the LDS Church’s investment manager, with the Church’s knowledge, went to great lengths to avoid disclosing the Church’s investments, depriving the Commission and the investing public of accurate market information,” said Gurbir S. Grewal, Director of the SEC’s Division of Enforcement. “The requirement to file timely and accurate information on Forms 13F applies to all institutional investment managers, including non-profit and charitable organizations.”

Ensign Peak agreed to settle the SEC’s allegation that it violated Section 13(f) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and Rule 13f-1 thereunder by failing to file Forms 13F and for misstating information in these forms. The Church agreed to settle the SEC’s allegation that it caused Ensign Peak’s violations through its knowledge and approval of Ensign Peak’s use of the shell LLCs.

https://www.sec.gov/news/press-release/2023-35

You should note that Ensign Peak and the Church have been charged separately. I think that’s significant as it means the First Presidency cannot wave it’s hands and shift all the blame to Ensign Peak - as they try to do in their Church Statement on the matter.

Ensign Peak, at the direction of the First Presidency, and with their full knowledge, committed tax evasion for 22 years by creating multiple shell companies and pretending (lying) that they were independent operating entities.

The First Presidency should be removed from office. Either willingly, or forcibly. Any CEO or President found guilty of this kind of thing would be removed by the shareholders, assuming they lacked the integrity to resign.

[Kishkumen]

Another thread where critics default to nefarious intent.

Nefarious is your word, not mine. And I don't agree with nefarious. This is the garden variety corruption of our time that many large corporate entities engage in precisely because the slap on the wrist one gets from the SEC, etc., means that breaking the law remains too profitable for them to stop.

What’s the endgame?

Regards,
MG

I should hope that the endgame would be an LDS Church that acts more like Christ and less like Mammon.