#ChurchToo 2.0

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Dr Moore
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#ChurchToo 2.0

Post by Dr Moore »

Among the many sad and terrible headlines related to this recent, second surge of #ChurchToo, I will add one that is not in the headlines.

Today I spent time with a good man, from Utah, with several family members who serve senior church roles. He claims that through those family members, he recently learned that the church has paid out roughly $4 billion in hush money to settle cases or to simply make accusations of sexual abuse go away.

If true, if even remotely true, this much money is too large to have been paid out of the annual operating budgets. It would have to have been quietly drawn from investment funds. And if that’s true, then this would mean that the so-called widows mite, the scores of billions saved ostensibly to build thousands of temples or to provide for some un-prophesied 7 years of famine, has actually been used principally to quietly pay off victims of sex abuse within the church. What!?

Does anyone know anything about such large sums paid out in presumably small increments to victims, covered by confidentiality agreements? I imagine it’s like, someone comes forward to a bishop or SP or higher church leader, accuses someone in the ward or stake who’s in a position of authority of some heinous sexual abuse. Initially, it’s he-said, she-said. And rather than put the case out there for other silent victims to come forward, the whole thing is settled for money. And other victims get no justice. Maybe even the perp isn’t prosecuted, who knows?

I know there was the $250 million last year for the boy scouts settlement. But geez. If, just speculating, the church paid out $500k each to settle accusations and cases, such as illustrated above, then $4 billion would cover some 8,000 cases. That’s like 1 for every 3 wards. Not crazy but then again, catastrophically terrible. Anyway, that’s what I heard and the source is someone I believe to be credible.
Philo Sofee
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Re: #ChurchToo 2.0

Post by Philo Sofee »

This.......

This seriously has drastic repercussions if valid... I mean DAY-YUM!!!
Binger
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Re: #ChurchToo 2.0

Post by Binger »

I know people that have been paid. The amounts were a fraction of 500k.
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Dr Moore
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Re: #ChurchToo 2.0

Post by Dr Moore »

Binger wrote:
Sat Jun 18, 2022 6:33 pm
I know people that have been paid. The amounts were a fraction of 500k.
The $500k was just an illustrative figure to range how many cases might be represented by $4 billion. What sort of figures did you hear, for these “people” you know who were abuse victims? What else can you say about their cases?
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Dr Moore
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Re: #ChurchToo 2.0

Post by Dr Moore »

That $4 billion in hush settlements sounds less a stretch. As investigative journalists go digging, a horrible story begins to emerge. Don’t read if this stuff triggers you. It happened to a relative of mine and she is still bound by NDA.

This is the same Globe reporter who broke the huge Catholic abuse story, winning him the 2003 Pulitzer.

https://apnews.com/article/Mormon-churc ... 033b894660
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Re: #ChurchToo 2.0

Post by Tator »

You can buy anything in this world with money.
My apologies for the temple contents.
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sock puppet
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Re: #ChurchToo 2.0

Post by sock puppet »

Tator wrote:
Thu Aug 04, 2022 3:10 pm
You can buy anything in this world with money.
My apologies for the temple contents.
It ought to be the church that apologizes for temple content.
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"The truth has no defense against a fool determined to believe a lie." Mark Twain
The best lack all conviction, while the worst//Are full of passionate intensity." Yeats
Philo Sofee
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Re: #ChurchToo 2.0

Post by Philo Sofee »

The church protects the abusers?????????? WT LIVING F??????????????????

That article link nauseates me.
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Dr. Shades
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Re: #ChurchToo 2.0

Post by Dr. Shades »

Philo Sofee wrote:
Thu Aug 04, 2022 11:50 pm
The church protects the abusers?????????? WT LIVING F??????????????????

That article link nauseates me.
This is old news. Is this the first time you’re hearing about it?
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Re: #ChurchToo 2.0

Post by Analytics »

Dr Moore wrote:
Thu Aug 04, 2022 2:11 pm
That $4 billion in hush settlements sounds less a stretch....
$4 billion is a lot of money. For example, 8,000 payoffs that averaged $500,000 each. If that had really been paid out over the years, I would expect:

1- There would be a lot of rumors going around of people getting chunks of it.

2- If it was drawn from investment funds, I would expect David Nielsen would have noticed and mentioned it in his whistleblower report.

If the Church couldn't keep the MBA's at Ensign Peak Advisors quiet, what are the chances they could keep thousands of paid victims of sexual abuse quiet?

If they are making a few hundred settlements like this per year, that's pretty routine. If it is so routine, how come they didn't cut McKenna Denson a check?
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