In a piece about the Widows Mite investigation, the SLT reports…
Did The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints evade millions of dollars in taxes it owed?
An independent website devoted to detailing the global faith’s wealth through public documents says there is “strong evidence” its investment arm, Ensign Peak Advisors, failed to report up to $450 million in taxable business income, dodging a potential tax bill as high as $90 million.
That underreporting, according to The Widow’s Mite Report, happened between about 2003 and 2017, when, for some of those years, Ensign Peak held stocks through a series of shell companies — a practice that the Salt Lake City-based firm and church leaders later acknowledged in a $5 million legal settlement with U.S. regulators in 2023.
What’s that temple recommend question about being honest and up to date with financial matters…
“Tax evasion appears evident,” the website asserts, unless Ensign Peak somehow made separate, significant and undisclosed tax payments to the IRS outside of public view.
The site also notes that Ensign Peak substantially increased the income it reported from these PTP investments starting in 2018 and 2019, when key details on the overall size and nature of its portfolio began to leak out.
Why does the Church have to be forced into telling the truth and into being transparent and honest?
Premise 1. Eyewitness testimony is notoriously unreliable.
Premise 2. The best evidence for the Book of Mormon is eyewitness testimony.
Conclusion. Therefore, the best evidence for the Book of Mormon is notoriously unreliable.
While the faithful were dutifully tithing their 10% on the promise of eternal blessings, it seems the Lord's investment arm, was playing a little fast and loose with the Lord's money.
We need to remember that the Church's apparent aversion to transparency and honesty is less a moral failing and more a deeply ingrained business strategy. After all, Jesus said several times in the New Testament, "Why reveal the inner workings of a multi-billion dollar enterprise when you can maintain an air of divine mystery?"
"I'm on paid sabbatical from BYU in exchange for my promise to use this time to finish two books."
The ends justify the means. As long as the ill-gotten gains went to Christ's church on earth, then by definition it was a moral action for the Lord's bean counters and lawyers to take.
What’s that temple recommend question about being honest and up to date with financial matters…
Speaking of temple recommend questions, the good news for the average parishioner is that he or she can now be as honest with the church as the church is with the IRS.
After all, the church has set the example.
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"When the Mormon God requires a PR crisis to act moral, we've clearly outgrown him."
While the faithful were dutifully tithing their 10% on the promise of eternal blessings, it seems the Lord's investment arm, was playing a little fast and loose with the Lord's money.
We should not forget that the investment arm sought, and received, unanimous authorisation for all their actions on this from the First Presidency - which is the same as The Lord approving it Himself.
Premise 1. Eyewitness testimony is notoriously unreliable.
Premise 2. The best evidence for the Book of Mormon is eyewitness testimony.
Conclusion. Therefore, the best evidence for the Book of Mormon is notoriously unreliable.
The 9-page SEC Order was mutually crafted and agreed upon by Ensign Peak, the Church and the SEC, with full benefit of counsel, after settlement offers were proposed by Ensign Peak and the Church (paragraph II). The Order represents a “negotiated agreement,” based on the best efforts by all sides to accurately (SEC) and favorably (Ensign Peak & the Church) convey the facts of the matter.
Careful word choice reveals the extent of negotiation over language in the Order, such as terms used for the LLCs: “shell” vs “clone.”
The SEC Order uses the term “shell” 0 times and “clone” 36 times
The SEC’s press release uses the term “shell” 5 times and “clone” 0 times. Unlike the Order, the SEC’s press release was not influenced by the Church or its attorneys.
The Church is trying to suppress the information that they used “shell” companies to evade reporting and tax. And want to use the term “clone” because, presumably, it sounds less nefarious. I’m glad the SEC used their press release to correctly identify the Church’s scheme as a nefarious corporate shell game. It’s another example of attempted denialism by the Church.
Premise 1. Eyewitness testimony is notoriously unreliable.
Premise 2. The best evidence for the Book of Mormon is eyewitness testimony.
Conclusion. Therefore, the best evidence for the Book of Mormon is notoriously unreliable.
“DCP” wrote:When I first heard of the hoard of money accumulated by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and its investment or financial management arm, Ensign Peak Advisors, I think that it had allegedly reached fifty billion dollars. Soon thereafter, it had supposedly doubled to a hundred billion dollars. Relatively quickly, online critics next had it soaring to two hundred billion. And a couple of days ago I read an online claim that it is now approaching half a trillion. That’s five hundred billion dollars. Trying to get some perspective on this, I’ve seen estimates that place the global M2 money supply as of early 2025 (i.e., cash, checking accounts, and certain savings) at more than $90 trillion, which leads me to believe that the current plausible upper limit for allegations regarding the size of the estimated Ensign Peak fund may be somewhat less than $100 trillion. But then again, the total value of world financial assets and investments, including derivatives and stock markets, probably goes into the quadrillions, which makes me think that estimates of Ensign Peak’s holdings can still potentially go much, much higher. I’m currently trying to find a way to retain the folks at Ensign Peak to manage my personal investment portfolio. If I’m successful in my attempt, I expect to be a multibillionaire by Christmas.
The church has so much wealth, that it has admitted publicly that it felt it needed to hide the amount, because it feared that a large number of faithful members would tithe less.
What sum would cause such fears? 1 billion dollars? 10 billion dollars? At what point did the Mormon church’s financial stewards begin to sweat, and decide to defraud the public?
I have said it many times before, and I will say it again. There must be tax reform to prevent wealth hoarding under the protection of church status.
"He disturbs the laws of his country, he forces himself upon women, and he puts men to death without trial.” ~Otanes on the monarch, Herodotus Histories 3.80.
