Mormon billionaire charged with securities fraud...

[IHAQ]

Trevor Milton, the billionaire founder of electric truck manufacturer Nikola, was hit with securities fraud charges from federal prosecutors in New York City on Thursday.

In a nearly 50-page indictment, prosecutors accused Milton of preying on vulnerable retail investors who had turned to trading after losing income due to the pandemic. In some cases, these victims lost their retirement savings, authorities said, as they outlined his web of false promises related to an electric truck that was never operable.

https://abcnews.go.com/Business/trevor- ... d=79142070

The false promotional video for the semi-truck prototype known as Nikola One was referenced heavily in the indictment. The concept included a shot of the Nikola One coming to a stop in front of a stop sign, according to the indictment.

"In order to accomplish this feat with a vehicle that could not drive, the Nikola One was towed to the top of hill, at which point the 'driver' released the brakes, and the truck rolled down the hill until being brought to a stop in front of the stop sign," prosecutors wrote. "For additional takes, the truck was towed to the top of the hill and rolled down the hill twice more."

Moreover, the door had to be taped to the vehicle during the shoot "to prevent it from falling off," prosecutors wrote. Batteries were also entirely removed from the vehicle during the shoot, which was attended by Milton, to, according to prosecutors, "mitigate the risk of fire, explosion, or damage."

"As a result, some of the retail investors that Milton's fraudulent scheme targeted suffered tens and even hundreds of thousands of dollars in losses, including, in certain cases, the loss of their retirement savings or funds that they had borrowed to invest in Nikola," the indictment added.

Will the Church be paying back the tithing and other donations made by Mr Milton so that the investors can be recompensed?


For reference:

Milton is a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS) and, after high school, went on an 18-month church mission to Brazil, where he became fluent in Portuguese.[7] Milton ended the volunteer church mission early since Mormon men serve standard 24-month missions. Possible reasons for ending a mission early include physical or mental health problems, individual conduct issues, and/or desire to distance from the LDS church. He dropped out of college after one semester at Utah Valley State College to pursue a career in sales and marketing.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trevor_Milton

[Moksha]

Will the Church be paying back the tithing and other donations made by Mr. Milton so that the investors can be recompensed?

The Church will respond if so ordered by the court. The MD&D board will propose that the Church should not have to comply because it was Mr. Milton's fault that he got caught.

[IHAQ]

Will the Church be paying back the tithing and other donations made by Mr. Milton so that the investors can be recompensed?

The Church will respond if so ordered by the court. The MD&D board will propose that the Church should not have to comply because it was Mr. Milton's fault that he got caught.

So your guess is that the Church will only do the right thing when legally compelled to do so. I agree. The Church will only do the right thing when forced into it.

[Dr Moore]

Milton deserves every punishment he receives. He's a crook and a lying liar.

But it does not follow that the church bears any fiscal responsibility nor that church finances or tithing funds should even enter the discussion. Why make that connection? Because Milton was "a billionaire" and big money is involved? Where does that line get drawn? Does every criminal act automatically indict that individual's church?

I think the better question, rather than make this about LDS, Inc. and its money, is to ask why the LDS church hasn't yet excommunicated Milton after he defrauded tens of thousands of investors out of billions of dollars and done NOTHING to publicly repent or make amends. That question isn't preempting the criminal investigation -- Nikola's board already published its investigation which found Milton guilty of making intentionally misleading statements, forcing Milton to step down.

So he's a crook and a liar, who used a position of power and trust to do immense harm to untold thousands of individuals. Why doesn't Milton get excommunicated in order for the church to formally message the unacceptability of his pattern of horrific behavior on a public stage, when social activists who use the public stage to call for the church to "do better" are cut off and silenced?

[Lem]

Will the Church be paying back the tithing and other donations made by Mr. Milton so that the investors can be recompensed?

The Church will respond if so ordered by the court....

So your guess is that the Church will only do the right thing when legally compelled to do so. I agree. The Church will only do the right thing when forced into it.

And even then they'll likely try to negotiate to get out of it. From 2017:

ALT LAKE CITY — The LDS Church will return $150,000 of tithing paid by a man who pleaded guilty to taking nearly $25 million from 5,400 victims.

A former CNBC guest expert on wealth management, Curtis DeYoung of Draper, took the money from individual retirement accounts. He was sentenced to 10 years in prison last fall and ordered to repay the money.

DeYoung had paid $239,755 in tithing to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints with his wife, Michelle DeYoung. She was not charged, but the Securities and Exchange Commission named her in a suit seeking to recover funds from American Pension Services, which she owned with her husband.

The court appointed a receiver to recover funds, and the receiver sued the church for the return of the tithing donations.

"As you can imagine, when the church is asked to return tithing funds, there's an existing, careful process for doing so," LDS Church spokesman Eric Hawkins said. "In this case, that has been complicated by the fact that there was a request for the return of tithing from a family member who did not plead guilty to the charges. So it takes time and discussion, but the church has cooperated fully in the negotiation of a settlement."

In federal court, the church argued that any amounts tithed by Michelle DeYoung were not recoverable and that the receiver would need to show that each transfer of money from APS to the DeYoungs was fraudulent.

It also said it would violate the establishment clause of the First Amendment for the court to assess the value of personal and spiritual benefits received by the DeYoungs in connection with the donations.

The church and the receiver agreed to a $150,000 settlement. U.S. District Court Judge Robert Shelby accepted the settlement on May 25.

https://www.deseret.com/2017/6/1/206133 ... 00-victims

[Lem]

So he's a crook and a liar, who used a position of power and trust to do immense harm to untold thousands of individuals. Why doesn't Milton get excommunicated in order for the church to formally message the unacceptability of his pattern of horrific behavior on a public stage, when social activists who use the public stage to call for the church to "do better" are cut off and silenced?

Excellent question.

[Res Ipsa]

Milton deserves every punishment he receives. He's a crook and a lying liar.

But it does not follow that the church bears any fiscal responsibility nor that church finances or tithing funds should even enter the discussion. Why make that connection? Because Milton was "a billionaire" and big money is involved? Where does that line get drawn? Does every criminal act automatically indict that individual's church?

I think the better question, rather than make this about LDS, Inc. and its money, is to ask why the LDS church hasn't yet excommunicated Milton after he defrauded tens of thousands of investors out of billions of dollars and done NOTHING to publicly repent or make amends. That question isn't preempting the criminal investigation -- Nikola's board already published its investigation which found Milton guilty of making intentionally misleading statements, forcing Milton to step down.

So he's a crook and a liar, who used a position of power and trust to do immense harm to untold thousands of individuals. Why doesn't Milton get excommunicated in order for the church to formally message the unacceptability of his pattern of horrific behavior on a public stage, when social activists who use the public stage to call for the church to "do better" are cut off and silenced?

The church settled a case on similar facts recently. I haven't had time to figure out the legalities. Unless the church was aware that the money had been fraudulently obtained, I have no idea why it would be legally compelled to return tithing.

[BeNotDeceived]

Here's my question... if you're knowingly defrauding people out of billions, why would you care about paying tithing??? God will forgive you as long as you pay him his cut?

Given that this man was an LDS billionaire, it is highly likely someone at the top of the 'church' (FP, Q12) knew he was defrauding people out of their money but since the 'church' is fraudulent and nothing but a giant club for wealthy and successful LDS businessmen and an obscenely rich real estate corporation masquerading as a religion, who's gonna rat when none of the 'brethren' have the honesty, ethics, decency or character to reveal the truth to the members about who Joseph Smith really was and the fact that he contrived the entire religion???

[IHAQ]

Milton deserves every punishment he receives. He's a crook and a lying liar.

But it does not follow that the church bears any fiscal responsibility nor that church finances or tithing funds should even enter the discussion. Why make that connection? Because Milton was "a billionaire" and big money is involved? Where does that line get drawn? Does every criminal act automatically indict that individual's church?

The point being that the Church claims to not want donations that are the proceeds of illicit activity. But, as has been seen recently, will only return donations that are the proceeds of illicit activity when pursued by the victims. My question is shouldn't the Church return any/all donations received from Brother Milton because they cannot be sure they are untainted? Will the Church hold onto this funds whilst the victims of the alleged fraud sustain losses? It's a question about the institutional morality of the Church when it comes to donations. Does the Church bear no moral duty to return donations if they have come at the expense of victims?

[Moksha]

But it does not follow that the church bears any fiscal responsibility nor that church finances or tithing funds should even enter the discussion. Why make that connection?

Something to do with recovering money from stolen assets. Like when a bandit approaches me in Skyrim and tells me to hold on to an item. The owner then approaches and asks if I have seen that thief. I tell them the bandit tithed this Elven bow to me and if they want it back, they damn well better have a court order that can be verified by Kirton McConkie.

Hope that helps.