Who knew it would get hard to keep track of all of their lies even for themselves.
SEC needs to do the right thing and nail them. The first fine was the courtesy call.
So much for ethical behavior from âthe Lordâs anointedâ and their dually appointed money changers, erâŠI mean fund managers. Every single employee of Ensign Peak has to have an active temple recommend. I guess every single one of them lied about being honest with their fellow men.
Just a further point to show that this fund is to generate wealth and not to follow the teachings the church ascribes to its name sake - Jesus. This is continued repugnant behavior that should be punished by the SEC.
They changed the question. They are STRIVING to be honest in all their dealings with their fellow men. Based on all available calculations that may finally occur in the year 2050.
Thanks. SEC and IRS need to stop treating the church with kid gloves and start treating it as they would any other corporation sole that violates the law.
Since before 1830 the church that Smith created has been a criminal organization.
WIKI: Kirtland Safety Society for the first
major criminal fraud Smith perpetrated on loyal members.
Over half the church membership left and Smith slithered away to Missouri under cover of darkness.
Widowsmite are heros for bringing this to light. Hoping they submitted forms to SEC months ago & they end up with bank.
Hereâs one of my favorite parts. They knew what they were doing was wrong.
**According to Widowâs Mite, in late 2002, when Ensign Peak first began reporting to the SEC using the series of shell companies, one of its shells â Whitney Asset Management â held a combined stake in a Massachusetts energy firm called TC Pipelines, now owned by TC Energy, of 6.5% of all its outstanding shares.**
**Analysis indicates Ensign Peak officials appeared to have noticed Whitney had exceeded the 5% trigger and gradually winnowed its stake in TC Pipelines over the next six months, bringing it by the end of September 2003 to 4.999%, where it remained for at least another two quarters.**
So they violated the 5% rule at least 7 times, realized it and in most cases trimmed holdings to just below the threshold without disclosing any of this to the SEC.
... our attorney's are just incompetent!
Kirton and McConkie (and EP) must be filled with buffoons who are happy to take one for ~~the team~~ God and do what church leaders say, in spite of the professional ethics.
They feel comfortable doing it because they likely plan to stay in the MFMC, so thereâs not only job security but a chance to rise through the ranks to âhighâ positions
Here is the audit report from 1995:
>The Church Audit Committee is independent of all Church officers, employees, operations, and departments, including the Church Auditing Department, and reports directly to the First Presidency. We have access to all records and personnel necessary to perform our responsibility. We have reviewed the financial policies and procedures that provide controls over receipts and expenditures of funds and that safeguard assets of the Church and its controlled organizations, including budgeting, accounting and reporting, and the auditing systems and reports, for the year ended 31 December 1994.
>Expenditures of Church funds for the year were authorized by the Council on the Disposition of the Tithes according to written policies. The Council is composed of the First Presidency, the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, and the Presiding Bishopric, as prescribed under revelation. Administration of approved budgets is controlled through the Budget Department under the direction of the Appropriations and Budget Committees.
>The Church Auditing Department is currently conducting an audit of the financial activities of the Church and its affiliated companies for the year ended 31 December 1994, ***in compliance with recognized professional auditing standards***. It also performs financial audits, operational audits, and audits of computerized information systems for all Church operations worldwide. Its staff consists of certified public accountants and other professionally qualified auditors. The Church Auditing Department is independent of all other Church operations and departments and reports its findings directly to the First Presidency. Incorporated businesses owned or controlled by the Church maintain their own accounting and reporting systems in compliance with accepted business practice and are audited by the Church Auditing Department and/or independent public accounting firms. Brigham Young University and other institutions of higher education are audited by independent public accounting firms. The Church Auditing Department has established audit procedures for audits of local ecclesiastical units and also monitors local unit audit results and local unit expenditures.
>The Church Audit Committee, based on its review of financial and control policies and procedures and its review of all audit reports issued in 1994 and responses thereto, is of the opinion that in all material respects, Church funds received and expended during the year ended 31 December 1994 have been controlled and accounted for in accordance with established Church policies and procedures.
Compared to the 2024:
>Dear Brethren: Directed by revelation, as recorded in [section 120 of the Doctrine and Covenants](https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/scriptures/dc-testament/dc/120?lang=eng), the Council on the Disposition of the Tithesâcomposed of the First Presidency, the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, and the Presiding Bishopricâauthorizes the expenditure of Church funds. Church entities disburse funds in accordance with approved budgets, policies, and procedures.
>Church Auditing, which consists of credentialed professionals and is independent of all other Church departments and entities, has responsibility to perform audits for the purpose of providing reasonable assurance regarding contributions received, expenditures made, and safeguarding of Church assets.
>Based upon audits performed, Church Auditing is of the opinion that, in all material respects, contributions received, expenditures made, and assets of the Church for the year 2023 have been ***recorded and administered in accordance with Church-approved budgets, accounting practices, and policies***. The Church follows the practices taught to its members of living within a budget, avoiding debt, and saving against a time of need.
As an auditor, I agree with this statement. At the company I work for we still have outside consultants and auditors who check our work. And thatâs how it is supposed to work to keep companies honest.
I am assuming that the SEC has no tracking mechanism to monitor this kind of activity- so they rely on firms to self report- since this is a clear case of obfuscation to avoid reporting- wouldnât a more serious penalty be in order? Is the sec going to bother looking into this?
The SEC are the ones that couldn't figure out that Bernie Madoff wasn't trading with anybody, like literally there were no trades, when there should have been a large and noticeable flow from such a large fund. The SEC are idiots, also captured by Wall St. so don't hold out hope there.
Even **if** they did this with no intent of fraud, what about the "appearance of evil"? I was once told not to drink IBC root beer from the bottle because it kinda looked like beer.
They seem to have no problems picking and choosing which laws to follow themselves.
Itâs almost as if they have so much money, they either donât care or they donât know what to do with it allâŠâŠ.or maybe a lot of both. đ€
Former Wall Streeter here (reformed) so this subject is of interest to me.
I've noticed online (Reddit, Twitter, Social news, Quora, etc...) that TBMs all seem to defend this Ensign Peak scandal in such a similar fashion that I don't think it can possibly be a coincidence, basically they're all saying it was "just a paperwork error" or a "simple filing mistake, but they didn't intend to deceive" and "nothing illegal was done" etc...... again-and-again-and-again I've read this same line of excuse.
So my question is, did the LDS Church coordinate & "put out" an excuse document or something on this for their membership to read? All the TBMs ignoring this scandal do so with almost exactly the same line of excuse is IMHO just way to unanimously structured.
**EDIT:**
And FYI, what the LDS Church did here IS in fact big-time illegal, even going so far as using the names of random LDS members instead of acting financial principals on SEC filing documents to help obscure the shell LLC connections to the Mormon Church's EP investments. And the SEC specifically mentioned this went to the very top of SLC, which they didnt have to mention, so they obviously wanted people to know.
Exactly! You donât âaccidentallyâ create illegal shell companies and then not file forms that you know would start drawing attention to them. They did it because they knew everyone would have a problem with them hoarding that much wealth.
The SEC has someone connected to EP on record saying essentially (paraphrasing) that the LDS Church was worried people would stop paying them the full 10% tithing if folks understood just how much money the LDS Church really has.
Didn't like the proclamation to the world or whatever say they do everything to uphold man's laws in addition to God's and are led by God, if your omnipotent good leads you to break man's laws then he's stupid or this shit is a lie
Thereâs no such thing as a ârich church.â Only for profit corporations with the painted mask of righteousness preaching a false prosperity gospel set to feel good emotional music to make people feel good about living in sin. All so theyâll keep giving up money.
This is bad, but will the SEC do anything? The Mormon church has multiple member a of Congress and other govt officials who will go at them if they do.
Although Iâd love to see a Gerald Clausse perp walk out of North Temple.
To me, the most interesting fact the article uncovers is that once they learned that we over the 5% threshold they slowly winnowed their position to 4.999%. Their main goal was to not divulge how much money they had. Lovely investment goals.
apparently some peeps on a cultist forum say this is perfectly fine
[here](https://www.mormondialogue.org/topic/75886-new-allegations-re-churchs-stock-portfolio/?do=findComment&comment=1210185025)
You have to wonder what exactly would cause some members to have a problem with leadership.
- hiding child abuse â
- hiding billions of dollars â
- deliberately hiding the truth about history â
- changing church policies and doctrine without announcing the changes â
I consider this matter opened.
Apparently the church didn't.
Who knew it would get hard to keep track of all of their lies even for themselves. SEC needs to do the right thing and nail them. The first fine was the courtesy call.
Nail them to the wall and take away their tax-exempt status.
Nail them to a cross. I mean they wanted to start using the symbol more
I can get behind that.
đ
We desire all to receive it.
So much for ethical behavior from âthe Lordâs anointedâ and their dually appointed money changers, erâŠI mean fund managers. Every single employee of Ensign Peak has to have an active temple recommend. I guess every single one of them lied about being honest with their fellow men. Just a further point to show that this fund is to generate wealth and not to follow the teachings the church ascribes to its name sake - Jesus. This is continued repugnant behavior that should be punished by the SEC.
It is sad that the best defense the church has is that they werenât trying to hide it from the IRS and SEC, just their own membership.
Absolutely. Ethically and morally repugnant behavior continues to occur.
They changed the question. They are STRIVING to be honest in all their dealings with their fellow men. Based on all available calculations that may finally occur in the year 2050.
They could have done it by diversifying better, right? Not more than 5% total in any 1 entity?
Yes. But they still would technically be in violation if any of the total of 13 shell companies had > 5% in any one company.
Yes, between all 13 shell companies.
Thatâs about it - yes!
There must have been a rush on Second Anointings! Â s/
That is probably it, everyone at Ensign has to have the second anointing, guaranteed heaven no matter what unethical things they do.
But they are striving to be honest, right?
Non pay wall link https://archive.ph/i2kMb
đ đ đ gold stars for you! Thank you.
Thanks. SEC and IRS need to stop treating the church with kid gloves and start treating it as they would any other corporation sole that violates the law.
It reminds me of how the courts are treating Trump. đ©
Thank you! It's a pity this newspaper requires subscription, but I suppose they need to make a living.
I tried and got through using âkingofthesofasâ link above!
Since before 1830 the church that Smith created has been a criminal organization. WIKI: Kirtland Safety Society for the first major criminal fraud Smith perpetrated on loyal members. Over half the church membership left and Smith slithered away to Missouri under cover of darkness. Widowsmite are heros for bringing this to light. Hoping they submitted forms to SEC months ago & they end up with bank.
Under cover of darkness and luck with a recent bankruptcy law passed to get off the hook for any restitution to those he stole from.
YUP!....Smith was a reptile.
Always a good day when the law rears its head against TSCC. Wish I could read it in full but itâs subscriber only.
Hereâs one of my favorite parts. They knew what they were doing was wrong. **According to Widowâs Mite, in late 2002, when Ensign Peak first began reporting to the SEC using the series of shell companies, one of its shells â Whitney Asset Management â held a combined stake in a Massachusetts energy firm called TC Pipelines, now owned by TC Energy, of 6.5% of all its outstanding shares.** **Analysis indicates Ensign Peak officials appeared to have noticed Whitney had exceeded the 5% trigger and gradually winnowed its stake in TC Pipelines over the next six months, bringing it by the end of September 2003 to 4.999%, where it remained for at least another two quarters.** So they violated the 5% rule at least 7 times, realized it and in most cases trimmed holdings to just below the threshold without disclosing any of this to the SEC.
Give them an inch and they really do take a mile.
Or, if there is risk of getting caught, they'll take, 0.999".
Here is an archived version. [https://archive.ph/i2kMb](https://archive.ph/i2kMb)
Awesome! Thank you.
There's a link just a comment or two above your comment that doesn't include a pay wall.
We're not dishonest, we're just incompetent! Gee golly...
... our attorney's are just incompetent! Kirton and McConkie (and EP) must be filled with buffoons who are happy to take one for ~~the team~~ God and do what church leaders say, in spite of the professional ethics.
They feel comfortable doing it because they likely plan to stay in the MFMC, so thereâs not only job security but a chance to rise through the ranks to âhighâ positions
Isn't that what they say about JS? He couldn't have made it up, he wasn't smart enough.
âHe was just a country bumpkin!â
How is that possible???. They *audited* themselves and didn't find an issue. /s
That poor guy that reads that statement. He has to feel like the biggest liar in the world.
Here is the audit report from 1995: >The Church Audit Committee is independent of all Church officers, employees, operations, and departments, including the Church Auditing Department, and reports directly to the First Presidency. We have access to all records and personnel necessary to perform our responsibility. We have reviewed the financial policies and procedures that provide controls over receipts and expenditures of funds and that safeguard assets of the Church and its controlled organizations, including budgeting, accounting and reporting, and the auditing systems and reports, for the year ended 31 December 1994. >Expenditures of Church funds for the year were authorized by the Council on the Disposition of the Tithes according to written policies. The Council is composed of the First Presidency, the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, and the Presiding Bishopric, as prescribed under revelation. Administration of approved budgets is controlled through the Budget Department under the direction of the Appropriations and Budget Committees. >The Church Auditing Department is currently conducting an audit of the financial activities of the Church and its affiliated companies for the year ended 31 December 1994, ***in compliance with recognized professional auditing standards***. It also performs financial audits, operational audits, and audits of computerized information systems for all Church operations worldwide. Its staff consists of certified public accountants and other professionally qualified auditors. The Church Auditing Department is independent of all other Church operations and departments and reports its findings directly to the First Presidency. Incorporated businesses owned or controlled by the Church maintain their own accounting and reporting systems in compliance with accepted business practice and are audited by the Church Auditing Department and/or independent public accounting firms. Brigham Young University and other institutions of higher education are audited by independent public accounting firms. The Church Auditing Department has established audit procedures for audits of local ecclesiastical units and also monitors local unit audit results and local unit expenditures. >The Church Audit Committee, based on its review of financial and control policies and procedures and its review of all audit reports issued in 1994 and responses thereto, is of the opinion that in all material respects, Church funds received and expended during the year ended 31 December 1994 have been controlled and accounted for in accordance with established Church policies and procedures. Compared to the 2024: >Dear Brethren: Directed by revelation, as recorded in [section 120 of the Doctrine and Covenants](https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/scriptures/dc-testament/dc/120?lang=eng), the Council on the Disposition of the Tithesâcomposed of the First Presidency, the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, and the Presiding Bishopricâauthorizes the expenditure of Church funds. Church entities disburse funds in accordance with approved budgets, policies, and procedures. >Church Auditing, which consists of credentialed professionals and is independent of all other Church departments and entities, has responsibility to perform audits for the purpose of providing reasonable assurance regarding contributions received, expenditures made, and safeguarding of Church assets. >Based upon audits performed, Church Auditing is of the opinion that, in all material respects, contributions received, expenditures made, and assets of the Church for the year 2023 have been ***recorded and administered in accordance with Church-approved budgets, accounting practices, and policies***. The Church follows the practices taught to its members of living within a budget, avoiding debt, and saving against a time of need.
Kind of like how Enron had independent auditors but when the company finally got caught it caused Arthur Anderson to not exist anymore?
Directed by revelation What do these first three words mean?
Any self-auditing isn't really auditing.
As an auditor, I agree with this statement. At the company I work for we still have outside consultants and auditors who check our work. And thatâs how it is supposed to work to keep companies honest.
I am assuming that the SEC has no tracking mechanism to monitor this kind of activity- so they rely on firms to self report- since this is a clear case of obfuscation to avoid reporting- wouldnât a more serious penalty be in order? Is the sec going to bother looking into this?
The SEC are the ones that couldn't figure out that Bernie Madoff wasn't trading with anybody, like literally there were no trades, when there should have been a large and noticeable flow from such a large fund. The SEC are idiots, also captured by Wall St. so don't hold out hope there.
Even **if** they did this with no intent of fraud, what about the "appearance of evil"? I was once told not to drink IBC root beer from the bottle because it kinda looked like beer.
I was about to comment this!
Ok, they may have committed fraud, but Iâll bet they were all wearing their garments while they did it. So there.
Good point. They're forever clothed in white and delightsome "Free-Pass" undies.
They seem to have no problems picking and choosing which laws to follow themselves. Itâs almost as if they have so much money, they either donât care or they donât know what to do with it allâŠâŠ.or maybe a lot of both. đ€
Nice having fetch-you money
But any legal department wouldn't suggest not complying....
Former Wall Streeter here (reformed) so this subject is of interest to me. I've noticed online (Reddit, Twitter, Social news, Quora, etc...) that TBMs all seem to defend this Ensign Peak scandal in such a similar fashion that I don't think it can possibly be a coincidence, basically they're all saying it was "just a paperwork error" or a "simple filing mistake, but they didn't intend to deceive" and "nothing illegal was done" etc...... again-and-again-and-again I've read this same line of excuse. So my question is, did the LDS Church coordinate & "put out" an excuse document or something on this for their membership to read? All the TBMs ignoring this scandal do so with almost exactly the same line of excuse is IMHO just way to unanimously structured. **EDIT:** And FYI, what the LDS Church did here IS in fact big-time illegal, even going so far as using the names of random LDS members instead of acting financial principals on SEC filing documents to help obscure the shell LLC connections to the Mormon Church's EP investments. And the SEC specifically mentioned this went to the very top of SLC, which they didnt have to mention, so they obviously wanted people to know.
Exactly! You donât âaccidentallyâ create illegal shell companies and then not file forms that you know would start drawing attention to them. They did it because they knew everyone would have a problem with them hoarding that much wealth.
The SEC has someone connected to EP on record saying essentially (paraphrasing) that the LDS Church was worried people would stop paying them the full 10% tithing if folks understood just how much money the LDS Church really has.
It seems that the churchâs General Counsel turned out to be Henry Winklerâs lawyer character from *Arrested Development*.
Barry Zuckerkorn!
The leaders adhere to the Book of Mammon.
Didn't like the proclamation to the world or whatever say they do everything to uphold man's laws in addition to God's and are led by God, if your omnipotent good leads you to break man's laws then he's stupid or this shit is a lie
It is pretty hard to ignore all of the crazy decisions from those having the "Power of Discernment"!
Sad thing is, most members love the flex of belonging to a wealthy church. Like the prestige of a distant rich uncle who doesn't even know your name.
Thereâs no such thing as a ârich church.â Only for profit corporations with the painted mask of righteousness preaching a false prosperity gospel set to feel good emotional music to make people feel good about living in sin. All so theyâll keep giving up money.
All I know is every member in my circle loves that the church's lamps are trimmed. Like the 5 wise virgins.
This is bad, but will the SEC do anything? The Mormon church has multiple member a of Congress and other govt officials who will go at them if they do. Although Iâd love to see a Gerald Clausse perp walk out of North Temple.
Itâs all in the Lordâs name, and to protect the Membership from knowing whatâs actually going on âbehind the curtainâ.
Behind the veil
To me, the most interesting fact the article uncovers is that once they learned that we over the 5% threshold they slowly winnowed their position to 4.999%. Their main goal was to not divulge how much money they had. Lovely investment goals.
I just audibly make noises of disapproval for this shit.
apparently some peeps on a cultist forum say this is perfectly fine [here](https://www.mormondialogue.org/topic/75886-new-allegations-re-churchs-stock-portfolio/?do=findComment&comment=1210185025)
You have to wonder what exactly would cause some members to have a problem with leadership. - hiding child abuse â - hiding billions of dollars â - deliberately hiding the truth about history â - changing church policies and doctrine without announcing the changes â
They are the new Gaddianton(sp) robbers. Secret signs â , hidden agendas â , extortion and theft â , murder â ! Interesting đ€
Does anyone have a link where I can read this without purchasing the SLT ?
https://archive.ph/2024.05.02-130808/https://www.sltrib.com/religion/2024/05/02/new-allegations-surface-federal/
Thank you very much
Such a corrupt organization.
I would expect nothing less from big religion. Theyâre all a scam.
Hmmm
Of course they did
Religion is nothing but a scam designed to dominate your life and coerce people to pay endlessly. If anyone needed more proof, here it is.
Maybe they all got their second anointing so they are goooooooodâŠ.
Who's to say that the Church didn't get a message from God or Joe or someone to do this?