Fraud claims against the LDS Church over tithing turned into class-action lawsuit
Multiple complaints have been rolled into one mega-case, accusing the faith and its investment arm of using charitable donations to create a multibillion-dollar “slush fund.”accusing The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints of fraud over tithing have now been rolled into one boundary-pushing case.
A legal road map issued for the class-action case by Shelby calls for the church to file its counterarguments in September, as part of a calendar of planned legal clashes stretching to year’s end and beyond. In a variety of court venues and public statements until now, church officials and their lawyers have steadfastly denied that top faith leaders ever misled members on the use of tithing.stemming from a separate legal battle brought more than three years ago by prominent Utahn and onetime church member James Huntsman, who also accuses top Latter-day Saint leaders of misleading the faithful over how tithing donations were spent.
Plaintiffs say they also expect additional withdrawals from Ensign Peak accounts for unrelated business items to come to light, based on the whistleblower’s written assertions, as discovery of new evidence in their case proceeds.over a complex scheme to evade public reporting requirements on Ensign Peak’s huge portfolio by holding the investments in aThe SEC fined Ensign Peak $4 million and the church $1 million as part of that settlement.
In that global broadcast, the church leader insisted that tithing funds “have not and will not be used” for the shopping center, stating that the money came from “commercial entities owned by the church” and the “earnings of invested reserve funds.” • The suit goes to great lengths to illustrate the church’s public assurances through the years that the donations it solicits and collects via tithing or fast offerings are spent primarily on philanthropy, including help for the poor and needy, education, missionary work and other ecclesiastical ends. It includes repeated statements from church leaders to that effect, along with snapshots of church websites and even copies of tithing envelopes.
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