{"id":2941,"date":"2025-01-29T14:39:52","date_gmt":"2025-01-29T21:39:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/novus2.com\/righteouscause\/?p=2941"},"modified":"2025-01-29T14:39:52","modified_gmt":"2025-01-29T21:39:52","slug":"sec-charges-against-ensign-peak-advisers-the-veil-over-lds-church-investments","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/novus2.com\/righteouscause\/2025\/01\/29\/sec-charges-against-ensign-peak-advisers-the-veil-over-lds-church-investments\/","title":{"rendered":"SEC Charges Against Ensign Peak Advisers: The Veil Over LDS Church Investments"},"content":{"rendered":"
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DisruptionBanking.com<\/strong><\/a>: Surprisingly, the IRS didn\u2019t do anything at all, and the SEC levied a minuscule fine. And so, after 4 or 5 years, the SEC finally charged the fund with \u201cdisclosure failures and misstated filings,\u201d asking for a measly $5 million slap on the wrist. EP agreed to pay $4 million and the Church agreed to pay $1 million.<\/p>\n

To give an idea of how lenient that is, take, as a comparison, the fine Deutsche Bank, an inveterately criminal organization, had to pay for \u201cslow progress\u201d against money laundering: $186 million. The disparity is marked, due to the fact that the SEC feels entitled to the proceeds from private enterprises but not from religious organizations.<\/p>\n

The SEC order stated, \u201cThe Church was concerned that disclosure of its portfolio, which by 2018 grew to approximately $32 billion, would lead to negative consequences. To obscure the amount of the Church\u2019s portfolio, and with the Church\u2019s knowledge and approval, Ensign Peak created thirteen shell LLCs, ostensibly with locations throughout the U.S., and filed Forms 13F in the names of these LLCs rather than in Ensign Peak\u2019s name.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Devil Made Me Do It\u201d — The church blamed its attorneys for advising them to create shell companies (a.k.a. \u201cThe Devil made me do it!\u201d), telling 60 Minutes \u201cWe don\u2019t feel it\u2019s being secret. We feel it\u2019s being confidential.\u201d \r\n <\/div>\r\n <\/div>\n

LDS news you may have missed last year involving major Church fraud.<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n

How a Huge Hedge Fund Masqueraded as a Religious Charity for 20 Years & Nobody Cared<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

One of the largest hedge funds in the world was pretending to be a religious charity until recently. Estimates of its assets range between $50 billion and more than $150 billion. As a religious charity, the hedge fund was tax-exempt for two decades, while sucking up donations from unwitting church members.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s because the hedge fund is owned by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, otherwise known as the Mormon Church. Church members unwittingly donated to Ensign Peak Advisors (EP), a clandestine hedge fund investing their money in stocks and bonds without their knowledge.<\/p>\n

As ordered by The Holy Bible, the church\u2019s 17 million faithful give 10% of their income, known as a tithe, and the church takes this money and does what it likes with it. Only, after paying for operational costs, roughly $1 billion a year was routed for the last twenty years to to shell companies controlled via a fake religious charity.<\/p>\n

However, the charity never engaged in one single charitable act. Instead, according to a whistleblower, \u201conce the money went in, it didn\u2019t go out.\u201d It\u2019s actually difficult to imagine something more despicable to do to a congregation.<\/p>\n

For 22 years, church leaders guarded the secret, until, David Nielson, a senior portfolio manager at EP, blew the whistle, filing a report with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

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\r\n Ex-head of portfolio management for the investment arm of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has accused it of masquerading as a charity and abusing its tax-exempt status. It is alleged that money amassed through member donations was being put to use to bail out businesses affiliated with the church.<\/p>\n

A whistleblower complaint filed with the IRS in 2019 by David Nielsen, after nine years at Ensign Peak Advisors, estimated the investment portfolio of that firm swelled to more than $100 billion during his time there. In his first public interview, Nielsen told 60 Minutes the organization kept false records and made false statements in hopes of giving at least the appearance of a charity. He further claimed that the firm hoarded funds while misleading church members about their intended use.<\/p>\n