一名知识渊博的教会成员去年11月向国内税收署提交了一份举报者投诉，称耶稣基督后期圣徒教会控制的一个非营利支持组织利用成员什一税在一系列投资基金中积累了1000多亿美元，教会在资金使用上误导了成员。
这一投诉可能是几十年来对自民党财务状况最重要的观察，也是了解美国和世界上最富有的宗教组织之一的窗口。国税局申报的细节显示，金融资产在很大程度上对教会成员(通常被称为“摩门教徒”)和公众视野是隐藏的。
犹他州盐湖城LDS神庙的尖顶。摩门教会是否储存了数十亿美元用于慈善事业，误导教会成员如何使用他们的捐款？
宗教不插电公司向国税局提交的74页文件显示，受投资策略和教会成员捐款的推动，英国海军少尉峰顾问公司(EPA)管理的资产从过去22年的100亿美元增加到1000多亿美元。
宗教不插电周一，我通过电话联系了环境保护局的常务局长罗杰·克拉克，提出要解释这个故事的关键部分，并向环境保护局提问以作出回应。“我们不会真正回答公众媒体的问题。所以谢谢，”挂电话前他说。
少尉峰顾问公司的章程确认少尉峰是耶稣基督后期圣徒教会的一个分支。根据《国内税收法》第509(a)3条注册，少尉峰顾问公司是教会注册文件第3条规定的“支持组织”。解散后，根据第5条，所有少尉峰资产归教会或附属组织所有，未经教会“第一任院长的书面同意”，该条不得更改。因为少尉峰顾问是教会的支持组织，它不受其他非营利组织要求的披露要求的约束。
明尼苏达州一位名叫拉斯尼尔森的前教会成员向国税局提交了一份74页的文件，其中提出了几项指控。该文件还包括几份环境保护局内部文件，包括环境保护局政策手册、环境保护局总体规划、环境保护局新员工定位指南、财务状况和数据下载报表以及公司投资组合分析。2013年3月的文档中有一张演示幻灯片被标记为“新员工定位平台”，显示了一个教会投资治理结构，包括一个“什一税处置委员会”，该委员会将什一税资金分配给教会中的控股组织，如环境保护局。
尼尔森从一名不愿透露姓名的LDS教会成员那里得知了这些指控。告密者和尼尔森合作了一个为期两个月的研究项目，研究和解释环保局的内部运作。该投诉(表格211)于2019年11月15日向国税局举报办公室提交，并于2019年11月22日被国税局收到。尼尔森选择公开这些指控在线发布报告和解释视频中的指控。
“大约在2013年，我开始怀疑环保局不遵守其501c3或不按照其公司章程行事，”告密者在宗教不插电公司给国税局的一封经过公证的求职信上写道。"这些年来，我举了几面旗帜，表达了一些担忧。"
1000亿美元的秘密储备
该文件使用从2018年3月22日开始下载的资产组合电子表格来统计环保局的资产。文件显示，该公司每年从什一税收入中获得数十亿美元——教会成员对教会的捐赠——并估计环保局目前从什一税和投资增长中获得的资产超过1000亿美元。
该组织的国税局990-t表格也显示了一个不透明但不断发展的组织。2007年，该组织将“投资”列为其主要业务活动，年底列出了100万美元的所有资产账面价值。2015年，该公司的账面价值“超过”100万美元。到2017年，环保局将“投资合伙企业”列为其主要业务，没有披露其账面价值，报告资本收益净收入为1760万美元，并将125万美元列为多缴税款。同时，2017年1月9日环保署文具上的一封由副总裁格雷格·塔尔伯特(Greg Tarbet)签名的信提供了该公司的信用信息，信中写道，“少尉峰不分发财务报表。然而，资产远远超过50亿美元，少尉峰基本上没有债务。”
环保局2013年的一份内部幻灯片显示，在2008年和2009年的金融危机期间，该公司“经历了一次接近130亿美元的“暂时缩编”，并指出当时该金额超过了其投资组合的30%。
举报人投诉称，环保局2019年有75名员工，高于2010年的20名。根据投诉，他们在犹他州盐湖城(东南寺60号，400套房)的一栋建筑中工作，该建筑或楼下大厅没有标牌。该公司没有公共网站。LinkedIn搜索了安赛峰顾问公司，列出了在那里工作的64个人，包括担任典型金融角色的人，如合规官、投资经理、投资分析师、投资组合经理、股票交易员、私人股本助理和会计师。
“支持组织筹集资金。他们投资基金。“取决于投资基金是如何设立的，这很可能是正确的，”加州工作室城非营利律师事务所的律师阿瑟·黎曼说，“如果它是作为投资基金设立的，并在20年内增长了1000%，那是一个相当好的回报。”
告密者文件声称环境保护局已经向宗教、教育或慈善目的捐赠了0美元。黎曼(Rieman)等非营利专家指出，环境保护局注册为LDS教会的509(a)3支持组织，可以保护它不必进行慈善分配，因为教会不需要向公众披露财务状况。
“耶稣基督后期圣徒教会支付法律要求的所有税款，”他说基督教民主联盟的声明关于它的税收状况。
尼尔森说摩门教“巨型教堂”需要“一个存放现金的地方”，并已经使用环境保护局这样做了。尼尔森声称环境保护署是由地方发展服务教会成员定期缴纳什一税发展而来的，由于自1959年以来教会缺乏公开的财务披露，大多数人不知道他们的钱是如何花掉或投资的。
当然，其他宗教和教派——伊斯兰教、印度教、犹太教、天主教、圣公会、东正教和新教——都有财产和财富。由于不同的组织结构，计算财富往往很困难。例如，天主教新闻社6月报道宗教工程研究所，通常指梵蒂冈银行，在2018年底持有价值56亿美元的资产。但这并没有反映出罗马天主教会及其世界各地数以千计的教区的巨大房地产和金融状况，据2015年与TheStreet.com交谈的专家称。
历史意义
如果像告密者所说的那样是真的，那么环境保护局的LDS教会控股规模将代表金融界的一个巨大的利益资本池，金融界密切关注大型养老基金和主要大学捐赠基金的投资动向。
宗教不插电周一打电话给民盟教会的媒体关系办公室，通过电子邮件发送了几个问题。教会发言人埃里克·霍金斯通过电子邮件回复说:“教会不提供关于具体交易或财务决策的信息。”他从教会的网站上发送了一些语言，比如“教会财务原则”部分，其中包括“长期遵循健全的财务原则，教会从贫乏的开端成长为一个能够支持其神圣使命的世界性组织。”
举报者投诉中的展品包括内部文件、总体规划和环境保护局的演示幻灯片，其中描述了保护区支持预言性倡议的目的、教会运营预算、养老金计划的支持以及教会用途的抵押品。
拉塞尔·纳尔逊主持2019年4月的大会；纳尔逊是耶稣基督后期圣徒教会的主席。
“公司的财产不可撤销地专用于宗教、教育和慈善目的，符合《国内税收法》第501(c)3节规定的豁免要求，公司的净收入或资产的任何部分都不得用于任何受托人、管理人员或成员的利益或任何个人的利益，”公司章程的一项规定说。
向国税局提交的文件声称，环保局在22年里没有进行任何宗教、教育或慈善分配。据税务专家称，这对于509(a)3组织来说可能不成问题，这取决于国税局网站或该组织990-t年度申报中没有公开的注册细节。
文件中引用了一名告密者的话:“环境保护局是保护区的储备”。它建议将剩余资金转移到环境保护局，在那里“被合并、分割成投资组合和有限责任公司，这些公司被设计成在雷达和报告限制下飞行”由…获得的文件宗教不插电对环境保护局提出了另外几项指控。
城市小溪中心购物中心
该投诉声称环保局支付了一系列总额为14亿美元的款项来帮助建设城市小溪中心购物中心犹他州盐湖城市中心的寺庙广场，有一个可伸缩的屋顶、豪华店面和模拟小溪，里面有活鳟鱼。LDS教堂及其开发商的目标是在盐湖城市中心创造一种新城市主义。
该购物中心由财产储备公司开发，该公司是耶稣基督后期圣徒教会主席兼零售经理陶布曼中心公司的商业房地产部门。根据2006年10月3日自民党教堂的新闻稿。这些实体在金融危机期间开发了购物中心，造成了资金困难。教堂和开发商没有透露购物中心的全部成本，根据美国《金融时报》的一篇文章纽约时报2013年7月9日。
告密者的投诉指向了LDS教会所有少尉杂志2006年说市中心区的“再开发中不使用什一税资金”。一年后，在2007年，教会拥有的报纸，沙漠新闻，已报告“该项目的资金不是来自LDS教会成员的什一税捐款。城市溪中心正由教会的房地产开发部门财产储备公司开发，其资金来自其他房地产企业。“还有当地电视台2006年10月3日也报道教堂首席主教大卫·伯顿说，建筑工程中不使用税金或什一税。
告密者投诉称，环保局提供的14亿美元资金确实用于购物中心项目，并且来自一个包括什一税在内的资金池。美国环保署2013年3月的一份题为“框架和风险”的内部演示幻灯片显示，在五年时间里，向城市溪项目支付了140万美元。
该购物中心于2012年开业，拥有100家店铺，零售面积超过70万平方英尺，是盐湖城市中心复兴计划的一部分，其中包括办公空间和住宅楼。“没人会误认为是东村，但是市中心正开始成为人们真正寻求吃喝玩乐的地方，”市中心联盟的杰森·马西斯说《泰晤士报》2013年的文章。
城市溪购物中心作为竞争对手崛起为另一个类似规模的市中心零售商网关购物中心，该购物中心于2001年由博耶公司在2002年盐湖城冬奥会之前开业，后来被出售给位于伊利诺伊州的美国零售物业公司。盐湖城论坛报据报告的2015年1月16日，在城市溪开业后，门户网站信用状况、零售商占有率和零售额都有所下降。
总部位于纽约的穆迪投资者服务公司指出，随着苹果商店和其他商店从盖特威撤到城市溪，盖特威的占用率从2010年的96%下降到2015年的78%。穆迪指出，该购物中心的报告价值从2010年的1.63亿美元降至2014年的7500万美元。《论坛报》援引犹他州税务委员会的数据报道，盖特威的年销售额从2011年的2.1亿美元下降到2013年的1亿美元。与此同时，城市溪的收入从零增长到2.5亿美元。当地的新闻报道门户购物中心变成了一个“鬼城”，并见证了“犯罪、毒品和无家可归者活动的增加”据报道，2016年，它被卖给了一个新主人Vestar，后者在该房产上投资了1亿美元。
首席主教辖区公司的一名成员和地方民主党营利性企业的一名高管基思·麦克默林，在2012年接受彭博商业周刊采访时什一税不属于教会的营利事业，也不属于城市小溪中心。
举报者对国税局的投诉引发了这样一个问题:像麦克默林这样的教会领袖在购物中心建设前后，是否就购物中心项目的资金来源发表了诚实或虚假的公开声明。
当被问及在城市溪项目中使用的什一税资金与教会领袖所说的相矛盾时，LDS教会发言人埃里克·霍金斯发了言来自教堂的声明这表示城市溪的开发是“教会改善圣殿广场环境，并强调对其总部所在地犹他州盐湖城的承诺”的一种方式
摩门教公司。
耶稣基督后期圣徒教会是美国经济上最成功的宗教组织之一，无视迫害的历史。摩门教徒在犹他州定居，此前他们在近200年的历史中不时遭到暴徒袭击，并被迫逃离纽约北部、俄亥俄州、密苏里州和伊利诺伊州的前几个地方。
在由此产生的近两个世纪里，自民党成员成立了公司，当选为联邦政府官员，并撰写畅销书。早期，LDS教会领导人在犹他州建立了数百家企业，帮助建立一个正常运转的经济。早期强迫教会成员资助民盟拥有的企业的努力导致美国国会于1887年通过埃德蒙兹-塔克法案，以限制民盟教会的纵向一体化和垄断。
自民党总裁，现任拉塞尔·纳尔逊，主持18，000座教堂、217座寺庙、四所大学、三家媒体公司和数十处其他房产以及环保局。
皮尤研究中心的数据显示，97%的自民党成员认为自己是基督徒，但只有51%的美国成年人认为摩门教是基督教。皮尤的数据还显示，自民党成员比基督教的任何部门都更积极地参与他们的集会，超过了新教徒、天主教徒和东正教徒。在《传递盘子》一书中克里斯蒂安·史密斯写道大多数基督徒捐出2%或更少的收入，而摩门教徒平均捐出5.2%。
时代杂志发表了一篇封面故事(摩门教公司)大卫·范·别马在1997年发表题为显示“王国来了”LDS教会日益增长的经济实力。上面写道，“盐湖城只是个开始——摩门教徒真正伟大的跋涉是为了获得社会认可和一个300亿美元的教会帝国。"这篇报道调查了大量的农业控股公司、广播电台连锁店、人寿保险公司和其他资产. "在美国，没有哪个大教堂像末世圣徒那样活跃于经济生活中，人均来说，也没有哪个教堂像末世圣徒那样成功。这篇文章认为罗马天主教徒比摩门教徒拥有更多的财富，但1997年天主教会的成员是摩门教徒的45倍。
范·比马和他的同事写道:“摩门教是迄今为止在美国本土上最成功的宗教，也是发展最快的宗教之一。”。“它在美国拥有480万会员，是美国第七大会员，而它高达4.7%的年增长率在国外几乎翻了一番，那里已经有490万追随者。”
22年后的今天，截至2018年12月31日，该教堂的成员已达1630万。据其通信和公共关系部称。该报告称，2018年有102，102名新生儿，234，332名新皈依基督教者，报告称全世界有65，000名全职传教士。与此同时，犹他州的一些新闻媒体和研究人员建议教会成员的增长正在放缓。
新闻周刊2011年6月5日发表了一篇报道，小说家沃尔特·基恩的《摩门教时刻》注意到LDS教堂“像一个神圣的跨国公司——美国宗教通用电气公司，有着全球野心，估计净资产为300亿美元。”报告指出，当时的总统候选人米特·罗姆尼是摩门教的一名富有而有权势的成员，总统候选人乔恩·洪博培也是如此。当时参议院多数党领袖哈里·里德也是摩门教徒。
彭博新闻估计的2012年，LDS教会资产净值约为400亿美元。告密者估计，如果算上环境保护局以及大量的农业和房地产资产，教会更接近的净值可能是2000亿美元或更多。
教会管理的投资组合代表了教会的一个新领域。当被要求确认或否认告密者关于教会已经积累了超过1000亿美元的自有资产的指控时，民盟教会发言人再次指出教会的网上声明，例如:
「教会的储备由教会领袖监管，并由专业顾问管理，符合明智审慎的管理及现代投资管理原则。最终，教会投资所得的所有资金都将用于支持其邀请灵魂来基督那里的使命。”
摩门教创始人约瑟夫·史密斯于1844年被杀。迪迪尔绘画后未注明日期的雕刻。
什一税文化
教会的审计部门每年发布一份简短的声明，但没有透露更多的财务信息。“教会审计认为，2017年教会收到的捐款、支出和资产在所有重大方面都已按照核准的教会预算、政策和会计惯例进行记录和管理。教会遵循教导其成员在预算内生活、避免债务和在需要时储蓄的做法，”2017年的声明说，在每年四月的大会星期六下午的会议上大声朗读。
作者Jana Riess在...写了一篇文章宗教新闻服务2019年12月标题是“我刚付了摩门教的什一税。为什么我不觉得好一点？”她指出十二月是摩门教徒应该和他们的主教坐下来“宣布”他们自己的时候。这意味着“你是全额缴纳什一税者(10%)、部分缴纳什一税者(少于10%)还是不缴纳什一税者？”
里斯指出，LDS教会在1959年停止向其成员披露其资金使用情况，因为那一年教会“处于金融灾难的边缘”。她怀疑保密政策仍在继续，“不是因为教会贫穷或负债，而是因为教会已经变得足够富有，披露其持有量可能会导致尴尬并引发不想要的问题。”
塞缪尔·布伦森，芝加哥洛约拉大学佐治亚·雷塔尔法学教授他写道，这种做法至少可以追溯到1906年，今天，“提供了了解LDS教会全球财务状况的唯一窗口。”在2015年春季出版的《对话:摩门教思想杂志》上，布伦森写了一篇关于“LDS财务透明度”的文章根据1905年和1906年的教会记录，这表明财政一度“对圣徒的检查开放”。布伦森写道，在1915年至1959年期间，教会对其成员负有更大的财务责任。他写道，1956年，自民党在市政债券上损失了100万美元，比1959年的收入多花了800万美元。
布伦森写道:“由于对其财务细节保持沉默，成员、批评者和感兴趣的公众只能猜测教会的财富和慈善支出的范围，等等。”。“教会缺乏公开财务披露令一些人——辩护者和批评者——感到困扰，他们以各种方式要求教会恢复以前公开披露详细财务信息的做法。”
布伦森告诉我TheStreet.com英国和加拿大对宗教非营利组织有披露要求，但美国的教会可以“披露他们想要的任何东西”和“他们想要的任何东西都可以改变”
LDS教会的专家指出，在摩门教中，教会等级制度使用什一税作为判断其成员忠诚的主要标准。只有什一税成员可以见证其他成员的寺庙婚姻，包括一个人的孩子，并参与其他核心的信仰仪式。根据理查德·奥斯特林的说法，只有“奉献忠诚”的男性才能晋升为教会领袖宗教不插电合著的专栏作家2007年的书《摩门教美国:权力和承诺》
艾伦·韦斯特写信少尉杂志2012年引用萨尔瓦多的一位摩门教主教的话，“如果支付什一税意味着你不能支付水电，那就支付什一税。如果缴纳什一税意味着你付不起房租，那就缴纳什一税。即使缴纳什一税意味着你没有足够的钱养活家人，也要缴纳什一税。”(教堂的少尉杂志环境保护局基金的名字来自以赛亚书5:26，上面写着:“他将向各国举起一面旗帜。”)
时代周刊1997年报道说，1996年有52亿美元流入基督教民主联盟教会，使其他教派收到捐款的速度相形见绌。它指出，地方发展系统教会不仅将什一税视为支付教会工作人员和费用的工具，而且将其视为建造新寺庙(宗教组织的正常活动)的风险资本，以及投资股票和债券以及农业、旅游和房地产领域的盈利性公司。《时代周刊》估计，1997年伦敦发展学院的投资为60亿美元，这个数字可能没有被充分报道。
相比之下，美国最大的新教教派南方浸礼会，在其网站上披露2017-2018年，它从其47，456个合作教会的约1，480万成员那里获得了96亿美元的捐赠。
布伦森指出，其他一些教会正试图改善财务披露。福音会财务责任委员会(ECFA)认可教会编制准确的财务报表，由独立的注册会计师审查，并应书面要求提供财务报表。
“无论法律是否要求，地方发展服务教会同样可以选择进行财务披露。即使没有公开的世俗义务，教会也可能认为自己受神圣的公开命令的约束，”布伦森写道。“但是这种命令并没有在正式的摩门教经文中明确存在，而且有证据表明，即使在教会成立之初，教会领导人也从未相信他们受到这样的神圣命令。”
秘密的外衣
告密者投诉称，环境保护局的资产在2009年至2019年间增长了900亿美元，其中很大一部分来自教堂所有权收入的流失。
宗教不插电联系了环保局的几位前雇员，听取他们对公司的看法以及他们对举报者投诉中提出的指控的回应。一名前雇员在后台发言时表示，他非常尊重环保局的工作人员和领导，认为该公司不需要提高透明度。他说，透明度“通常是为了对那些你负有信托责任的人负责。在这种情况下，他们要对自己负责。他们没有投资者。我明白如果这是一个共同基金，人们可以用自己的钱来管理。他们[环保局]没有股东。”
告密者的投诉指出，环保局前固定收入主管理查德·威尔斯在2011年倡导透明度。“我们等待披露的时间越长，辩护就越难，”文件引用他的话说。它引用了资产配置团队的另一名成员的话，“我们这里有一个光学问题。缺少发行版看起来确实不太好。”
前摩门教徒留言板Reddit上的线程命名强大的犹他州机构，称少尉峰顾问为“所有机构中最大的一个”，并将其定义为“教会的超级秘密投资部门”《红迪邮报》的作者描述了他在环保局召开的一次会议，会上他要求投资1亿美元，并称该公司认为这笔钱对他们来说是“杯水车薪”。宗教不插电试图联系此人了解更多信息。
其他在线网站，如蝾螈协会有讨论线索要求土地所有权支付者联系教会总部，要求披露教会资产的财务信息，并获得除“对不起，该信息不可用”以外的任何答复
作为对...的回应宗教不插电关于财务披露的问题，教会媒体关系部在教会网站上发送了声明链接。“虽然教会选择不公布其财务细节，但教会确实提供了关于其遵循的财务原则、为保护教会资金而实施的财务控制以及这些资金的来源和使用的公共信息。”根据常见问题部分在LDS教堂的网站上。"教会还提供法律要求的所有财务信息."
MORMON CHURCH STOCKPILED $100 BILLION INTENDED FOR CHARITIES AND MISLED LDS MEMBERS, WHISTLEBLOWER SAYS
A whistleblower complaint filed at the Internal Revenue Service in November by a knowledgeable church member alleges that a non-profit supporting organization controlled by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints used member tithes to amass more than $100 billion in a set of investment funds and the Church misled members about uses of the money.
The complaint may be the most important look at LDS finances in decades, a window into one of the wealthiest religious organizations in the United States and the world. Details of the IRS filing reveal financial assets largely hidden from the church's membership (often known as "Mormons") and the public view.
Spires of the LDS temple in Salt Lake City, Utah. Did the Mormon Church stockpile billions of dollars meant for charity, misleading church members about how their donations were used?
The 74-page document filed with the IRS and obtained by Religion Unplugged shows that Ensign Peak Advisors, Inc. (EPA) owned assets under management grew to more than $100 billion from $10 billion in the past 22 years, fueled by a mix of investment strategy and tithe money from church members.
Religion Unplugged reached EPA's managing director Roger Clarke by phone on Monday, offering to explain key parts of this story and to ask questions for EPA to give a response. "We don't really answer questions with the public press. So thanks," he said, before hanging up the phone.
Ensign Peak Advisors' articles of incorporation confirm Ensign Peak is an arm of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. As registered under section 509(a)3 of the Internal Revenue Code, Ensign Peak Advisors, Inc. (EPA) is a "supporting organization" of the Church under article 3 in its registration document. Upon dissolution, all Ensign Peak assets go the Church or affiliated organizations according to article 5 and that article cannot be changed without "the written consent of The First Presidency" of the Church. Because Ensign Peak Advisers is a support organization to a church it is not subject to disclosure requirements that other non-profit organizations are required to make.
A former Church member in Minnesota named Lars Nielsen published a 74-page document filed with the IRS that makes several allegations. The filing also included several internal EPA documents including an EPA Policy book, an EPA master plan, an EPA New Staff Orientation Guide, statements of financial condition and data downloads and analysis of the firm's investment portfolio. One presentation slide in the document from March of 2013 is labeled "New Staff Orientation Deck" and shows a Church investment governance structure including a "Council on Disposition of Tithes" that allocates funds from tithes to holding organizations in the church such as EPA.
Nielsen learned of the allegations from an LDS church member, who prefers to be unnamed. The whistleblower worked with Nielsen on a two-month research project to research and explain the inner workings of EPA. The complaint (Form 211) was filed with the IRS whistleblower office on Nov. 15, 2019 and received by the IRS on Nov. 22, 2019. Nielsen has chosen to go public with the allegations by releasing the report online and explaining the allegations in videos.
"I started to suspect that EPA was not compliant with its 501c3 or acting in accordance with its Articles of Incorporation around 2013," the whistleblower writes on a notarized cover letter to the IRS obtained by Religion Unplugged. "I raised several flags and concerns over the years."
A secret $100 billion stockpile
The document tallies assets in EPA using downloaded spreadsheets of assets from across its portfolio from March 22, 2018. The document indicates that the firm receives billions each year from tithe revenue — the donations church members make to the church — and estimates EPA assets from tithes and investment growth is more than $100 billion at present.
The organization's IRS 990-t forms also show an opaque but growing organization. In 2007, the organization listed "investing" as its primary business activity, lists a $1 million book value of all assets at year end. In 2015, it listed a book value "over" $1 million. By 2017, EPA listed "investing in partnerships" as its primary business, did not disclose its book value, reported $17.6 million in capital gain net income and lists $1.25 million as tax overpayment. Meanwhile, a letter on EPA stationery from Jan. 9, 2017, signed by vice president Greg Tarbet offered credit information about the firm saying, "Ensign Peak does not distribute financial statements. Assets, however, are well in excess of $5 billion, and Ensign Peak is essentially without debt."
An internal EPA slide presentation from 2013 states that during the financial crisis period of 2008 and 2009, the firm "experienced a temporary drawdown" of close to $13 billion, noting that amount was greater than 30 percent of its portfolio at the time.
The whistleblower complaint said EPA had 75 employees in 2019, up from 20 in 2010. They work in a building in Salt Lake City, Utah, (60 East South Temple, Suite 400) that does not have a sign on the building or in the downstairs lobby according to the complaint. The company does not have a public web site. A LinkedIn search of Ensign Peak Advisors lists 64 people who work there including people in typical finance roles such as compliance officer, investment manager, investment analyst, portfolio manager, equity trader, private equity associate and accountant.
"Supporting organizations raise funds. They invest funds. Depending on how the investment fund was set up, it could well be proper," says Arthur Rieman, an attorney at The Law Firm for Non-Profits in Studio City, Calif. "If it's set up as an investment fund and increased 1,000 percent in 20 years, that's a pretty good return."
The whistleblower document alleges that EPA has given away $0 to religious, educational or charitable purposes. Non-profit experts such as Rieman note that EPA's registration as a 509(a)3 supporting organization to the LDS Church could protect it from having to make charitable distributions because churches are not required to disclose finances to the public.
"The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints pays all taxes that are required by law," says an LDS Church statement about its tax status.
Nielsen says the Mormon "giga-church" needs "a place to park its cash" and has used EPA to do so. Nielsen alleges EPA grew from regular tithes by members of the LDS Church, most of whom had no idea of how their money was being spent or invested given the lack of public financial disclosure by the church since 1959.
Certainly, other religions and denominations — Islam, Hinduism, Judaism, Catholicism, Episcopalians, Orthodox Christians and protestants — have property and wealth. Calculating that wealth is often difficult because of varied organization structures. For example, Catholic News Service reported in June that the Institute for the Works of Religion, often referred to the Vatican bank, held assets worth $5.6 billion at the end of 2018. But that does not capture the vast real estate and financial profile of the Roman Catholic Church and its thousands of dioceses around the world, according to experts who spoke with TheStreet.com in 2015.
Historic Significance
If true as the whistleblower alleges, the size of the LDS Church holdings at EPA would represent a massive pool of capital of interest to the financial world, which pays close attention to the investment moves of large pension funds and major university endowments.
Religion Unplugged called the media relations office of the LDS Church on Monday and sent several questions by email. Church spokesman Eric D. Hawkins responded by email saying, "the Church does not provide information about specific transactions or financial decisions." He sent language from the Church's website such as its "Principles of Church Finances" section that includes, "Following sound financial principles over an extended period of time, the Church has grown from meager beginnings into a worldwide organization able to support its divine mission."
Exhibits in the whistleblower complaint include internal documents, a masterplan and presentation slides from EPA where it describes the purposes of its reserves to support prophetic initiatives, church operating budgets, backstops to pension plans and collateral for church purposes.
Russell M. Nelson presides over the General Conference in April 2019; Nelson is president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
"The corporation's property is irrevocably dedicated to religious, educational and charitable purposes meeting the requirements for exemption provided by Section 501(c)3 of the Internal Revenue Code, and no part of the net income or assets of this corporation shall ever inure to the benefit of any trustee, officer or member thereof or to the benefit of any private person," says one provision of the Articles of Incorporation.
The filing to the IRS alleges that EPA has made zero religious, educational or charitable distributions in 22 years. According to tax experts, that may not be a problem for a 509(a)3 organization, depending on more nuanced details of its registration which are not publicly available on the IRS website or the organizations 990-t annual filings.
"EPA is the reserve of the reserves," a whistleblower is quoted as saying in the document. It suggests tithing surplus flows to EPA where it is "merged, sliced and diced into portfolios and limited liability companies designed to fly under radars and reporting limits." The document obtained by Religion Unplugged makes several additional allegations about EPA.
City Creek Center Mall
The complaint alleges a series of payments from EPA totaling $1.4 billion to help construct the City Creek Center mall in Temple Square in downtown Salt Lake City, Utah, which features a retractable roof, luxury storefronts and simulated creek with live trout. The LDS Church and its developers aimed to create a new urbanism in downtown Salt Lake City.
The mall was developed by Property Reserve, Inc., which is a commercial real estate division of the Corporation of the President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and retail manager Taubman Centers Inc. according to a press release from the LDS Church on Oct. 3, 2006. These entities developed the mall during the financial crisis, which caused funding difficulties. The church and developers have not disclosed the entire cost of the mall, according to an article in the New York Times on July 9, 2013.
The whistleblower complaint pointed to the LDS church-owned Ensign Magazine in 2006 that said"no tithing funds will be used in the redevelopment" of the area downtown. A year later, in 2007, the church-owned newspaper, The Deseret News, reported that "Money for the project is not coming from the LDS Church members' tithing donations. City Creek Center is being developed by Property Reserve Inc., the church's real-estate development arm, and its money comes from other real-estate ventures." And local TV station KUTV on Oct. 3, 2006, also reported Presiding Bishop of the church H. David Burton saying no tax dollars or tithes will be used in construction.
The whistleblower complaint alleges that $1.4 billion of funding from EPA did go toward the mall project and came from a funding pool that included tithing dollars. A slide from an EPA internal presentation dated March 2013 and titled "Framework and Exposures" indicates $1.4 million was paid to the City Creek project over five years.
The mall opened in 2012 with 100 stores in more than 700,000 square feet of retail space and is part of downtown Salt Lake City revitalization plans that includes office space and residential towers. "No one will mistake it for the East Village, but downtown is starting to become a place people actually seek out to eat and play," said Jason Mathis of the Downtown Alliance to the Times article in 2013.
The City Creek Mall rose as a competitor to another similar-sized downtown retailer called Gateway mall, which opened in 2001 by The Boyer Co. ahead of the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City and was later sold to Illinois-based Retail Properties of America Inc. The Salt Lake Tribune reported on Jan. 16, 2015, that Gateway saw its credit status, retailer occupancy and retail sales decline after City Creek opened.
New York-based Moody's Investors Service noted that Gateway's occupancy rate dropped from 96 percent in 2010 to 78 percent in 2015 as an Apple Store and others decamped from Gateway to City Creek. Moody's noted the mall's reported value dropped from $163 million in 2010 to $75 million in 2014. The Tribune reported Gateway's annual sales fell from $210 million in 2011 to $100 million in 2013, citing data from the Utah Tax Commission. At the same time, City Creek's revenues grew from zero to $250 million. Local news outlets reported that Gateway Mall became a "ghost town" and saw an "uptick in crime, drug and homeless activity." It was sold to a new owner, Vestar, in 2016 which reportedly invested $100 million into the property.
One member of the Corporation of the Presiding Bishopric and an executive in the LDS for-profit businesses, Keith McMullin, told Bloomberg BusinessWeek in 2012 that tithes do not go to the church's for-profit endeavors and did not go to City Creek Center.
The whistleblower complaint to the IRS raises the question of whether church leaders such as McMullin made honest or false public statements about financing sources for the mall project both before and after construction of the mall.
When asked about tithe funds being used in the City Creek project contradicting what the church leaders said, LDS Church spokesman Eric D. Hawkins sent language from a church statementthat said the City Creek development is a way "the Church enhanced the environs of Temple Square and underscored a commitment to Salt Lake City, Utah, where it is headquartered."
Mormon Inc.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is one of the most economically successful religious organizations in the United States, defying a history of persecution. Mormons settled in Utah after they were attacked by mobs at times during their nearly 200-year history and forced to flee previous locations in upstate New York, Ohio, Missouri and Illinois.
LDS members in the resulting nearly two centuries have founded companies, become elected to federal offices and written best-selling books. And, in the early days, LDS Church leaders set up hundreds of businesses in Utah to help build a functioning economy. Early efforts to force church members to patronize LDS-owned businesses led to the U.S. Congress passing the Edmunds-Tucker Act in 1887 to limit vertical integration and monopolies by the LDS Church.
The President of the LDS Church, currently Russell M. Nelson, presides over 18,000 churches, 217 temples, four universities, three media companies and dozens of other properties along with EPA.
Pew Research Center data shows 97 percent of LDS members consider themselves Christian but only 51 percent of U.S. adults consider Mormonism as a Christian religion. Pew data also shows that LDS members are more highly involved in their congregations than any sector of Christianity, surpassing Protestants, Catholics and Orthodox Christians alike. In the book "Passing the Plate," Christian Smith writes that most Christians give away 2 percent or less of their income while Mormons averaged 5.2 percent.
TIME Magazine published a cover story ("Mormons Inc.") expose by David Van Biema in 1997 titled "Kingdom Come" that showed the growing financial power of the LDS church. It said "Salt Lake City was just for starters – The Mormons' true great trek has been to social acceptance and a $30 billion church empire." The story examined the extensive agricultural holdings, radio station chains, life insurance companies and other assets. "There is no major church in the U.S. as active as the Latter-day Saints in economic life, nor, per capita, as successful at it." The piece argued that Roman Catholics have more wealth than Mormons but the Catholic Church had 45 times as many members in 1997.
"The Mormon Church is by far the most numerically successful creed born on American soil and one of the fastest growing anywhere," Van Biema and colleagues wrote. "Its U.S. membership of 4.8 million is the seventh largest in the country, while its hefty 4.7% annual American growth rate is nearly doubled abroad, where there are already 4.9 million adherents."
Now, 22 years later, the church is up to 16.3 million members by Dec. 31, 2018, according to its communication and public relations department. The report states 102,102 new births in 2018 and 234,332 new converts to the church which reports 65,000 full-time missionaries around the world. Meanwhile, some Utah news outlets and researchers suggest church membership growth is sputtering.
Newsweek published a story on June 5, 2011, by novelist Walter Kirn titled "The Mormon Moment"noting that the LDS Church, "resembles a sanctified multinational corporation – the General Electric of American religion, with global ambitions and an estimated net worth of $30 billion." It noted that then presidential candidate Mitt Romney was a wealthy and powerful member of the Mormon church as was fellow presidential candidate Jon Huntsman Jr. Senate majority leader Harry Reid was Mormon at the time as well.
Bloomberg News estimated the net worth of LDS church assets at around $40 billion in 2012. The whistleblower estimates a closer net-worth figure of the church could be $200 billion or more when you include EPA along with vast agricultural and property holdings.
A church-managed investment portfolio represents a newer area for the church. When asked to confirm or deny the whistleblower allegation that the Church has amassed more than $100 billion in owned assets under management, the LDS Church spokesman pointed again to online statements from the church such as:
"The Church's reserves are overseen by Church leaders and managed by professional advisers, consistent with wise and prudent stewardship and modern investment management principles. Ultimately, all funds earned by the Church's investments go back to supporting its mission to invite souls to come unto Christ."
The killing of Joseph Smith, founder of the Mormon Church, in 1844. Undated engraving after a drawing by Didier.
Tithing Culture
The Church's auditing department publishes a short statement every year without giving more financial disclosure. "Church Auditing is of the opinion that, in all material respects, contributions received, expenditures made, and assets of the Church for the year 2017 have been recorded and administered in accordance with approved Church budgets, policies, and accounting practices. The Church follows the practices taught to its members of living within a budget, avoiding debt, and saving against a time of need," said the statement for 2017, read aloud every April in the Saturday afternoon session of its General Conference.
Author Jana Riess wrote a piece at Religion News Service in December of 2019 titled, "I just paid my Mormon tithing. Why don't I feel better about it?" She notes that December is a time when Mormons are supposed to sit down with their bishops to "declare" themselves. That means "Are you a full tithe-payer (10%), a partial tithe-payer (something less than 10%) or a non-tithe payer?"
Riess noted that the LDS church stopped making disclosures to its members about its use of money in 1959 because the church "was on the brink of financial disaster" that year. She suspects the non-disclosure policy continues "not because the church is poor or indebted, but because it has grown wealthy enough that exposing the extent of its holdings could cause embarrassment and prompt unwanted questions."
Samuel D. Brunson, the Georgia Reithal Professor of Law at Loyola University in Chicago, writes that this practice dates back to at least 1906 and, today, "provides the sole window into the global finances of the LDS Church." In the Spring 2015 issue of Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought, Brunson wrote an article on "LDS Financial Transparency" that shows finances were once "open for the inspection of the Saints" according to church records from 1905 and 1906. Brunson writes the Church was more financially accountable to its members between 1915 and 1959. He writes that the LDS Church lost $1 million on municipal bonds in 1956 and spent $8 million more than its income during 1959.
"As a result of its silence about the details of its finances, members, critics, and the interested public have been left to guess at the Church's wealth and the scope of its charitable spending, among other things," Brunson writes. "The Church's lack of public financial disclosure bothers some—apologists and critics alike—who have requested, in various ways, that the Church return to its former practice of publicly disclosing detailed financial information."
Brunson told TheStreet.com that England and Canada have disclosure requirements for religious non-profits but that churches in the U.S. can "disclose whatever they want" and "whatever they want can vary."
Experts on the LDS Church note that in Mormonism, the church hierarchy uses tithing as a principal metric to judge the faithfulness of its members. Only tithing members can witness temple marriages of other members, including one's children and participate in other central rites of the faith. Only "tithing faithful" males can move up in rank of church leadership according to Richard Ostling, a Religion Unplugged columnist who co-authored the 2007 book "Mormon America: The Power and the Promise."
Aaron L. West wrote in Ensign Magazine in 2012 quoting a Mormon bishop in El Salvador who said, "If paying tithing means that you can't pay for water or electricity, pay tithing. If paying tithing means that you can't pay your rent, pay tithing. Even if paying tithing means that you don't have enough money to feed your family, pay tithing." (The church's Ensign Magazine and the EPA fund take their name from Isaiah 5:26 that says, "He will lift up an ensign to the nations.")
TIME reported in 1997 that $5.2 billion flowed into the LDS Church in 1996, dwarfing the pace of contributions received by other denominations. It noted that the LDS Church sees tithes not just as tools for paying church staff and expenses but, rather, as venture capital to build new temples (normal activity for religious organizations) and also to invest in stocks and bonds as well as for-profit companies in agriculture, travel and real estate. TIME estimated LDS Church investments to be $6 billion in 1997, a figure that may have been under-reported.
By comparison, the Southern Baptist Convention, the largest protestant denomination in the U.S., discloses on its website that it received $9.6 billion in giving from the estimated 14.8 million members in its 47,456 cooperating churches in 2017-2018.
Brunson notes that some other churches are trying to improve financial disclosure. The Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability (ECFA) accredits churches that prepare accurate financial statements to be reviewed by an independent certified public accountant and which make their financial statements available upon written request.
"The LDS Church similarly has the option to make financial disclosure, whether or not the law demands it. Even without a secular obligation to disclose, the Church might view itself as subject to a divine disclosure mandate," Brunson writes. "But such a mandate does not explicitly exist in canonized Mormon scripture, and the evidence is strong that Church leaders have never believed they were under such a divine mandate, even at the beginning of the Church."
A cloak of secrecy
The whistleblower complaint alleges that the EPA universe of assets grew by $90 billion between 2009 and 2019 and a large part of that growth came as run-off from tithing income to the church.
Religion Unplugged reached out to several former employees of EPA to hear their perspective on the firm and their response to allegations raised in the whistleblower complaint. One former employee, speaking on background, said he greatly respected EPA staff and leadership and didn't believe the firm needed to practice more transparency. Transparency, he said, is "usually for accountability to those who you have a fiduciary duty to. In this case, they are responsible to themselves. They don't have investors. I understand if it is a mutual fund where people give their own money to manage. They [EPA] don't have shareholders."
The whistleblower complaint noted that a former Head of Fixed Income at EPA, Richard B. Willes, in 2011 advocated for transparency. "The longer we wait to disclose the more difficult it will be to defend," the document quotes him as saying. It quotes another member of the asset allocation team saying, "We've got an optics problem here. The lack of distributions sure doesn't look good."
An ex-Mormon thread on the message board Reddit names powerful Utah institutions and calls Ensign Peak Advisors "the big kahuna of them all" and identifies it as "the super secretive investment arm of the church." The author of the Reddit post describes a meeting he had at EPA in which he was asking for a $100 million investment and said the firm saw that amount as a "drop in the bucket" to them. Religion Unplugged tried to reach the person to learn more.
Other websites online such as Salamander Society has discussion threads asked LDS tithe payers to contact church headquarters and request financial disclosure of church assets and to obtain any response other than "Sorry, that information is not available."
In response to Religion Unplugged's questions about financial disclosure, the church media relations department sent links to statements on the Church web site. "While the Church chooses not to publish the details of its finances, the Church does provide public information on the financial principles it follows, the financial controls in place to protect Church funds and the source and use of these funds," according to a frequently asked question section on the LDS Church web site. "The Church also provides all financial information required by law."
