Credit: Al Drago / Bloomberg / Getty
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and a nonprofit entity that it controlled have been fined $5 million by the Securities and Exchange Commission over accusations that the religious institution failed to properly disclose its investment holdings.
In an order released Tuesday, the SEC alleged that the church illicitly hid its investments and their management behind multiple shell companies from 1997 to 2019. In doing so, it failed to disclose the size of the church’s equity portfolio to the SEC and the public.
The church was concerned that disclosure of the assets in the name of the nonprofit entity, called Ensign Peak Advisors, which manages the church’s investments, would lead to negative consequences in light of the size of the church’s portfolio, the SEC said.
The allegations of the illicit shell company structure first emerged in 2018, when a group formerly called MormonLeaks — now known as the
Like many organizations in the United States churches operate operate as a not for profit entity, when in fact that designation is an illusion. Until we confront the reality that many of our Schools, churches, and hospitals are, in fact, for profit institutions we will be unable to orchestrate change. The 5 million dollar fine mentioned in the article is funny. For an organization with 32 billions dollars in assets, a 5 million dollar fine is the equivalent of a rounding error in financial reports.