Ensign employees “are trained to be especially sensitive” about data flowing outside the corporation, the complaint states. The problem may be that our pews have grown too soft. The confidential document, received by the IRS on Nov. 21, accuses church leaders of misleading members — and possibly breaching federal tax rules — by stockpiling their surplus donations instead of using them for charitable works. Nielsen told Ensign in a resignation letter dated Aug. 29 that his employment had become unworkable after his wife and children left the Mormon Church and asked him to follow them, according to a copy of the letter provided by Lars Nielsen. According to The Washington Post, which obtained a copy of the complaint lodged with the IRS, the funds were held in accounts dedicated to charitable causes, and the church's investment division, Ensign Peak Advisors, was listed as a nonprofit organization. The returns, which are publicly available, show that in some recent years, the company has reported losses of millions of dollars — a period in which, according to the complaint, a fuller accounting of its operations would have shown billions of dollars in profits. A 2012 Reuters article reported that the church owned “about $35 billion worth of temples and meeting houses around the world, and controls farms, ranches, shopping malls and other commercial ventures worth many billions more.”. The complaint was filed by David A. Nielsen, a 41-year-old Mormon who worked until September as a senior portfolio manager at the church’s investment division, a company named Ensign Peak Advisors that is based near the church’s headquarters. See them here. Under the headline “ The Mormon Church Amassed $100 Billion. I know they’ve looked into investment … By signing up you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy, Reporter covering corporate accountability. Under the headline “The Mormon Church Amassed $100 Billion. The fund called Ensign Peak Advisors submitted a filing to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Feb. 14 disclosing its holdings, which include $1.5 billion each in Apple and … “Having seen tens of billions in contributions and scores more in investment returns come in, and having seen nothing except two unlawful distributions to for-profit concerns go out, he was dejected beyond words, and so was I,” Lars Nielsen wrote. Nielsen Founded His Own Tech Startip in Silicon Valley in 2012. Those assets are money-consuming.”. Mormons, like members of some other faith groups, are asked to contribute 10 percent of their income to the church, a practice known as tithing. At the time, a church-owned newspaper reported that a different commercial church company, Deseret Management, had injected $594 million into Beneficial Life to make up its deficit. Nielsen’s estimate of Ensign’s assets places the Mormon investment organization among some of the country’s wealthiest companies and charities. Lars Nielsen said in a statement to The Post that his brother asked him to write an exposé on his former employer. Nielsen said the funds were taken specifically from the Ensign account that receives surplus tithing. The complaint was filed by David A. Nielsen, a 41-year-old Mormon who worked until … Ensign Peak Advisors's … Nielsen alleges in the complaint that Ensign Peak Advisors, the church’s investment arm, has holdings worth between $99 billion and $101 billion. Despite the bailout, Beneficial Life announced it would terminate 150 of its 214 Utah workers and stop writing new insurance policies. “We simply think that information belongs to those who made the contribution, and not to the world,” said Hinckley, who died in 2008. The exemption requires that Ensign operate exclusively for religious, educational or other charitable purposes, a condition that Nielsen says the firm has not met. We use cookies and other tracking technologies to improve your browsing experience on our site, show personalized content and targeted ads, analyze site traffic, and understand where our audiences come from. The whistleblower allegation that Ensign Peak Advisors, has in its over 20 years of existence accumulated over $100 billion dollars in excess tithes and the investment returns thereon is … David Nielsen offered to continue working until Oct. 4. (Subscription required). Nonprofit organizations, including religious groups, are exempted in the United States from paying taxes on their income. On Monday, the church told The Post that through its involvement in the City Creek mall, it had “increased local economic activity during a financial downturn and attracted visitors and residents to Salt Lake City’s historic downtown.”. Individual shares of stock identified as part of the investment fund reportedly include Apple, Chevron, Visa, JPMorgan Chase, Home Depot, Amazon, and Google. During his 2002 interview with a German reporter, Hinckley was told that several major denominations in Germany published records of their finances. Nielsen’s complaint is sharply critical of church leaders for continuing to ask for tithes, even from members who are struggling financially, while the church sits on a fortune. Ensign’s human resources director told him in a reply that managers had decided it would be best to terminate his employment Sept. 3. In its statement Tuesday, the church said the “vast majority” of the funds it receives from donations are “used immediately to meet the needs of the growing Church,” including temples, education and missionary work. On those returns, Ensign has sometimes stated that it held $1 million, other times “more than $1,000,000,” and it once left this section of the paperwork unfilled. Nor will they be used in developing it for commercial purposes,” Hinckley said when plans for the mall were unveiled in 2003. Unlike other nonprofits, religious organizations are not required to publicly report their income or assets. Clarke did not respond to an email seeking comment. Utahn among those President Trump pardons on way out the door. “They have to come up with a justification based on the entity alone. A Utah resident was among the dozens of people President Donald Trump pardoned Tuesday on his last full day in office. The church typically collects about $7 billion each year in contributions from members, according to the complaint. Nielsen’s complaint comes as many Mormons across the United States are engaged in discussions with their bishops, traditionally held in December, to “settle” their dues to the church. Part of the investments were with Fisher Investments, but some money was pulled after controversial comments from founder Kenneth Fi… Nielsen did not respond to repeated phone calls and emails seeking comment. The church did not detail its financial holdings nor confirm amounts first published by the Washington Post in December, after a former employee leveled tax fraud allegations at the church, allegations strongly denied by the church. In a blog post for the Mormon website By Common Consent, Brunson explained that Ensign Peak Advisors falls under a murky category for the IRS. No documents are provided to support this claim, which is attributed to information David Nielsen gleaned from working at the company. Some of that mystery evaporated late last year when a former employee revealed in a whistleblower complaint with the Internal Revenue Service that the fund, called Ensign Peak Advisors, … Hackney, the University of Pittsburgh tax law expert, said the payments would raise red flags if they were indeed made to for-profit entities that were separate from Ensign and not recorded as investments. In 1997, the investment division of the LDS Church was spun off into a separate legal entity named after Ensign Peak… Start your day with the top stories you missed while you were sleeping. Nielsen’s complaint further alleges that between 2009 and 2014, Ensign pumped $1.4 billion in several installments into the City Creek Center, a shopping mall in downtown Salt Lake City featuring a retractable roof. The company files abbreviated annual tax returns that report the taxes it paid on the small fraction of its investment activity that is taxable. Ensign is registered with authorities as a supporting organization and integrated auxiliary of the Mormon Church. … While accumulating this wealth, Ensign has not directly funded any religious, educational or charitable activities in 22 years, the complaint said. One year after ReligionUnplugged.com broke stories about a secretive investment firm connected to the Church of Jesus Christ and Latter-Day Saints, the firm – Ensign Peak Advisors (EPA) … All Church funds exist for no other reason than to support the Church’s divinely appointed mission.”. Together we can help the pieces of your financial … “If you have a charity that simply amasses a war chest year after year and does not spend any money for charity purposes, that does not meet the requirements of tax law,” Hackney said in an interview. The mall, partly owned by the church, had also been hit by the financial crisis. Thank goodness, Biden undoes ban on travelers from some majority-Muslim countries, What faith leaders are praying for on Inauguration Day, Actor, actress, former pro footballer join list of keynote speakers at RootsTech Connect, A complete list of temples of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Church of Jesus Christ renames temple planned for Tooele Valley, announces new location. Why not the Mormons? The Wall Street Journal on Saturday published a story on Ensign Peak Advisors, the investment arm of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Leaders have consistently tried to downplay speculation about the extent of the church’s wealth. Based on internal accounting documents from February 2018, the complaint estimates the portfolio has grown in value from $12 billion in 1997, when Ensign was formed, to about $100 billion today. The most important news stories of the day, curated by Post editors and delivered every morning. A former investment manager alleges in a whistleblower complaint to the Internal Revenue Service that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has amassed about $100 billion in accounts intended for charitable purposes, according to a copy of the complaint obtained by The Washington Post. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is the largest private philanthropic foundation in the world at $47.8 billion. For the investment company, see Ensign Peak Advisors. The church said in a report last year that its charitable arm had spent $2.2 billion in assistance since 1985, but did not provide a breakdown on spending. The Wall Street Journal on Saturday published a story on Ensign Peak Advisors, the investment arm of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Please also read our Privacy Notice and Terms of Use, which became effective December 20, 2019. Correction: An earlier version of this story misstated the number of Catholics in the U.S., a population of 75 million in 2010, not 170 million. “Once that money comes in, it’s gotta go back out,” he said. Philip Hackney, a former IRS official who teaches tax law at the University of Pittsburgh, said the complaint raised a “legitimate concern” about whether the church’s investment arm deserved its tax-exempt status. That said, I would be very surprised if Ensign Peak isn’t using at least some leverage. Ensign Peak Advisors is based out of Salt Lake City. “The Church complies with all applicable law governing our donations, investments, taxes, and reserves.”. Mark Willes, Deseret Management’s president and chief executive, was reported to have said that no tithing money was used in the transaction. The church also makes money through various investment vehicles, including a trust company and an investment fund called Ensign Peak Advisors, which employs managers who specialize in international … Neither Willes nor an official from Beneficial Life responded to messages seeking comment. In a speech in March 2018, Caussé linked the church’s financial strategy to the “prophecies about the last days.” Just as the church maintains grain silos and emergency warehouses, Caussé said, so it “also methodically follows the practice of setting aside a portion of its revenues each year to prepare for any possible future needs.”. The Washington Post has a story about a whistleblower’s disclosures to the IRS that Ensign Peak Advisors, Inc, founded in 1997, has accumulated over $100 billion in assets without ever … As of February 2020, Roger Clarke is Ensign… On Tuesday, after the first version of this story was published, the church said it takes seriously its responsiblity to care for members’ donations. Sign up for the “I wish to give the entire church the assurance that tithing funds have not and will not be used to acquire this property. The largest investments … This permits it to operate as a nonprofit and to make money largely free from U.S. taxes. "Ensign Peak's president is Roger G. Clarke, an investment and options scholar who concurrently serves as chairman of Analytic Investors Inc., a Los Angeles firm with $3.1 billion in assets under management, as of Dec. 31, 2002." The church also owns real estate worth billions of dollars, according to the complaint, which focuses on surplus tithing money and says that the church may have additional holdings not managed by Ensign. He said he was coming forward without his brother’s approval because he believed the information was too important to remain confidential. There are currently 1658 companies in Mr. Clouse’s portfolio. As of 2019, EP's holdings purportedly total $100 billion , including $40 billion-worth of U.S. stock, timberland in the Florida panhandle, and investments in prominent hedge funds such as Bridgewater Associates. Little has been publicly disclosed by Ensign, whose website address redirects readers to the church’s homepage. “But that is usually not best for a story.”, In remarks last year, a high-ranking cleric in the church, Bishop Gérald Caussé, said it “pays taxes on any income it derives from revenue-producing activities that are regularly carried on and are not substantially related to its tax-exempt purposes.”. Looking at the other organizations shouldn’t be a means of justifying hoarding.”. Only four senior Ensign executives are permitted to see the company’s full financial statements, according to the complaint, and investment staff members may access information only on the Ensign assets relating to their own area of work. It Was the Best-Kept Secret in the Investment World, Church responds to allegations made by former employee in IRS complaint, Boyd and Chapman: The Washington Post says the Church of Jesus Christ has billions. Ensign Peak (40.794721, -111.890959) From the trailhead, follow the obvious, well-maintained trail to the top of the peak. During my fundraising, we met with several Utah based investment groups like Intermountain Healthcare, University of Utah, Deseret Mutual, and the big kahuna of them all, Ensign Peak Advisors which is the super secretive investment … If Ensign Peak is unlevered and long-only, then the $32b number should be pretty accurate as the amount of capital it has in US stock investments. The trail swings around the mountain and approaches the summit from the north. “I know that sometimes newspapers use anonymous sources,” he said. Ensign Peak Advisors, Inc 13F annual report Ensign Peak Advisors, Inc is an investment fund managing more than $36.8 billion ran by Don Clouse. This allowed the investment … It Was the Best-Kept Secret in the Investment World,” the Journal explored the remarkable growth of the investment fund. No threshold for this test is specified, and the agency instead considers examples case by case. Ensign Peak Advisors (Ensign) is the investment manager for assets of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church).. Church representatives spoke of the principles of preparation and self-reliance that they encourage in their members and which are practiced by the organization. newsletter, The Mormon Church Amassed $100 Billion. Microsoft, Alphabet and Apple each hold between $100 billion and $136 billion in cash, according to the most recent company filings, while Harvard University has the country’s largest academic endowment at $40.9 billion. These documents were sent to the IRS whistleblower office in Ogden, Utah, together with a thumb drive containing digital versions of documents and emails that Nielsen collected during his time at Ensign, the complaint says. Ensign Peak Advisors Inc has 20 total employees across all of its locations and … There were 75 million Catholics in the U.S. in 2010, according to Pew Research Center. In addition to criticizing the scale of wealth accumulated by the church, Nielsen’s complaint accuses church leaders of acting improperly on the rare occasions that funds have been paid out from the investment division. Steven Rich and Alice Crites contributed to this report. It details a church fortune far exceeding past estimates and encompassing stocks, bonds and cash. Copyright © 2020 Deseret News Publishing Company. IRS rules state that nonprofits “must not provide a substantial benefit to private interests” and that the earnings of registered religious organizations must not benefit “any private individual or shareholder” to avoid jeopardizing tax-exempt status. His twin brother, Lars P. Nielsen, provided a copy of the complaint to The Post, along with dozens of supporting documents. 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