As a follow-up to the On God and Mammon post, in the last month, news has emerged The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has been fined $5 million for "failing to file Forms 13F in Ensign Peak’s name." as well as "filing misstated Forms 13F in the names of LLCs created for the sole purpose of filing Forms 13F" (source to the SEC ruling).
In summary, the First Presidency did not want to disclose the amount of money they had saved and invested from excess tithing funds and contributions. Therefore, they approved the set-up of shell LLC's and requested their paid managers (most likely members of the Church who hold temple recommends) to file misstated 13F forms. At least two of these managers resigned in protest and Ensign Peak, with the endorsement of the First Presidency, found additional managers who would continue the deceptive practice of filing "misstated"13F forms.
The SEC statement details all the events that occurred between 1997 (when Ensign Peak was established) and 2023 when the full breadth of deception by the First Presidency was officially revealed.
The Church's statement on the matter: https://newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org/article/church-issues-statement-on-sec-settlement.
Besides the extravagant amount of savings and investments for a church claiming to follow Jesus, one other item of note regards the virtue of honesty.
Temple recommend holders are asked the following question: "Do you strive to be honest in all that you do?" (source).
Here is the link to the Church's Gospel Topic entry on Honesty: https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/manual/gospel-topics/honesty?lang=eng. Feel free to take a few moments to read it, then ponder the following questions, with the given assumptions.
Premise: the Church and its leaders are honest and obey the law (see 12th Article of Faith).
Premise: The Ensign Peak and Church employees are temple recommend holders and submit themselves to the question, "Do you strive to be honest in all that you do?"
Question: Why did the First Presidency, despite being informed (by their employees and advisors) of SEC violations as early as 1998, still insist on using and continuing to use deceptive, dishonest decisions?
The bottom line is: the First Presidency is unethical, even for the low bar the United States government sets. They are, plainly and simply, dishonest.
