Brunson, Can Churches Just Invest Funds Members Believe Are for Charity?
Sam has a concise primer out yesterday on the alleged fraud by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints — also known as the LDS, or Mormon church. He pretty much grants summary judgment in favor of the Church. If I were on the bench with him, I would concur more often than Thomas with Alito or vice versa. Worship groups can do pretty much whatever they want within the sincerity of their beliefs and besides that, we don’t exempt worship groups for the charity they do. But its explained better in the Chronicle of Philanthropy:
The lawsuit against the LDS church and Ensign Peak, filed on Oct. 31, 2023, is based on the premise that the church has violated its members’ trust by amassing massive investments in stocks, bonds, real estate, and agriculture that don’t support charitable activities. The men are seeking three forms of relief.
First, they want the court to certify their suit as a class action – meaning that these plaintiffs could pursue the suit on behalf of everybody who had allegedly been defrauded into making donations to the LDS church – which says it has about 6.8 million U.S. members.
Second, they’re asking the court to order the LDS church to stop its allegedly deceptive practices, including its purported failure to give the money it has collected and reserved for charitable purposes to charity. The lawsuit also calls on the LDS church to make more of its financial practices known to the public and to appoint an independent special master to oversee the church’s collection and use of its revenue.
Third, they ask the court to order the church to refund the donations they have made over the last 10 years, an amount they say totals for the three of them around US$350,000. They’re also requesting other monetary relief, including that the LDS church pay their legal fees. The church doesn’t disclose details about its finances. It has denied the allegations that it committed fraud with its “sacred funds” or dipped directly into tithed funds or other pools of money received for charitable purposes to make investments.
darryll k. jones