Ensign Peak SEC Investigation confirmed

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Dr Moore
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Ensign Peak SEC Investigation confirmed

Post by Dr Moore »

https://www.wsj.com/articles/Mormon-chu ... ec-dca77f9

Article just popped up, front page Wall Street Journal.

Since it is paywalled, the relevant part is here.
The Securities and Exchange Commission is investigating the Mormon Church’s past efforts to keep its giant investment portfolio a secret, a practice that ended after a former employee revealed in 2019 that the church had amassed $100 billion of holdings.

The SEC’s investigation has focused on whether the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, also known as LDS, complied with disclosure requirements for large money managers. It is at an advanced stage and is likely to lead to a settlement in the coming months, people familiar with the matter said.

The SEC historically has punished violations of money-manager reporting rules by levying fines. The size of the fine being sought by the SEC’s enforcement staff couldn’t be learned.
Rest of the article rehearses the 2019 whistleblower leak, and the various denials by leaders of Ensign Peak ("We follow the law, etc etc.")

Seems to be the WSJ rushed the scoop without getting comments from Ensign Peak or Church leaders. A few days-old quotes related to Neilsen's 90-page senate submission earlier this week.

Will be interesting if Ensign Peak's settlement comes with forced admission of wrongdoing. I would imagine so, to avoid penalties associated with an enforcement action. The SEC is no joke when it dials up an enforcement process.
Last edited by Dr Moore on Fri Feb 10, 2023 10:24 pm, edited 1 time in total.
drumdude
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Re: Ensign Peak SEC Investigation confirmed

Post by drumdude »

I would expect no less from a church led by Jesus Christ himself.
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Dr Moore
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Re: Ensign Peak SEC Investigation confirmed

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I was mistaken - there was a quote from Doug Andersen, church spokesman.
Doug Andersen, a spokesman for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, declined to confirm or deny the SEC investigation’s existence. “The church works with many government regulators to ensure we are in compliance with the law,” he said. “We take those responsibilities very seriously.”
Here is a little more, near the end of the article.
The bar for enforcing the reporting requirement, known as 13-F, is low; regulators don’t have to prove a company intended to violate the rule. Simply failing to file the forms, or omitting required information, is enough to breach the law.

“The SEC is concerned when people don’t file their 13-F reports because it’s information the market isn’t getting that it’s entitled to get under the law,” said Robert Plaze, a partner at Proskauer Rose LLP who previously was a senior official in the SEC division that oversees investment funds and managers.

The data that investment managers are required to disclose is released with a 45-day delay, making it less valuable to traders interested in following the moves of large funds. Even so, public companies tap the information to track their major shareholders, while activist investors use the data to identify the investors whose support they may need during a contest for control of a company.
If David Neilsen has shown one thing, it's that the Church routinely omitted information to regulators and to the public for years.

That is called breaking the law. Also known as, not taking "the responsibility to be in compliance with the law" "very seriously." It is untruthful -- a lie -- for Andersen to say "we take those responsibilities very seriously" with Ensign Peak's history of omitting legally-required information from filings.
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Dr Moore
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Re: Ensign Peak SEC Investigation confirmed

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Found this visual of the offending use of nondescript shell companies to hide from SEC disclosure requirements. Since at least 2007. This might be a great movie some day. Maybe Interpreter will jump on it, control the narrative and all. Here's a fun title: "Witnessless"
consiglieri
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Re: Ensign Peak SEC Investigation confirmed

Post by consiglieri »

Thanks for the heads up!

But am I correct that ultimately any fine will be paid from the same widows’ mites they have been hoarding?
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Dr Moore
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Re: Ensign Peak SEC Investigation confirmed

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consiglieri wrote:
Fri Feb 10, 2023 11:03 pm
Thanks for the heads up!

But am I correct that ultimately any fine will be paid from the same widows’ mites they have been hoarding?
Just like with the Scouts.

The only valid definition of "rainy day" thus far has been "getting caught."

Self fulfilling prophecy!
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Re: Ensign Peak SEC Investigation confirmed

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Speaking of funds:
“DCP” wrote:I already suggested here yesterday that Latter-day Saints should consider contributing to the humanitarian arm of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. They should do so in order to replenish (for the inevitable next disaster or crisis) the resources that, I trust, are already making their way to the Turkish victims, and perhaps also to the Syrian victims, of the recent Near Eastern earthquakes
I find it interesting that DCP believes the church’s fund is so limited that it must be replenished with the widow’s mite.

I guess they have to leave room for all the McTemples and bullion dollar shopping malls in the budget. Children under rubble be damned.
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Dr. Sunstoned
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Re: Ensign Peak SEC Investigation confirmed

Post by Dr. Sunstoned »

They couldn't keep it a secret forever. It was bound to get out. Sometimes karma can be a real bitch.


"For everything that is hidden will eventually be brought into the open, and every secret will be brought to light." -- Mark 4:22
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Doctor CamNC4Me
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Re: Ensign Peak SEC Investigation confirmed

Post by Doctor CamNC4Me »

Dr Moore wrote:
Fri Feb 10, 2023 11:02 pm
Found this visual of the offending use of nondescript shell companies to hide from SEC disclosure requirements. Since at least 2007. This might be a great movie some day. Maybe Interpreter will jump on it, control the narrative and all. Here's a fun title: "Witnessless"
People really ought to click on the link. It’s amazing with regard to presentation and fairly easy to follow.

- Doc
Donald Trump doesn’t know who is third in line for the Presidency.
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Dr Moore
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Re: Ensign Peak SEC Investigation confirmed

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What a rabbit hole this is.

Evidently, Ensign Peak's use of many shell companies to keep its stock market activities secret would have worked for far longer, except for one tiny detail. That detail being "execution." It truly is worthy of an SNL-type sketch.

Ensign Peak's leadership, at some point in 2011, ordered the creation of several LLCs to use for holding stocks. This was in response to intense media attention following Mitt Romney's rise to the top of the 2012 GOP ticket, and the fresh runaway success of the Book of Mormon Musical. Together, known as the "Mormon Moment" for those of us with short memories.

I guess the thinking went, many funds would be harder to trace back to the church than a single fund, and discovery of any single fund wouldn't betray the sum total of LDS church investments in the stock market anyway. You have to assume this plan was approved by the first presidency, because the FP is the primary policy setter for Ensign Peak. Permission in hand, execution would require help -- uninformed help, mind you -- from Legal (setting up the corporations, designating officers, etc) and IT (setting up web pages, email addresses, etc).

And that's where the SNL sketch comes in. First, Legal -- being Mormon -- created all of the LLCs on the same date. One, and done. Efficient. Orderly. Can you hear the phone call? "It's done, sir. All of them. Signed and delivered." Then secondly, church IT staff -- also being Mormon -- created all of the phony web pages on the same day. Boom. Let's go! Not only that, but those pages were all hosted on the SAME servers that hosted the LDS.org website. Save a few dollars on setup fees - why not? We saved $25 in setup fees, times 14 LLCs, for Jesus. High-fives! All around, pure Brighamite Mormonism in action. Orderly. Efficient. Done.

So fast forward to 2018. Someone sniffing around finds 14 LLCs, with billions in stockholdings apiece ($32 billion in all), all founded on the same date, with websites all created on the same date and hosted on the same server cluster as LDS.org, where a bunch of them have designated officers who strangely appear to be Church employees. And that led to this bombshell -- MormonLeaks, 2018.

https://mormonleaks.io/newsroom/2018/05 ... vestments/

I bet our Doctor Scratch could compose a brilliant 5 minute SNL-like sketch of this comedic backfire. It is a story that should be told, eventually. Or perhaps the Midnight Mormons would like to re-invent their video satire careers? Would be fun to see Midnight Mormons present MEEP: MEet Ensign Peak!
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