You’ve no doubt heard by now about the $5 million securities fine leveled against The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and its investment arm.
And you should read, if you haven’t yet, this account about how the faith and its money managers worked to conceal the size and scope of the church’s wealth for about 20 years.
Now you can read below for yourself what the Securities and Exchange Commission’s official “cease-and-desist” order says regulators discovered and how the church and Ensign Peak Advisors ran afoul of the law.
Here are some highlights taken straight from the document to look for:
• “The church was concerned that disclosure of the assets in the name of Ensign Peak … would lead to negative consequences in light of the size of the church’s portfolio. Ensign Peak did not have the authority to implement this approach without the approval of the church’s First Presidency.”
• “The senior leadership of the church approved a new reporting entity to be created with ‘better care being taken to ensure that neither the ‘Street’ nor the media [could] connect the new entity to Ensign Peak.’”
• “The senior leadership of the church approved Ensign Peak’s recommendation to ‘gradually and carefully adapt Ensign Peak’s corporate structure to strengthen the portfolio’s confidentiality.’”
• “Two business managers resigned their roles, voicing concerns about what they had been asked to do.”
• “Two church Audit Department internal audits of Ensign Peak — one in 2014 and one in 2017 — … highlighted the risk that the SEC might disagree with [Ensign Peak’s reporting] approach.”
SEC cease-and-desist order by The Salt Lake Tribune on Scribd
