"We allege that the LDS Church's investment manager, with the Church's knowledge, went to great lengths to avoid disclosing the Church's investments, depriving the Commission and the investing public of accurate market information," Gurbir Grewal, Director of the SEC's Division of Enforcement, said in a statement. This is a true 'liar liar pants on fire' moment for the church, and the leaders of the First Presidency are all in on it. It had a $1.5 million stake in sports apparel maker Lululemon in early spring of 2019, but managers had drawn that down to $2,000 by the start of 2021. We covered this above so we won't rehash this much here. Get Contact Info for All Departments Ensign Peak Advisors Org Chart Financial Analysts Journal, Vol. Neilsen's complaint claims Ensign president Roger Clarke has said the fund would be used should the second coming of Christ occur, while the Post reported that high-ranking cleric Bishop. View Roger Clarke's profile on LinkedIn, the world's largest professional community. Roger has published a variety of articles and articles about tactical asset allocation and currency management. We include specific empirical results that can be replicated as an exercise in data collection, programming, reporting, and analysis. Upon learning of Mr. Nielsens IRS submission in December 2019, EPA abruptly began filing in its own name as required. That case, brought by prominent former Utahn James Huntsman, sought at least $5 million in donations, interest and penalties, alleging the faiths top authorities fraudulently misled members about spending donations meant for spiritual endeavors on commercial projects instead. Clarke did not respond to an email . When the Great Recession hit, however, officials said the church trimmed the budget rather than tap its reserves.". Circuit Court of Appeals. Analytic Investors, Inc. Steven Thorley. The church doesnt dispute that payments made to City Creek came from Ensign Peak. It wouldnt completely shock me if the reporting kickstarted the disclosure, said Sam Brunson, a law professor specializing in tax law at Loyola University of Chicago and a practicing Latter-day Saint. He has reported from dozens of countries for outlets ranging from The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, Der Spiegel Online and others. Suggested Citation, 60 East South Temple4th FloorSalt Lake City, UT 84111United States, 555 West 5th Street50th FloorLos Angeles, CA 90013United States213-688-3015 (Phone)213-688-8856 (Fax), 616 TNRBBrigham Young UniversityProvo, UT 84602United States801-378-6065 (Phone)801-378-5984 (Fax), Subscribe to this fee journal for more curated articles on this topic, Finance Educator: Courses, Cases & Teaching eJournal, S&P Global Market Intelligence Research Paper Series, Subscribe to this free journal for more curated articles on this topic, We use cookies to help provide and enhance our service and tailor content. "God promises great blessings to those who pay tithing. Instead we have talk after talk demonizing those with doubts, telling the poor that only tithing can get them out of the poverty cycle, and that they are as transparent as they know how to be. The regulator says the Church's investment manager "went to great lengths" to avoid disclosures. Roger G. Clarke currently serves as a research collaborator with Wells Fargo Asset Management (WFAM) Analytic Investors. If the church truly believed what they were doing was true and good, they would be open and honest and tell every member to research their claims and hold them accountable. . While some may look at that as a good thing, I actually think it's another instance where we can see that the church is not only untrue, but not good either. The 90-page memorandum obtained by ReligionUnplugged.com and embedded in this story summarizes evidence of false statements, systematic accounting fraud, private inurement violations of the Internal Revenue Code and other federal statutes and a Klein conspiracy by Ensign Peak Advisors, Inc. (EPA) and others.. The LDS welfare fact sheet from 2009 shows in the years 1985 through 2009 (24 years), the church donated just $327.6 in cash donations but they also count $884.6 million in donations of "material assistance." This page was processed by aws-apollo-l1 in 0.078 seconds, Using these links will ensure access to this page indefinitely. Its holdings dwarf those ofendowments at any university,such as Stanford, Harvard or Yale. EPAs change in approach is an admission by conduct that its more than 260 fraudulent SEC filings were improper and were acts in furtherance of a Klein conspiracy to defraud the IRS, by concealing its massive securities investment business, the document reads. The investment activity has been the subject of some curiosity as to how an otherwise low-profile religious organization can amass such a massive portfolio. Religion Unplugged56 BroadwayNew York, NY 10004, Religion Unplugged is a production of The Media Project and a member of the Institute for Nonprofit NewsEIN: 83-0461425site design by Peter Freeby, Its initial filing revealed EPA had $38 billion in stocks and mutual funds, Jillian Cheney, The Banshees of Inisherin, Ireland, Catholic, forgiveness, Irish Civil War, Irish Catholics, Irish conflict, Oscars 2023, Oscars, Academy Awards, movies, movie review, Inisherin, Colm Doherty, Martin McDonagh, Pdraic, Siobhn, Analysis, Atheism, Catholicism, Christianity, North America, Opinion, Politics, Religion, Society, Clemente Lisi, opinion, church vandalism, Catholic church, journalism, objectivity, bias, media bias, abortion, LGBTQ rights, politics, recharge, Recharge, would rank among the top five hedge funds, received awards from Religion News Association, Society for Advancing Business Editing and Writing, an EPPY Award for best business reporting from Editor & Publisher, included among the top 25 religion stories of 2020, filed a federal lawsuit against the church, published a statement to its members and constituents worldwide and posted three short videos to YouTube, used immediately to meet the needs of the growing Church, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. David Nielsen, the former Ensign Peak fund manager, said the tithing-fueled fund held at least $100 billion during his nine-year tenure there ending in 2019. When you look at the details of the story along with the church's rationale for deceiving members, it quickly goes from dishonest to reprehensible. That should not surprise anyone considering the way they do accounting of these donations. Roger Clarke, the head of Ensign Peak, said: 'Paying tithing is more of a sense of commitment than it is the church needing the money' Clarke and other officials say the money is saved. The Ensign Peak Advisors management team includes Paul Davis (Chief Operating Officer), Anthony Kirkham (Vice President and Senior Portfolio Manager), and Jason Butterfield (Chief Compliance Officer) . Ensign Peak is a huge investor in iconic technology stocks. Grald Causs is the church's Presiding Bishop who oversees church finances, including EP. "Ensign Peak adjusted its approach and began filing a single aggregated report. That the church implies that they created over a dozen shell corporations because they were afraid members would either stop paying tithing or try to replicate their investment scheme is abhorrent just as the church hiding their true history from members even in the year 2020. Analytic Investors, Inc. Steven Thorley. The Ensign Peak Advisors office is located above a food court in Salt Lake City and doesn't appear in the list of companies at that building lobby. Roger G. Clarke We take seriously the responsibility to care for the tithes and donations received from members, the church statement said. Roger Clarke, the head of Ensign Peak, told the Wall Street Journal that the fund was an emergency account to be used in difficult times. That would mean the church isn't doing any better or worse than the average, which is what you'd expect from an organization that is run by men. Roger received a PhD in finance and an MS degree in economics from Stanford University, as well as an MBA and BA degree in physics from Brigham Young University. Ensign Peak Advisors. Ensign Peak held $349,000 in shares in Beyond Meat, maker of plant-based meat substitutes, at the end of 2019, but that was down to $5,000 in June, making it the smallest holding in the portfolio. Isnt amassing wealth and then saving it the equivalent of burying talents, that Christ condemned in the biblical parable? Miner asked. [4] In 1997, the investment division of the LDS Church was spun off into a separate legal entity named after Ensign Peak, a hill that overlooks Salt Lake City. Asia Pacific +65 6212 1000. Keywords: factor investing, rules-based portfolios, quantitative portfolio management, Suggested Citation: That result also would encourage fraudulent claims of exempt status and weaken tax administration within the tax-exempt sector generally, and within non-exempt religious organizations in particular.. Analytic Investors, Inc. Steven Thorley. As we usually close out these posts, I want to mention how difficult it is to take in this new information and changes in policies, and we understand how painful it is to process. If the IRS and DOJ do not hold EPA and its management accountable, this case will erode respect for the tax laws and criminal statutes by every American and every other entity required to pay taxes. He said "Paying tithing is more of a sense of commitment than it is the church needing the money. This page was processed by aws-apollo-l2 in 0.084 seconds, Using these links will ensure access to this page indefinitely. From 1995-2020 he served as president of Ensign Peak Advisors, Inc., an investment management affiliate of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. See all articles by Roger G Clarke Roger G Clarke. And as we're learning more and more each day, they are right to fear that, because if you're willing to approach their history and practices in the way you approach any other organization, product, or belief, you will realize that not only is the church demonstrably false, but it's actually not very good, either. Just last year, Prophet Russell M. Nelson did a worldwide speaking tour where he told members in Africa that only paying tithing can get them out of the cycle of poverty. It has shifted since mid-2020 into stocks in basic industries and capital goods that might expect to take off in an economic recovery. That suggests a remarkable level of trust in church leadership, Sam Brunson, a professor of tax law at Loyola University in Chicago, told The Tribune, not just on spiritual/religious matters but also on more mundane secular matters.. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints' has a $100 billion portfolio, according to a 13F filing. BYU Marriott School of Business. Beyond question, Ensign Peak Advisors has the potential to earn big money on the churchs behalf. "That same poverty continues from one generation to another, until people pay their tithing." Some of the stocks in which Ensign has invested millions include Apple Inc., Chevron Corp., Visa Inc., JPMorgan Chase, Home Depot, Amazon and Google, according to the article.". To learn more, visit Not only is that statement simply untrue, it is beyond self serving for a man who knows the enormous amount of cash they are sitting on to tell those who do not have the means that they have to pay tithing in order to not just get out of poverty, but to enter the temple which they are told is essential to their salvation. Other former employees said the firms war chest related to preparation for the second coming of Jesus Christ. But if church leaders truly believed that, why not be transparent with the members who are taking their hard earned money and funding the church's investment portfolio? Harindra De Silva. Ensign Peak Advisors. The church responded that Nielsens assertions amounted to hearsay and supplied its own sworn statement from Clarke, who was president and managing director over Ensign Peak from its 1997 founding until he retired in May 2020. Former employees said the fund mushroomed from about $40 billion in 2012 to around $100 billion by 2019. The issue is what happens before that. Despite being among the worlds largest investment funds, the Salt Lake City firm functioned largely unseen until late 2019, when a former top manager-turned-whistleblower claimed it had amassed up to $100 billion, allegedly without its senior leaders telling much of anyone. Harindra de Silva. From 1995-2020 he served as president of Ensign Peak Advisors, Inc., an investment management affiliate of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The 2019 stories inReligionUnplugged.comandother outletsrocked both the investment world and the religion world, gaining hundreds of thousands of page views as readers were intrigued by the revelation of previously hidden church finances. In the 2019 filing, EPA continued to withhold that required information from the IRS, and to repeat the annual, false and deceptive statement, OVER 1,000,000.. As we've pointed out in countless pages on this site and others, the church will never be true. Ordinary taxpayers now see that, while they are expected to honor the tax laws, a double standard in enforcement exists with respect to a wealthy and politically-connected organization such as EPA, says the document from Mr. Nielsen. But there is a time, she told The Tribune on Saturday, to use resources to help and lift people. And, sadly, as we see with the way leaders shut down critical thinking, demonize those who research it, and hide information from its members, the church will never be good, either. The SEC's order said that. But there's really nothing here of note, so let's move on. The document said it also had no nonexecutive directors or a board to which EPA had to report. Court documents and Security and Exchange Commission filings shed additional light on how the church invests its money. If you read the early patriarchal blessings, many early members were told they would see Jesus before they died, because they truly believed they were in the final years before his return. This is a very interesting poll, because it implies that the more active in the church you are, the less transparent you want them to be. Nielsen referred to a March 2013 meeting with the firms then-president, Roger Clarke, in which he heard Clarke outline $1.4 billion in spending on City Creek over five years and a one-time payment of $600 million to Beneficial Life, a struggling church-owned insurance company. But when Clarke says the gains are "mainly from returns on existing investments," he is being careful not to say that those "existing investments" were made with tithing money. I remember when I first got married how tight money was, and thinking that the 10% we gave to the church was not even needed makes me feel betrayed considering we added stress to our lives so that the church could pad their bank account. Now he has a podcast about it. That was in keeping, they said, with then-church President Gordon B. Hinckleys declaration that the faith had a compelling responsibility to protect the environment of the Salt Lake Temple and that it was imperative to do something to revitalize this area.. Roger Clarke, head of Ensign Peak (Wall Street Journal): "So they never wanted to be in a position where people felt like, you know, they shouldn't make a contribution". Ensign Peak also has at least $1.3 billion in shares of oil and gas companies, even after dumping 44% of its stock in Exxon Mobil early in 2020. Professor Thorley is a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA), a Co-Editor of theFinancial Analysts Journal, and on the investment committees for Intermountain Healthcare and Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators. Ensign Peak Advisors, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints multibillion-dollar investment fund, has gone from operating nearly incognito 19 months ago to facing an uncomfortably hot spotlight. The fund holds immense stakes of $400 million or more in household stocks like Home Depot, Disney and Johnson & Johnson while at times making lucrative quick trades in meme stocks such as GameStop and Tesla. He was a kid when the Swift raids split his family. This is absolutely ridiculous. The ups and downs of lesser-known stocks in its portfolio show just how closely managed Ensign Peaks holdings are. A closer analysis of Ensign Peaks latest disclosures show that beyond big name stocks, technology in a variety of forms accounts for up to 27% of all its shares worth nearly $13.3 billion. EPA started filing a quarterly 13F form on Feb. 14, 2020, with the Securities and Exchange Commission, which regulates publicly traded companies and other financial firms. Along with the quarterly SEC filings, EPA appears to be more recognizable as an institutional investor in public companies now. EPA did not need cash from its investments to pay tax, private equity funds could rely upon EPA to leave their investments intact for the long term, the document said. Harindra De Silva. According to lead counsel for Mr. Nielsen, Michael A. Sullivan of Finch McCranie, LLP, the team representing Mr. Nielsen includes a former senior official of the SEC, more than one former federal criminal prosecutor, a former IRS Criminal Investigative Division agent, another former IRS official, and an international tax lawyer, all with decades of experience. Cookie Settings. Back to the article: Debates about Mormon finances and the question of transparency have persisted for decades but were triggered again in December by a whistleblower complaint filed by David Nielsen, a former portfolio manager with Ensign Peak, and reported by The Washington Post. Ensign Peak Advisors. Originally I didn't plan on doing a write-up because it was all happening during the holidays and I just did not have time to write about it, but this past weekend's Wall Street Journal article really articulated what is so frustrating about the church's lack of transparency on finances, and what we've noted when looking at a lot of other troubling topics of Mormonism - they simply do not trust their members with honest, complete information on their history or finances. Number of pages: 22 Posted: 09 Sep 2013 Last Revised: 05 Mar 2014. Ensign Peak Advisors ( email) 60 East South Temple 4th Floor Salt Lake City, UT 84111 United States. The document says Nielsen left a financially lucrative career to work for EPA because he believed it was a worthy cause and organization. Obviously I no longer believe in the truth claims of the church after researching the historical and doctrinal topics, but I am still a member of record who has contributed to the church's wealth. . Read the Wall Street Journal story. The financial records destroy Huntsmans fraud claim, its lawyers argued in Aug. 31 court filings. There are many reasons that the church is losing more members today than they have since Kirtland according to church historian Elder Marlin K. Jensen, but one of the biggest is that even in the year 2020 and in the age of Google, they still refuse to be honest and open with their members. [Get more content like this in the Mormon Land newsletter, a weekly highlight reel of developments in and about The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. As he grew disillusioned with leadership, the document says he eventually resigned on Aug. 29, 2019, and filed a document to the IRS Whistleblower Office in November of 2019. Available at SSRN: If you need immediate assistance, call 877-SSRNHelp (877 777 6435) in the United States, or +1 212 448 2500 outside of the United States, 8:30AM to 6:00PM U.S. Eastern, Monday - Friday. Nielsen notes that EPA was operated by people with similarly impressive backgrounds in finance, including advanced degrees from institutions such as Stanford University and experience at hedge fund and Wall Street firms such as Credit Suisse and UBS. Roger Clarke, who leads Ensign Peak, has said that part of the reason the Church sought to conceal its wealth was to ensure continued tithing by believers. BYU Marriott School of Business. Doctor Thorleys publications have been presented at academic and professional seminars around the world. The final section of the article: Clarke also told The Journal he was misunderstood by Nielsen, who asserted that Clarke had said the church had mustered the money for Christs Second Coming. Roger G Clarke Ensign Peak Advisors Harindra de Silva Analytic Investors, Inc. Steven Thorley BYU Marriott School of Business Date Written: June 1, 2010 Abstract Empirical studies document that equity portfolios constructed to have the lowest possible risk have surprisingly high average returns. This is another area where the church is trying to obfuscate the problem of hoarding $124 billion in liquid assets while bailing out their own business ventures and not using any of it to help those in need. For example, a combination of four fully invested factor sub-portfolios low beta, small size, value, and momentum captures less than half (e.g., 40%) of the potential improvement over the market portfolios Sharpe ratio. Huntsman, who owns the film distribution company Blue Fox Entertainment, is the son of the late billionaire Jon Huntsman Sr. and brother of former Utah governor and U.S. Presidential candidate Jon Huntsman Jr. Mr. This story makes me angry because we have all seen and heard of countless examples where families skip buying food or paying their bills to make sure they pay their tithing, because without it the church cuts off their membership to the temple. The Ensign Peak Advisors office is located above a food court in Salt Lake City and doesnt appear in the list of companies at that building lobby. This is the same exact reason the church refuses to be transparent with members about problems with church history whether it's Book of Mormon translation, Joseph Smith's implementation and use of polygamy and polyandry, or the vast issues with the First Vision as they celebrate the 200th anniversary. Donate to the newsroom now. Beyond tech, Ensign Peaks top holdings read like a typical blue chip roster: J.P. Morgan, Merck, Berkshire Hathaway and Intel. It reported owning $27.8 million in shares in an index fund focused on companies in South Korea in late 2019, a stake that rose to $30.4 million by the end of last year. So they never wanted to be in a position where people felt like, you know, they shouldnt make a contribution, Clarke said.". The Ensign Peak Advisors management team includes Anthony Kirkham (Vice President and Senior Portfolio Manager), Jason Butterfield (Chief Compliance Officer), and Roger Clarke (President). Harindra De Silva. Ensign Peaks holdings include $40 billion of U.S. stock, timberland in the Florida Panhandle and investments in prominent hedge funds. There is simply no statistical evidence that paying tithing brings people out of poverty (anecdotally I have been much better off in my career since I left as have thousands of others who leave the church), and tithing was not enforced to enter the temple until 1899, which is why Prophet Joseph F Smith assured members there would be the day that the church would have "sufficient" money to not require tithing money from members. In the same late 2020 window, Ensign Peak bought shares in index funds targeting Saudi Arabia and India, to the tune of $3.3 million and $12.6 million, respectively. This week, Roger Clarke, the head of Ensign, told WSJ, 'Paying tithing is more of a sense of commitment than it is the church needing the money.' 'So they never wanted to be in a position. Latter-day Saints, like many Christians, believe there will be a period of war, hardship and natural disasters before Jesus comes back. 1907, 7) Counselor says: March 19, 2022 at 9:10 pm. 212.744.6825, Research Coordinator Back to the article: Others may not be as concerned. Roger served as a professor for more than ten years on the faculty of the Marriott School of Management at Brigham Young University. Ensign Peak has since made what amounts to a stunning series of quarterly reports to federal authorities on the portion of the Utah-based faiths overall holdings it manages, not least for the portfolios sheer size. I don't really know what more to say here, because Carolyn is actually doing something more in line with what the Bible teaches about helping those in need than the church that claims to speak for God.
