In contrast, a long-only portfolio of individual securities, using the same risk model and return forecasts, captures most (e.g., 80%) of the potential improvement. If Jesus does come back, I can't wait to see his reaction when the leaders of the church that claims to speak exclusively for him explain that they hoarded all of the cash they could instead of helping the very people they are commanded to help in the very Bible they (incorrectly) use as justification for collecting tithing from their members in the first place. Ensign Peak Advisors. , UT Previous President for Ensign Peak Advisors Inc (801)240-3053. Roger has 1 job listed on their profile. Since that time, 13 quarterly reports have been filed in full accordance with SEC requirements.". ReligionUnplugged.com reporters sent emails and made phone calls to Nielsen and his lawyers as well as to members and staff of the U.S. Senate Committee on Finance to ask about the status of the memorandum and a schedule for any possible hearings in Washington. Donate to the newsroom now. That touched off waves of new scrutiny for a global church used to keeping the slimmest of financial profiles. EPAs senior managers for years have regularly permitted large assets to simply disappear from EPAs books and have failed to apply basic internal controls to themselves.. I know some believing members will take offense at that characterization, but please tell me where I am wrong. We can prove that over and over again whether it's looking at DNA and the Book of Mormon, the Book of Abraham, or how Joseph Smith retrofitted the priesthood restoration or First Vision to establish authority. [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. . This is yet another rationale that is contradicted by their past actions, and they are only saying it to try and pacify members who are waking up to realize that this church is not only untrue, but not good, either. It totaled nearly $50 billion as of June after gaining $3 billion in three months and adding nearly $12 billion since its first filing in early 2020 just before the U.S. onset of the coronavirus pandemic. . 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. Do you really think when Jesus comes back to Earth that he's going to congratulate Russell Nelson on leaving those in need out to dry while accumulating a stock portfolio for his return? He said "Paying tithing is more of a sense of commitment than it is the church needing the money. Editors note James Huntsman is a brother of Paul Huntsman, chairman of the nonprofit Salt Lake Tribunes board of directors. That strategy, Clarke said, was designed to prevent members from parroting what Ensign was doing and to, as the paper stated, protect them from mismanaging their own funds with insufficient information., Church officials described the fund as a rainy-day account and to help fund operations in poorer parts of the world such as Africa, where the faith is booming where member donations cant keep up.". Thank you for supporting local journalism. He wrote that it avoided having a compliance officer between 1997 and 2015. It's the same reason that many believing members refuse to read anything that questions the church, which for many includes church sources and even the Gospel Topics essays. The SEC requires any institutional investor with more than $100 million in assets to file a 13F. The document said it also had no nonexecutive directors or a board to which EPA had to report. A federal judge recently tossed out the lawsuit, but Huntsmans lawyers plan to appeal. 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. The Mormon church created a system of more than a dozen shell companies to make their investments harder to track? Its initial filing revealed EPA had $38 billion in stocks and mutual fundsat the end of 2019, including $1.5 billion in Apple and Microsoft. This guide to factor exposures and payoffs contains material from our journal publications over the last several years, compiled in a way that provides a quick start and somewhat self-contained guide to analysts that are new to factor investing. Sign up for our newsletter to get the inside scoop on what traders are talking about delivered daily to your inbox. BYU Marriott School of Business. Harindra de Silva. 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. deductible, Report a missed paper by emailingsubscribe@sltrib.comor calling801-237-2900, For e-edition questions or comments, contact customer support801-237-2900or emailsubscribe@sltrib.com. Overview. Court documents and Security and Exchange Commission filings shed additional light on how the church invests its money. That result would also encourage fraudulent claims of exempt status within the tax-exempt sector generally, and by non-exempt religious organizations in particular.. We covered this above so we won't rehash this much here. For at least 22 years, EPA and certain senior executives have perpetrated an unlawful scheme that relies on willfully and materially false statements to the IRS and the SEC, so this for-profit, securities investment business that unfairly competes with large hedge funds can masquerade as a tax-exempt, charitable organization, the memorandum says. This was approximately $2 billion to fund classic private interests., Senate Finance Committee - by Paul Glader. The fund relies on a healthy share of so-called real estate investment trusts (REIT), which package landholdings into shares for sale. 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.". Isnt amassing wealth and then saving it the equivalent of burying talents, that Christ condemned in the biblical parable? Miner asked. Software Updates. 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. Ensign Peak and the Church have cooperated with the government over a period of time as we sought resolution." Either they don't have enough faith in you remaining 100% obedient to tell you the truth, or they are so greedy that they would rather lie to keep the money rolling in. 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. 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. Upon learning of Mr. Nielsens IRS submission in December 2019, EPA abruptly began filing in its own name as required. To learn more, visit 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. 1. The Salt Lake Tribune gets straight to the point here, because this is a massive statement and acknowledgement by the Mormon church. Do they not realize that many members have 401K accounts that are run in the exact same way? So, yes, it is a remarkable trust in church leadership. The head of EPA, Roger Clarke, indicated to the Journal that EPA is a . He has reported from dozens of countries for outlets ranging from The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, Der Spiegel Online and others. When Mr. Nielsen became aware that EPA served no charitable or religious purpose, and that EPAs management led to assets going missing within EPA, he attempted to correct these problems, the document says. Beyond question, Ensign Peak Advisors has the potential to earn big money on the churchs behalf. The regulator says the Church's investment manager "went to great lengths" to avoid disclosures. 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 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. Some companies like to show when large and established institutional investors are taking positions in their company, considering that a vote of confidence in the company. After the stories broke in 2019, the churchpublished a statement to its members and constituents worldwide and posted three short videos to YouTube. The issue is what happens before that. The document says Nielsen left a financially lucrative career to work for EPA because he believed it was a worthy cause and organization. According to its first 2020 report to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, filed months after allegations by whistleblower David Nielsen and his twin brother, Lars, made headlines, Ensign Peaks value was reported at $37.8 billion in stocks and mutual funds. In it, Clarke affirms the veracity of all business records submitted on Ensign Peaks role in the case, including its payments to City Creek Reserve. See all articles by Roger G Clarke Roger G Clarke. There might be ways to get there with creative accounting such as including what the church gives in assistance to members on the ward level, but remember again that local help is heavily funded by members on the local level and is also a way to evade the matter at hand which is how the church handles tithing contributions. So they never wanted to be in a position where . [4] As of February 2020, Roger Clarke is EP's Chief Executive Officer. And please email us if you disagree with our post - we welcome all comments! 72, No. I can't overstate how blatantly dishonest this statement is, and the church absolutely knows how deceptive and insulting such a rationale for creating a system of shell companies to hide their wealth is. Now, EPA has finally admitted in a recently published Form 990-T filing in November 2020 (for 2019) that EPA does have foreign bank and investment accounts. Nielsens document argues that EPA should be liable for more than $2 billion in penalties. Ensign Peak's top stock holdings as of December 31 include Walmart, Microsoft, Apple, and JPMorgan. 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. The firm had nearly $1 billion worth of shares in Amazon and Googles parent company, Alphabet, as well. In criminal conduct, EPA has engaged in a Klein conspiracy to defraud the IRS by pretending to be tax-exempt while concealing and falsifying the facts of its massive securities investment business, the document states. To support that, he offered a freshly sworn statement by David Nielsen in which the whistleblower says that for officials at Ensign Peak every penny was referred to as the widows mite a biblical allusion to its sacred nature. Steven Thorley 1907, 7) So in other words, over those 24 years the church donated an average of just $13.65 million a year in actual cash, while *valuing* the volunteer time of its members at $36.85 million a year. Ensign Peak Advisors. Top editors give you the stories you want delivered right to your inbox each weekday. Though not named as parties, Ensign Peak Advisors and the words and actions of its senior managers were at the center of a high-profile lawsuit filed last March in U.S. District Court in California. The church literally created over a dozen shell companies to hide their finances, so please forgive me if I don't believe the church's prophets when they declare the church complies with all applicable law governing our donations, investments, taxes and reserves. Lawrence Harris . The Salt Lake Tribune, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) public charity and contributions are tax Ensign Peak Advisors, Analytic Investors, Inc. and BYU Marriott School of Business. Whether it's hiding church history, changing what the meaning of translation or 'curse of dark skin' is, or hiding finances in over a dozen shell companies, the leaders of this church simply do not believe that members will stick around if they are honest about their history or practices. (Deseret News) Beyond tech, Ensign Peaks top holdings read like a typical blue chip roster: J.P. Morgan, Merck, Berkshire Hathaway and Intel. In recent years, the churchs reserve fund has grown by about 7% annually, Clarke told The Journal, mainly from returns on existing investments, not member donations.". 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. David A. Nielsen, a former employee at EPA, says in the filing that the new memorandum contains more information than the document he submitted to the IRS Whistleblower Office in November of 2019 that was a placeholder submission and was given to ReligionUnplugged.com and other outlets by Nielsens twin brother, Lars Nielsen, in the fall of 2019. 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. See all articles by Roger G Clarke Roger G Clarke. By 2003, Ensign Peaks assets had grown, according to court documents, though the church isnt publicly saying by how much. Ensign Peak Advisors, the investment firm connected to the Church of Jesus Christ and Latter-Day Saints, started filing a quarterly 13F form on Feb. 14, 2010, with the Securities and Exchange Commission, which regulates publicly traded companies and other financial firms. 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. Neither Clarke nor other officials would provide The Journal with details on the size of the churchs annual budget or how much money goes to Ensign Peak. Ensign Peaks holdings include $40 billion of U.S. stock, timberland in the Florida Panhandle and investments in prominent hedge funds. 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. According to the complaint, Ensign's president, Roger Clarke, has told others that the amassed funds would be used in the event of the second coming of Christ. The church contended no actual tithing was ever used and instead came from Ensign Peaks earnings. The financial records destroy Huntsmans fraud claim, its lawyers argued in Aug. 31 court filings. (Subscription required) Next Up In Faith If you're reading this post, you have almost certainly heard of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints holding an investment fund worth around $124 billion dollars called Ensign Peak in recent weeks. Search our database of over 100 million company and executive profiles. The Journal reported that employees of the firm sign lifetime confidentiality agreements and most current employees were no longer told the assets under management figures for the firm. After The Post piece, Patrick Mason, head of Mormon studies at Utah State University, told The Salt Lake Tribune that stories like this will undoubtedly trouble many church members and lead them to wonder whether their charitable giving is best directed toward an institution that reportedly has a stockpile twice as large as Harvards endowment.. Note: ReligionUnplugged.com will update this story with responses from relevant parties. The filings do not include all the churchs financial holdings, such as bonds, and the church isnt required to disclose its holdings in property or private companies. If we truly believe that the world is going to fall into chaos before the second coming of Christ, does the church really believe that stocks and bonds are going to hold value then? Ensign Peak's investing strategy turns the $100 into $150 (Ensign Peak pays no tax on the gain because its passive . 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. Shares in Amazon and Googles parent company, Alphabet, as well used roger clarke ensign peak keeping the slimmest financial. In a position where Microsoft, Apple, and JPMorgan isnt publicly saying by how much, JPMorgan. 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