ALL-AMERICAN PROFIT

Mormon Church Fined for Hiding $32B Investment Fund Behind Shell Companies

The church’s investment manager failed to disclose the size of its portfolio for more than two decades “with the church’s knowledge,” the SEC said.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and an investment firm overseeing its assets are set to pay $5 million to settle allegations that it went to “great lengths” to hide a $32-billion fund and deliberately “obscure” the true size of its portfolio, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission said Tuesday. Under the terms of the deal, the Mormon church will pay $1 million and its investment manager, Ensign Peak, $4 million. In a statement announcing the charges, the SEC alleged that Ensign Peak, based in Salt Lake City, hid the fund behind multiple shell companies for 22 years, from 1997 to 2019, violating federal tax laws “with the church’s knowledge.” The agency added: “The Church was concerned that disclosure of its portfolio, which by 2018 grew to approximately $32 billion, would lead to negative consequences.” It did not elaborate on the exact nature of those consequences. In a response to the SEC on Tuesday, the church affirmed its “commitment to comply with the law,” adding its leaders “regret mistakes made, and now consider this matter closed.”