Thread by @BisexualExmo

I have seen many TBMs saying the recent SEC charges against @Ch_JesusChrist are just a paperwork error

Not only is this false, it completely downplays the fact that they were deliberately dishonest in their filings and went to great lengths to hide money from the public.

By 1998, senior management at Ensign Peak (EP) was aware of EPs requirement to file Forms 13F & communicated this requirement to senior leadership of the Church.
To prevent disclosure of the portfolio the Church approved EP using other entities (instead of EP) to file Forms 13F

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.
EP did not have the authority to implement this approach without the approval of the Church’s First Presidency.

The first LLC was assigned a location in Glendale, California, although it
conducted no business at that site. EP signed an investment management agreement (“IMA”) with the LLC, and certain of Ensign Peak’s employees were assigned to be investment
managers for the LLC.

On March 15, 2005, the #LDS Church became aware that the public might link this first LLC to the Church because the person signing the Forms 13F was listed in a public directory as a Church employee.

To address this issue, on March 21, 2005, 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."

In 2011 EP thought its portfolio had become so large that Form 13F filings it made using the name of the second LLC might attract unwanted attention & sought approval to form more LLCs. Church senior leadership approved them to “clone” the second LLC to create new Form 13F filers

2015 EP found out a 3rd party appeared to connect holdings of various LLCs back to EP. EP brought this to the attention of the senior #LDS leadership who approved EP to “gradually & carefully adapt Ensign Peak’s corporate structure to strengthen the portfolio’s confidentiality"

On November 6, 2015, the senior leadership of the Church approved Ensign Peak’s plan for the creation of additional Clone LLCs to further prevent disclosure of the Church’s
holdings managed by EP. EP formed six additional Clone LLCs, bringing the
total to twelve.

Ensign Peak had authority over all of the LLCs throughout their existence. The Church also had indirect authority over all of these LLCs since the Church controlled Ensign Peak and approved the approach of using the LLCs to file Forms 13F (the “LLC Structure”).

LLCs were assigned a “Business Manager” who (according to terms of the LLC agreement) were responsible for preparing & filing "governmental reports, returns, notices & the like, including reports required by law of investment managers or entities exercising investment discretion”

Business Managers performed no functions for the LLCs outside of signing the Form.
Business Managers were selected because they had common names & limited presence on social media so were less likely to be publicly connected to EP or the Church.

LLCs were given an address outside of Utah but none conducted business there other than receiving mail. EP chose multiple locations for these "offices" to create the impression LLCs conducted business throughout the U.S...making it difficult to trace the LLC back to EP/the Church

Here are the details of the misstated forms. If you look at this with the context above you can see that EP and the LDS church took deliberate actions to hide their money from the public.

To obtain a temple reccomend chuch members are asked (among other things) if they follow the teachings of the Church of Jesus Christ in your private & public behavior...and if they strive to be honest in all they do.

How can anyone involved in this honestly answer yes?

To anyone defending the actions of EP/ LDS leaders you should ask yourself where does the lying stop? If they are comfortable with this level of dishonesty they can lie to you about other things.
Do you just have faith they are telling you truth. Is that a reliable path to truth?

One of the problems with Mormonism is that many of its claims are well within the realm of scientific study, and as such can be proven or disproven. Clinging to faith where there is overwhelming evidence against it is wilful ignorance, not spiritual dedication