In all seriousness, this indicates a lack of internal controls in the 2009 timeframe.
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Research and analysis on the state of wealth in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
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Shares appear in all 3 co's under Argyll during those periods. Spot-checking the 1yr period didn't turn up any other positions bought & then liquidated after 4 Qs. Strange outlier. Best theory, maybe it was an insider prank? Anyone get fired from EP in Q1'10?
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EP's stakes in Philip Morris and Keurig Dr. Pepper were likely accidents. 90k shares PM & 38k shares KDP bought in Argyll in Q1'09 & sold in Q1'10. Also found 12k shares Lorillard (tobacco) bought/sold in the same period. Outlier buy/sell timing. Insider prank?
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With the addition of 13F data for Whitney Asset Management from 12/31/2002, our online workbook now has a mostly-complete 20-year picture of Ensign Peak's direct US equity positions (12/31/2002 to 12/31/2022).
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Unnamed Clone LLC from SEC order paragraphs 9 & 10 has been identified. Whitney Asset Management held Ensign Peak's public stocks from 2003-2006.
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With 60 calendar quarters, and two sheets each with more than 12,500 rows, this is over 1.5 million data elements.
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New Google Sheet workbook with every US stock owned by Ensign Peak and its Clone LLCs from 2007 through 2022. Over 12,500 data rows. Organized by LLC. Links to each one's SEC landing page. For research & educational purposes only.
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PSA: SMH Oct'22 accusation that LDSC "grossly" overstated charitable giving is factually, verifiably incorrect. Lead reporter agrees with us, but opted not to retract. Lack of transparency is a problem, but doesn't mean everything is a lie.
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On BYU system financial reporting (income & investments), asking for accounting perspective on 2 questions.
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To everyone tracking Ensign Peak's 13F filings. Performance affects assets, but so does net buying & selling. In Q4, EP bought ~$1B in stocks, net. Performance added ~$3.4B. Here's our take on Q4:
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Translating what you see in Ensign Peak's public US stockholdings (~$44 billion on 12/31/22) to total Church investment assets (~$157 billion), based on what we know about the overall portfolio strategy.
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Ironically, it was basic principles of efficiency and order which contributed to the discovery of Ensign Peak's stock market concealment efforts. All of the "Clone LLCs" were created on the same date and with websites hosted on the same servers as LDS. org.
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The depth of this SEC investigation, and inclusion of the Church as final authority & violator, also appears to confirm our assertion that the Church does not have other secret "Ensign Peaks" holding US stocks.
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Visualization of the shell companies & timeline here: widowsmitereport.wordpress.com/concealment
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The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints' money manager will pay $4 million to settle SEC claims of obscuring the church's investments on.wsj.com/3Z1QtdM
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Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Its Investment Adviser Settle SEC Probe
Ensign Peak Advisors Inc. Filed Forms that Obscured Mormon Church’s Investments in $32 Billion Portfolio, SEC Says
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Our visualization of the concealment shell companies and timeline here:
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Settlement reached - SEC charged Ensign Peak and the Church with obscuring US stock portfolio with shell companies. EP to pay $4 million to settle charges. Church to pay $1 million to settle charges.
sec.gov/news/press-rel
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On tax questions in Canada and Australia: (1) Surplus Canadian tithing is 8.9% of the Church’s BYU subsidy, perfectly legal and arguably reasonable (2) Australian tithing/charity tax scheme appears questionable and eventually may face challenges.
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Tribune Editorial Board: Those who give to the LDS Church deserve an accounting of their money.
trib.al/z5w0TC9
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The Church allocates $1B+ in tithing each year to subsidize the BYU system.
This is ~19% of the Church’s entire annual cash budget (our est), a huge financial investment w/ likely strong returns in the form of a generation of long-term tithe payers.
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New BYU financials series. Church subsidizes over $1B/yr of BYU system costs with tithing.
Equals nearly a $100k 4-yr scholarship for every BYU-Provo student, $250k for BYU-H.
Lots of charts related to tuition and campus income/expenses. Enjoy!
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In Q4, Ensign Peak (LDS Church investment arm) bought ~$1b in US stocks. At the same time, it liquidated over 500 small positions. Other insights from the latest 13F filing in the link.
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Ensign Peak (LDS Church investments) does not own Coke or Pepsi stocks. What else?
We studied the filings & found some surprises.
EP liquidated several questionable holdings immediately following an investigative report 2018.
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Our visual of the disclosure violations via multiple shell companies since 2007.
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From our new Ensign Peak report.
Timeline of EP's concealment of US stockholdings, 2007-2019.
The "Mormon Moment" appears to have catalyzed the first shift to multiple holding entities in 2012. Then, another shuffle to twice as many entities in 2017.
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Excerpt from our 2022 year-end update.
If BYU's longstanding endowment policy were applied to Ensign Peak, then the Church is already financially self-sufficient - forever.
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Summary & comments on our 55-page deep dive on Ensign Peak.
This material is dense and technical, more so than any of our previous reports.
Here is a 16-point summary of what's in the EP report.
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Our 2022 year-end update is now live. Updates from the year related to Church finances. Closer look at income and expenses. Refreshed view of Church wealth. Over 40 pages of new content.
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Our 55-page deep dive on Ensign Peak is now live. Detailed analysis on the Church's $150+ billion rainy-day fund. We look in depth at the fund's holdings, performance, concealment tactics, strategy and benchmarking.
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As a teaser: our model indicates LDS investments (Ensign Peak) lost about $23 billion in 2022. That is a total, not just for losses in US stocks. We will detail the bridge to that figure in the report.
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We have two reports pending for early 2023.
1. 2022 year-end update to The Widow’s Mite Report, state of Church wealth.
2. Analysis of the Church collegiate system financials, 2014-2021. BYU/BYUI/BYUH & EC.
Any questions or suggestions related to either of these topics?
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Thanks to astute readers: 2 overlooked adjustments (car benefit and per-child allowance) to GA comp, brings our all-in comp to $259k/yr. Two new pages with additional detail on GA living allowance taxes & benefits.
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Belief: GAs receive glamorous ultra-premium benefits. As we show on new page 4, pay stubs indicate 4-5 additional deductions for supplemental insurance benefits. These deductions indicate a desire to have insurance coverage over and above what would be "standard" offerings.
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Belief: General Authority pay is not taxed. This is not true. We re-examined the 2000 and 2002 payroll stubs (Eyring and Wirthlin) and found that ~75% of the living allowance was taxed (fed & state), while ~25% was reported under tax-exempt parsonage (clergy housing).
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Today, announced a $10 million donation to International and in the fight to #EndPolio and Maternal and Neonatal Tetanus. This support is critical to saving lives — today and far into the future.
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New in this report (page 2) is our calculation of total compensation since being called as a General Authority. First Presidency average is $5.6 million. Q12 range $2.6-6.2 million.
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Updated perspective on 2023 General Authority compensation. ~$158k living allowance (salary & parsonage). With benefits, ~$251k. Top 10% of Utah household incomes, 65% above the Utah median family. For 123 leaders, $30m total compensation.
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Full financials for all BYU campuses are available in this public database. Search “Brigham Young” and you’ll get a list of downloadable audited statements for several recent years. It’s a lot of info - we will publish a summary of this information soon.
facdissem.census.gov/Main.aspx
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