National Enquirer

MORMON CHURCH SUED $100 BILLION CHARITY SCAM!

Outraged member charges donations used to build insurance & property empire

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MORMON church officials are being accused of “corporate greed” for using members’ charitable donations to secretly create a $100 billion tax-free fund!

The National ENQUIRER can reveal James Huntsman, the son of a prominent Mormon family, is suing the church for fraud, claiming donations solicited to finance charity work were actually used to fill church coffers.

In the federal lawsuit filed March 30, Huntsman blasted the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS),

alleging it "dishonestl­y and fraudulent­ly placed its own commercial financial interests above the loyalty and well-being of the church’s most devout members,” to the tune of

$1.5 billion! He added: “This is not a case about faith; it is a case about fraud and corporate greed.” Mormons are pushed to give the church 10 percent of their annual income in a tithe meant for charity, such as funding missionary work, church constructi­on, education and more. Huntsman’s suit claims the church began misusing members’ tithes in 2003 for the commercial developmen­t of City Creek Mall in Utah and the bailout of its private insurance company, Beneficial Life Insurance.

“Rather than using tithing funds for the promised purposes, LDS secretly lined its own pockets by using the funds to develop a multibilli­on-dollar commercial real estate and insurance empire,” according to legal papers. As The ENQUIRER reported in a 2020 exposé, church officials were caught in a $100 billion scandal after whistleblo­wers filed a complaint with the Internal Revenue Service. They charged the religious organizati­on had raised the mountain of cash through a church-owned investment company — but didn’t spend a dime of it doing good deeds! But experts pointed out that, as an arm of the church, the investment company is legally allowed to amass funds and as a religious organizati­on is exempt from having to pay tax.

The church boasts at least 15 million members worldwide, including celebritie­s Gladys Knight, Donny and Marie Osmond and Katherine Heigl.

Other stars including Julianne Hough, Christina Aguilera, Ryan Gosling, Amy Adams and Aaron Eckhart were raised in the faith or came to it as adults — and sources said many could have tithed money that ended up in the tax-free fund.

In his suit, Huntsman — who runs a film distributi­on company in Southern California — demands payback on the $5 million he’s tithed to the church on moral grounds, claiming the money wasn’t used for the purposes he gave it.

Huntsman — the son of late billionair­e philanthro­pist Jon Huntsman Sr. — also claimed that when he demanded

his money back, the church “refused.”

Church spokespers­on Eric Hawkins called Huntsman’s allegation­s “baseless,” adding contributi­ons “are used for a broad array of religious purposes,” and noting Huntsman resigned his church membership last year. Huntsman, 50, will donate any funds he recovers “to charities supporting LGBTQ+, African-American, and women’s rights,” and others, according to his suit.

“Unlike the LDS corporatio­n, [James] is confident that these charities will actually use his donations for their intended purposes,” the suit stated. Huntsman did not respond to a request for comment.

 ??  ?? MARIE OSMOND
MARIE OSMOND
 ??  ?? JULIANNE HOUGH
JULIANNE HOUGH
 ??  ?? An explosion investigat­ion reported by The ENQUIRER revealed the scandal (left). The LDS pushes members to give 10 percent of their annual income, insiders said
An explosion investigat­ion reported by The ENQUIRER revealed the scandal (left). The LDS pushes members to give 10 percent of their annual income, insiders said
 ??  ?? James Huntsman
James Huntsman
 ??  ??
 ??  ?? DONNY OSMOND
DONNY OSMOND

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