Ensign Peak Advisors

[RC Vikings]

https://www.sec.gov/news/press-release/2023-35

Five million dollar fine for unfiled paperwork.

[Jeff Lebowski]

Wow. They got off pretty easy.

[Non Sequitur]

Not a good look for the Church.

[Eddie]

So - how much of that does the whistleblower dude get?

[Northwestcoug]

So - how much of that does the whistleblower dude get?

Probably nothing, right? The church paid a settlement fine, and now they're off the hook for further investigation.

[Bo Diddley]

So - how much of that does the whistleblower dude get?

A good chunk. I thought it was around 20% or so.

[YOhio]

Once again Biden and his big government deep state cronies targeting religion. So awful.

[old_gregg]

it’s bullshit. tons of real securities fraud everywhere and tagging the church over an interpretation of section 13 is bush league.

[Green Monstah]

I deal with the SEC semi-regularly, however, since I'm not in investment management, I have zero exposure to Form 13F.

I did, however take a look at Section 13(f)(1) and Rule 13f, simply to see what they were about. Pretty standard quarterly reporting requirement for investment advisors with more than $100mm in qualifying assets (mostly securities traded on a national exchange).

Reading the Order, assuming it's not disputed, the Church definitely looks sleazy. Setting up shell entities where assets are siloed is not illegal, and is often the prudent thing to do. But Ensign Peak didn't do that. They didn't even assign the assets out by entity. It appears they simply took 1/12 of their aggregate holdings and attributed them to their subsidiaries, all while Ensign Peak maintained full control and title. All for the purpose of hiding the true value of their assets, which is contrary to the letter and spirit of the rules.

The investment management agreements each entity executed with Ensign Peak misrepresented the nature of the relationship. And the same church employee executed for each party to the Agreements (this probably looks worse than it is).

I'm a little surprised the people signing the 13F forms aren't facing prosecution, although the order details that they were only presented with the signature page, which may exculpate the individuals but makes the Church look worse (especially since they chose employees with common names in order to hide the relationship with Ensign Peak).

And why? So people don't know how wealthy the Church is? To what end? To prevent spurious lawsuits due to "deep pockets"? To prevent members from questioning the need to continue to tithe (legit concern; I'd be lying if I said the church's wealth didn't impact the amount of tithing I pay today)?

The Church now has a credibility problem. I don't care if some douchebag at Kirton McConkie okay'd this reporting regime. An entity that is interested in honesty doesn't act this way.

The church needs to cut the shit, open the books, and have some accountability to not only its members, but the taxpayers who bear the burden of the Church's tax subsidies.

All that said, my son is bringing the bread for sacrament on Sunday, so I can't be late.

[Green Monstah]

it’s bullshit. tons of real securities fraud everywhere and tagging the church over an interpretation of section 13 is bush league.

Regulators mostly suck, because you can read the rule 1,000 times and how it's enforced is often far different from how it's written or the underlying intent.

That said, I don't think this is a matter of interpretation. The church would be hard-pressed to claim that it didn't have investment discretion over these assets. The rules aren't hyper technical. It's plain English that even an engineer could appropriately interpret and apply.

[All-American]

All that said, my son is brining the bread

That's what you have to do if you want the bread nice and moist.

[Pelado]

That's what you have to do if you want the bread nice and moist.

Is it beer bread?

[Moliere]

https://www.sec.gov/news/press-release/2023-35

Five million dollar fine for unfiled paperwork.

I bet Pres Nelson has more than that in his petty cash drawer

[Uncle Ted]

I bet Pres Nelson has more than that in his petty cash drawer

Yeah, on a $100b+ investment account that isn't even a hand slap. But embarrassing to those BYU accounting school grads working at Ensign Peak. I bet the accounting program slips a few notches in the rankings over this.

[Green Monstah]

I asked a friend who has his own boutique firm representing investment management firms (former CLO of a shop that had roughly the same assets under management as Ensign Peak). He said that 13F isn't a huge deal. He rarely saw the filing. It was just handled by his compliance team. However, he did note that most sophisticated asset management firms do the opposite of Ensign Peak pre-2019: they file one consolidated filing, make note that it applies to listed subsidiaries/affiliates, and will re-file as requested/necessary for the various subsidiaries/affiliates.