Stocks close lower Friday after hot inflation report; major averages log worst week in 2023: Live updates
Hakyung Kim, Sarah Min
10 - 12 minutes
". . .The report added to worries that the Fed may have to keep rates higher for longer to quell inflationary pressures.
Liz
Ann Sonders, chief investment strategist at Charles Schwab, believes
there is more to the market’s downturn besides the PCE numbers.
“Another
reason why the market is having trouble to some degree, I think, is not
just about inflation being hotter or concerns that the Fed has to stay
tighter for longer,” Sonders said on Friday.
“But there was just a
lot of speculation that kicked back in —speculative froth. And the
market tends to move in a contrarian fashion when sentiment gets a
little too frothy. So I think some of the move has has to do with
sentiment. Not just these macro forces,” she added.
The strategist believes that inflation cannot come down without a broader economic downturn.
“I
think something would have to give either broadly in the economy, or
more specifically in the labor market, to bring the immaculate
disappearance of inflation,” Sonders said. “Without very that commensurate
hit to the economy or the labor market, I think it’s a stretch.”
46 minutes ago · Up-to-date stock market data coverage from CNN. Get the latest updates on US markets, world markets, stock quotes, crypto, commodities and currencies.
The U.S. Security & Exchange Commission (SEC) has reached a paltry settlement fine for $5M against The Church in an investigation that started with a whistleblower complaint about the use of tithing "donations."
PRESS RELEASE
SEC Charges The Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter-day Saints and Its Investment Management Company for Disclosure
Failures and Misstated Filings
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
2023-35
Washington D.C., Feb. 21, 2023 —
"The
Securities and Exchange Commission today announced charges against
Ensign Peak Advisers Inc., a non-profit entity operated by The Church of
Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to manage the Church’s investments,
for failing to file forms that would have disclosed the Church’s equity
investments, and for instead filing forms for shell companies that
obscured the Church’s portfolio and misstated Ensign Peak’s control over
the Church’s investment decisions.
The SEC also announced charges
against the Church for causing these violations. To settle the charges,
Ensign Peak agreed to pay a $4 million penalty and the Church agreed to
pay a $1 million penalty.
The SEC’s order finds that, from 1997
through 2019, Ensign Peak failed to file Forms 13F, the forms on which
investment managers are required to disclose the value of certain
securities they manage.
According to the order, the Church was concerned
that disclosure of its portfolio, which by 2018 grew to approximately
$32 billion, would lead to negative consequences. To obscure the amount
of the Church’s portfolio, and with the Church’s knowledge and approval,
Ensign Peak created thirteen shell LLCs, ostensibly with locations
throughout the U.S., and filed Forms 13F in the names of these LLCs
rather than in Ensign Peak’s name.
✓ The order finds that Ensign Peak
maintained investment discretion over all relevant securities, that it
controlled the shell companies, and that it directed nominee “business
managers,” most of whom were employed by the Church, to sign the
Commission filings.
✓ The shell LLCs’ Forms 13F misstated, among other
things, that the LLCs had sole investment and voting discretion over the
securities. In reality, the SEC’s order finds, Ensign Peak retained
control over all investment and voting decisions.
“We allege that the LDS Church’s
investment manager, with the Church’s knowledge, went to great lengths
to avoid disclosing the Church’s investments, depriving the Commission
and the investing public of accurate market information,” said Gurbir S.
Grewal, Director of the SEC’s Division of Enforcement. “The requirement
to file timely and accurate information on Forms 13F applies to all
institutional investment managers, including non-profit and charitable
organizations.”
✓ Ensign Peak agreed to settle the SEC’s
allegation that it violated Section 13(f) of the Securities Exchange Act
of 1934 and Rule 13f-1 thereunder by failing to file Forms 13F and for
misstating information in these forms. The Church agreed to settle the
SEC’s allegation that it caused Ensign Peak’s violations through its
knowledge and approval of Ensign Peak’s use of the shell LLCs."
✓ Paul Feindt conducted the SEC’s
investigation under the supervision of Tracy Combs and Tanya Beard of
the Salt Lake Regional Office and Laura Metcalfe of the Denver Regional
Office.
For-Profit Enterprise Schemes / The Tax-Exempt Mormon Church
By Samuel Moore - March 6, 2020 https://bovnews.com
7 - 8 minutes
Nope
Report: Mormon church investment fund had nearly $38 billion
Updated
The church also owned $930 million in Google stock and $855 million in Amazon. Mormon Church Moves Public Stock Holdings to Single Entity Published
"This morning, the Salt Lake Tribune reported
that Ensign Peak Advisors, the investment arm of the Church of Jesus
Christ of Latter-day Saints, reported a total of $38.7 billion of
holdings in the U.S. stock market.
Truth & Transparency first reported on this topic in May 2018 by uncovering $32 billion traded by 13 shell companies connected to the Church, and again last month
when revealing the increased value of those shell companies as well as
venture capital investments made by another shell company connected to
the Church. . .
Last month, in another unprecedented move, the Church gave an exclusive interview to the Wall Street Journal discussing
the portfolio, admitting to having intentionally obfuscated the paper
trail with the shell companies discovered by Truth & Transparency.
They feared that members would reduce their tithing donations to the
Church.
Today’s story from the Tribune implies that this $38 billion is
in addition to the money already reported by Truth & Transparency
saying that Ensign Peak’s portfolio is “more diversified than any of
those smaller funds.” However, closer analysis of the data suggests
otherwise.. .
While it is true that Ensign Peak filed a report
with the U.S. Security and Exchange Commission, none of the other 13
shell companies did, a fact the Tribune originally failed to report.
This suggests that the shares were moved under the
known corporate umbrella of the Church, another unprecedented and
surprising move.
> This hypothesis is supported by comparing
the data from Ensign Peak’s most recent filing and the previous
quarter’s filings from the shell companies. The number of entities the
Church had invested only grew from 1,646 to 1,650 and the amount of
shares traded between the two quarters is largely negligible.
> Additionally, the difference in shares between the two reports
could be a result of consolidating other shell companies than the ones
currently known. An entity only has to file these public reports if over
$100 million is held at the end of the quarter. It is completely
possible that the Church has other entities under its corporate umbrella
that were not trading at that threshold.
The code used to perform the data analysis for this article can be found here.
In the coming days, Truth & Transparency will be publishing
interactive graphs illustrating the known worth of the Mormon Church’s
portfolio over time.
Financing The Faith: Peaks and Losses In The Marketplace For The Latter-Day Saints
"What
goes up must come down" is one of those fundamental laws of physics
(assuming there is no divine intervention of course). However in the end
it's all a gamble. . . and sure enough The Beehive got stung.
Mormon church fined $5M for obscuring size of portfolio
SAM METZ
4 - 5 minutes
The
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and its investment arm have
been fined $5 million for using shell companies to obscure the size of
the portfolio under church control, the U.S. Securities and Exchange
Commission announced Tuesday.
The faith, widely known as the
Mormon church, maintains billions of dollars of investments in stocks,
bonds, real estate and agriculture. Much of its portfolio is controlled
by Ensign Peak Advisers, a nonprofit investment manager overseen by
ecclesiastical leaders known as its presiding bishopric.
The church has agreed to pay $1 million and Ensign Peak will pay $4 million in penalties based on the violation.
Ensign
Peak avoided disclosing investments “with the church’s knowledge,”
denying the SEC and the public of accurate information required under
law, Gurbir Grewal, the agency’s enforcement director, said in a
statement.
Federal investigators said for a period of 22 years, the firm
violated agency rules and the Securities Exchange Act by not filing
paperwork required that disclosed the value of its assets.
Instead,
they said Ensign Peak filed the forms through 13 shell companies they
created, even as they maintained decision-making power. They also had
“business managers,” most employed by the church, sign the required
shell company filings.
“The Church was concerned that disclosure
of its portfolio, which by 2018 grew to approximately $32 billion, would
lead to negative consequences,” the SEC said in a statement announcing
the charges.
Increasingly, the church and its Salt Lake City-based
investment arm have faced scrutiny over the fact that tax law largely
exempts religious groups from paying U.S. taxes. Ensign Peak is
registered as a supporting organization and integrated auxiliary of the
church. Investment managers of its size are required to report
stockholdings quarterly.
It gained traction in 2019 when a
whistleblower alleged the church had stockpiled nearly $100 billion in
funds, rather than directing it toward charitable causes. Ensign Peak
has since been a source of intrigue and mystery for the nearly
17-million member Utah-based faith, which encourages members worldwide
to give 10% of their income in a what is known as “tithing.”
Two
years later, prominent church member James Huntsman filed a lawsuit
against the church alleging it misrepresented how it used donations and,
rather than direct them to charitable causes, invested in assets
including real estate and an insurance business. A judge dismissed the
complaint last year and Huntsman later appealed the decision.
Earlier
this month, the 2019 whistleblower, a former Ensign Peak investment
manager named David Nielsen, submitted a 90-page memorandum to the U.S.
Senate Finance Committee demanding oversight into the church's finances.
In
a statement, church officials said over the time period investigated,
none of their holdings had gone unreported and all had been disclosed
through the separate companies. They said they had “relied upon legal
counsel regarding how to comply with its reporting obligations while
attempting to maintain the privacy of the portfolio" and noted that
Ensign Peak had changed its reporting approach after learning of the
SEC's concerns in 2019.
“We affirm our commitment to comply with the law, regret mistakes made, and now consider this matter closed,” they said.
Sam
Brunson, a church member and tax law professor at Loyola University
Chicago, said the $5 million fine differed from past accusations leveled
against Ensign Peak because the church appears to have admitted some
fault.
A failure to fill out SEC paperwork may not fuel broader
conversations about how the church manages its money, he said, yet it
reflects an “incredibly aggressive” strategy to keep certain information
from the public.
“For the last 70 years or so, the Mormon Church has had an ethos of keeping its finances private,” Brunson said.
This story was originally published February 21, 2023, 4:24 PM.
www.pbs.org
Mormon church fined $5 million for obscuring size of investment portfolio
"SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
and its investment arm have been fined $5 million for using shell
companies to obscure the size of the portfolio under church control, the
U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission announced Tuesday.
“We allege that the LDS Church’s investment manager, with the
Church’s knowledge, went to great lengths to avoid disclosing the
Church’s investments, depriving the Commission and the investing public
of accurate market information,” Gurbir S. Grewal, the agency’s
enforcement director, said in a statement.
The faith, widely known as the Mormon church, maintains billions of
dollars of investments in stocks, bonds, real estate and agriculture.
Much of its portfolio is controlled by Ensign Peak Advisers, a nonprofit
investment manager overseen by ecclesiastical leaders known as its
presiding bishopric.
The church has agreed to pay $1 million and Ensign Peak will pay $4 million in penalties based on the violation.
Federal investigators said for 22 years, the firm hadn’t filed
required paperwork to disclose the value of some assets in violation of
the Securities Exchange Act and agency rules.
Instead, they said, with the church’s knowledge, Ensign Peak filed
the forms through 13 shell companies they created, even as they
maintained decision-making power. They also had “business managers,”
most employed by the church, sign the required shell company filings.
“The Church was concerned that disclosure of its portfolio, which by
2018 grew to approximately $32 billion, would lead to negative
consequences,” the agency said in a statement announcing the charges. . ." READ MORE
1732: LDS Church Fined $5 Million for Hiding Money w/ Mark Pugsley
February 22, 2023
"Is the Mormon Church honest in all of its dealings? The Securities
and Exchange Commission announced charges against The Church of Jesus
Christ of Latter-day Saints for obscuring the Church’s money and
misstating Ensign Peak’s control over the Church’s investment decisions.
To settle the charges, Ensign Peak agreed to pay a $4 million penalty
and the Church agreed to pay a $1 million penalty.
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