A whistleblower from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints appeared on 60 Minutes Sunday evening to discuss the alleged misuse of church tithing funds.
In 2019, David Nielsen, a former employee of The Church’s investment firm, Ensign Peak Advisors, complained to the IRS that the nonprofit misused billions of dollars in tithes — $100 billion to be exact.
On the CBS 60 Minutes show, Nielsen said he turned down a job opportunity on Wall Street to work for Ensign Peak because he wanted to help “change the world.”
However he said instead of seeing charity work as he had anticipated, he saw “a clandestine hedge fund,” saying, “once the money went in, it didn’t go out.”
Nielsen explained The Church receives around $7 billion yearly from tithing, $6 billion of which is used to pay for buildings and church programs. The remaining $1 billion goes to the investment firm, Ensign Peak.
The interviewer, Sharyn Alfonsi, said some estimates place that fund as high as $150 billion, however, Bishop W. Christopher Waddell who spoke in the interview said he could not confirm nor deny the estimate.
Nielsen said many Ensign Peak employees believe the funds are set aside for the Second Coming. Wadell said the money was not for the Second Coming but to continue church operations into the future.
Nielsen reportedly sent a 74-page letter to the IRS alleging the stockpile and misuse of the tithing money. Nielsen said hundreds of millions were used to bail out businesses with church ties....
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