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As Mormon church faces SIXTH lawsuit alleging leaders fraudulently misused member donations, does secretive religion face moment of reckoning?
A sixth lawsuit alleging the Mormon church fraudulently misspent member donations was filed in California last week, the fifth such claim since October
The first case was filed by the son of a Mormon billionaire, demanding a $5m refund, while the latest stated the church 'faced a moment of reckoning'
But legal experts have poured cold water over the claims, saying they smack of disaffected former members desperate for their money back
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13088735/mormom-church-lawsuit-leaders-fraud-donations.html
When movie mogul and son of a Mormon billionaire James Huntsman sued his former church for $5million over its alleged misuse of member donations, church authorities warned it could 'open the floodgates' for a series of copycat claims.
They weren't wrong.
Earlier this month, the fifth such 'copycat' lawsuit filed since October thundered down on the desk of church leaders in Salt Lake City earlier this month.
Gene and Michelle Judson, a Mormon couple from California who have both been members of the church for more than 50 years, effectively accused their once vaunted leaders of lying to them about how they spent $40,000 of their hard-earned cash.
It joined similar complaints filed in Utah, Illinois, Tennessee and Washington over the past six months, sparking the couple's attorneys to declare that the church now faced 'a reckoning in a multitude of jurisdictions'.
Certainly, with the church now on the hook for multi-million pound payouts to once loyal members accusing it of fraud, it does not appear an overstatement.
But legal experts have questioned the validity of their claims, with one suggesting they smacked of disaffected members desperate to get their money back.
Sam Brunson, a Mormon and tax law professor at Loyola University, said he was 'skeptical' that this was the church's judgment day.
Meanwhile, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS), commonly referred to as the Mormon church, has dismissed the complaints as 'baseless'.
The claims all assert that the church fraudulently misrepresented how it was spending member donations, known as tithes.
They allege that ecclesiastical leaders, including former President Gordon B. Hinckley, made statements from the pulpit that tithing was only used for specific religious purposes.
In fact, the church spent $1.4billion in tithing funds on City Creek Center, a luxury mall in downtown Salt Lake City, the lawsuits state.
The spate of filings was triggered when, in August, an appeal court overturned a decision to dismiss Huntsman's $5million claim against the church, originally filed in 2021.
Huntsman, the son of billionaire philanthropist Jon Huntsman, claimed the church was 'in dire straits' as followers were 'fleeing' the church amid allegations of fraud in an exclusive interview with DailyMail.com in the wake of the decision.
His and the class-action suits that have followed all cite allegations by whistleblower David Nielsen, a former employee of the church's secretive investment arm Ensign Peak, who alleged the fund was spending member donations on City Creek.
They also lean on a decision by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in February last year to fine the church and Ensign Peak $5million for using shell companies to 'obscure' the size of its investment portfolio.
Their cases appear to hinge on a statement made in 2003 by then-President Hinckley, who Huntsman says used to fly on his family's private jet.
Hinckley insisted at the church's General Conference that tithes 'have not and will not be used' for City Creek, with the money coming instead from 'commercial entities owned by the church' and the 'earnings of invested reserve funds'.
Warehouse storing lithium batteries goes up in flames in France amid growing fears over their dangers
The warehouse in Viviez in Aveyron, France had 70 firefighters fighting the blaze
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13097815/Warehouse-storing-lithium-batteries-goes-flames-France-amid-growing-fears-dangers.html
A warehouse storing 900 tons of lithium batteries waiting to be recycled went up in flames this afternoon, amid growing fears over their dangers.
The fire in France occurred at a storehouse in the town in Viviez in Aveyron, and residents were told to stay indoors by authorities.
Locals were ordered to keep their doors and window closed as the thick smoke engulfed the town. No injuries or deaths were reported.
While the cause of the fire has yet to be confirmed, it took 70 firefighters to get the flames under control.
Lithium batteries, found in e-scooters, are the fastest growing fire risk in London, with the London Fire Brigade called to an e-bike or scooter fire once every two days on average last year.
The fire in France has once again raised questions around the use and safety concerning the batteries.
Jean-Louis Denoit, the mayor of Viviez, called the fire 'shocking' and told French news outlet BFMTV: 'There is indeed reason to ask questions about the function of electric vehicles and lithium batteries.'