Here's why a member of a prominent Utah political family is suing the Mormon Church for fraud

On Tuesday, Slate reported on a new fraud lawsuit brought against the Mormon Church by a prominent member of a powerful family in Utah.

"James Huntsman, the brother of former ambassador, presidential candidate, and Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman and a member of a wealthy and influential family, filed a federal lawsuit against the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on Tuesday," reported Molly Olmstead. "He alleged that the church, widely known as the Mormon Church, had defrauded him of millions of dollars in donations by misleading him into thinking his money would be spent on charitable causes."

The lawsuit centers on the way that the church spends the tithes of its members — based on a whistleblower complaint reported by the Washington Post last year alleging the church has a $100 million slush fund of congregants' tithes that it uses to illegally bail out private companies.

"Tithes are a fairly common concept among religious institutions; the Mormon Church just seems better at encouraging its members to pay their share, and better at keeping track," said the report. "Around the end of the year, church members are meant to declare to the church whether they are tithe-paying, or only a partial or non-payer. Those who aren't tithe-payers are not given access to the temples, where the more secretive and sacred religious events happen. The money from the tithes, the faithful are told, goes to the church's operating costs, as well as missionary work, charity, educational institutions, and the building of temples."

"According to the Post's 2019 report, the church was accused of using some of their tax-exempt donations improperly in support of a church-run insurance company and a shopping mall jointly run by the church and a real estate company," said the report. "Huntsman's lawsuit refers back to that report, accusing the church of lying about the use of his donations and 'secretly lin[ing] its own pockets by using the funds to develop a multibillion-dollar commercial real estate and insurance empire that had nothing to do with charity.'"

"Many ex-Mormons, as they call themselves, include the vastness of the church's wealth when discussing their reasons for leaving," said the report. "To such critics, the institution fell victim to greed and then lied for years to its members."

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