Judge grants an order to suspend FLDS trustees
Fiduciary is appointed to track any improper financial dealings
 
By Linda Thomson
Deseret Morning News
 
Third District Judge Robert Adkins on Friday granted a temporary restraining order suspending the trustees who oversee a special trust owned by a polygamist church and appointed an independent financial supervisor to track the trust's assets.

Adkins' actions were in response to arguments from the Utah Attorney General's Office regarding assets of the United Effort Plan, a trust owned by the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

The polygamist group is based primarily in Hildale, Utah, and Colorado City, Ariz., with a new compound being built in Eldorado, Texas.

Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff has voiced concerns that the church's leader, Warren Jeffs, and five trustees handling the funds may be shedding trust assets below market value, which would not benefit all church members. Shurtleff said this court action is needed to protect church members.

The value of the trust is unknown, although estimates are between $100 million to $200 million.

"Most of the real estate appears to be related to the homes of individuals (who are members of the church). I don't know what is left in the trust right now," said assistant attorney general Timothy Bodily.

The judge appointed Bruce Wisan as a special fiduciary on a limited basis to trace and recover any proceeds from the trust that may have been improperly liquidated.

Adkins also scheduled another hearing on June 6 to decide whether the temporary restraining order should be continued.

Another hearing on June 22 will focus on a petition filed by the attorney general seeking the removal of the current trustees and the appointment of a special fiduciary who would have full authority to handle the trust's assets.

Jeffs has been named in three civil lawsuits, including one filed by a nephew who alleges that Jeffs sexually molested him when he was a young boy in a church-owned school. Jeffs has denied the allegations through an attorney.

Jeffs is regarded by FLDS Church members as a prophet, but he also has been the center of controversy involving such things as the excommunication of a number of male members, reassignment of their wives and children to other men and confiscation of their houses.

Church members who created the trust gave their property to the church for the communal good.

Meanwhile, Salt Lake attorney Brian Barnard said the state's intervention in this situation sets a dangerous precedent that violates the First Amendment.

"The government should not be involved in policing religious groups in the use of their consecrated funds. We don't want the government dictating to religious entities how they should manage or spend their assets," Barnard wrote in a letter to the editor to the Deseret Morning News.

Bodily disagrees with Barnard's assessment, stating that it's well established that the attorney general's office has the authority to represent the public interest in such trusts, including this one, which the Utah Supreme Court declared to be a private trust.

E-mail: lindat@desnews.com
 
deseretnews.com
Originally published Saturday, May 28, 2005
 
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