Financial troubles threaten polygamist's power grab

By Daphne Bramham Vancouver Sun

Canada's millionaire polygamist Winston Blackmore is in financial trouble. And if financial problems alone weren't enough, they could thwart Blackmore's efforts to regain a leadership role in the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, a sect of the Mormon church. Although Blackmore has been excommunicated by the FLDS, he continues to minister to close to 500 former FLDS followers in Bountiful, B.C., and hundreds more in the United States. He also controls Mormon Hills School, an independent school that is eligible for $342,140 in provincial government grants this year. Mounting debts have already forced the former bishop of Bountiful to sell, transfer and even forfeit more than $3 million worth of property -- nearly half of all the property he owned personally or through companies just a year ago. And there's another deadline looming. A B.C. Supreme Court justice has given Blackmore, J.R. Blackmore & Sons Ltd., his brother, Richard Guy Blackmore, and two half-brothers, Richard William Blackmore and David Kevin Blackmore, until Oct. 25 to repay the $1.03 million owed HSBC on July 25, 2005. Blackmore is president of the company. His brothers are directors. But they don't just owe HSBC $1.03 million, the interest is mounting at $202.75 a day. If they can't repay the money, the court's order will allow HSBC to seize and sell two pieces of property in Lumberton, just outside Cranbrook that have an assessed value of $1.45 million. With the exception of the birth of his 100th child, 2005 started badly for the Blackmores. Unable to pay the $109,619 that had accumulated over four years in unpaid taxes and penalties, Blackmore was forced on Dec. 30, 2004 to forfeit to the B.C. government a $1.22-million property in Cranbrook owned by Kootenay Wood Preservers. Winston Blackmore is president of Kootenay Wood Preservers and his brothers are all directors. In January, the Alberta Court of Queen's Bench in Medicine Hat issued a default judgment against Winston Blackmore after the Community Credit Union filed a foreclosure motion against him for failing to pay the $5,153 he owed. And in addition to all these problems, Blackmore owes $4,538 in 2005 taxes for five pieces of property in the Creston area, which have a total assessed value of $837,900. The debts are piling up even though Blackmore has sold $1.97-million worth of property since December 2004 including 664 acres of farmland in the Creston Valley. The largest single sale of $850,000-worth of farmland was more than the $710,000 that Blackmore Farms Ltd. had paid for the property in 1999, but the interest rate on that property's mortgage was 18 per cent. In April he sold his sisters Miriam and Nesta Marlene Palmer a duplex in Bountiful at the assessed price of $286,700. (Marlene works as the office manager for Blackmore and his companies and has been an outspoken defender of Bountiful's polygamous lifestyle.) In May, Blackmore Farms Ltd. (of which Blackmore is president with his brothers as directors) sold farmland to Winston's sons Jake and Hyrum Blackmore for $160,000 -- $107,000 less than the assessed value. Blackmore has also transferred Prairie Holdings Ltd. to Jake and Hyrum along with that company's debts and J.R. Blackmore and Sons' contracts to cut wood for Tembec Industries. It seems that not paying property taxes runs in the family. Miriam and Nesta Marlene Palmer didn't pay their 2005 taxes and owe as much as $2,750 if they aren't eligible for the home owner grant. Don Blackmore also hasn't paid the 2005 taxes for the mobile home in Bountiful that he bought from Winston for $400 less than the assessed value of $36,000. Blackmore's financial problems were brought on by a split in the Bountiful community over the leadership of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. About half the community chose to follow Warren Jeffs, who took over as the prophet and president three years ago. Half stuck with Blackmore. But as a result of Blackmore's ex-communication he lost about half his workforce both at the farm and in the logging operations because Jeffs told his followers to have nothing to do with Blackmore and other apostates. The upheaval in the FLDS has been so severe that the Utah and Arizona governments have stepped in to protect the church's assets. A Utah court has appointed an interim trustee to administer the church's trust fund, the United Effort Plan, which has an estimated $100 million US in assets, including most of the property in Bountiful. The court is now seeking permanent trustees who come from the FLDS community. And Winston Blackmore has been one of the people lobbying hard to be appointed. Blackmore was bounced from the UEP board shortly before Jeffs ex-communicated him in 2002. But Jeffs has problems of his own. He has been indicted by an Arizona grand jury for conspiracy to commit sexual conduct with a minor and is on the FBI's most wanted list for fleeing prosecution. Jeffs is also the defendant in two civil cases in Utah involving sexual abuse of his nephew and physical and emotional abuse of a number of other boys who he ex-communicated and had tossed out of the twin cities of Colorado City, Ariz. and Hildale, Utah. Since Jeffs' legal problems, Blackmore has been cozying up to the attorneys-general in Utah and Arizona and giving them information about Jeffs. He's also been spending a lot of time ministering to the 200 or so other men and their families ex-communicated by Jeffs, positioning himself to replace Jeffs. Being appointed as a UEP trustee would give Blackmore more influence and control not just in Bountiful but among the much larger American community of fundamentalist Mormons. But Blackmore's financial problems could end that dream. Utah Judge Denise Lindberg has asked that all potential trustees submit financial reports before she makes a decision on Oct. 25 -- the same day as the deadline for repayment of the $1.03-million-plus owed to HSBC. She wants to make sure that they aren't seeking the position as a means to enrich themselves. Lindberg has also given Bruce Wisan, the UEP's court-appointed interim trustee, broad powers to ensure that property taxes due this fall will be paid even if it means selling assets. So, it's unlikely the judge will look kindly upon Blackmore's financial problems or his failure to pay his property taxes -- even if it is in another country. But if Blackmore's problems may have consequences in the United States, here politicians and bureaucrats don't seem to be paying much attention. The B.C. Education Ministry is poised to transfer $68,428 to the Mormon Hills School Society's bank account on Oct. 31. That's one-fifth of the $342,140 the ministry will transfer to the school this year under the per-capita funding arrangement set out in the Independent School Act. The society's directors include Winston Blackmore and Richard W. Blackmore, who is not only the school's principal but also a director of both J.R. Blackmore & Sons and Kootenay Wood Preservers. dbramham@png.canwest.com THE DECLINE OF A $6-MILLION POLYGAMIST: A year ago, Winston Blackmore's net assets -- personal and corporate -- were $6 million. Today, he's struggling to pay off his debts and his financial problems may mean that his aspirations to play an influential leader in the 10,000-strong Fundamentalist Church of Jesus of Latter Day Saints may come to an end. Forfeited to the B.C. government for unpaid taxes $1.22 million worth of land and property in Creston where he was operating Kootenay Wood Preservers. Foreclosed: The B.C. Supreme Court has given Blackmore, his brother and two of his half-brothers until Oct. 25 to repay the $1.03 million they owed HSBC in July. But that amount keeps on growing with interest calculated at $202.75 per day. Foreclosed: The Alberta Community Credit Union went to court in March in Medicine Hat to gain title to a piece of property for which Blackmore had failed to pay $5,153 owing on the mortgage. Money owing: Blackmore owes the B.C. government $4,583 in 2005 taxes and penalties on six rural properties assessed at $837,900. Transferred: Blackmore's J.R. Blackmore & Sons Ltd. transferred lucrative logging contracts with Tembec Industries after Petro-Canada won a court order in 2004 against Blackmore for failing to pay the bills to Prairie Holdings Ltd. Blackmore had been president of that company until he transferred control to his sons Jake Blackmore, Hyrum Blackmore and Brigham Shane Palmer along with Prairie Holdings debt. Sold or transferred: $1.97-million worth of property including 664 acres of farmland, a grain elevator in Creston, grain storage bins, two duplexes, two mobile homes in and near Bountiful and a single-family home. Sources: B.C. Supreme Court documents, Alberta Court of Queen's Bench documents, B.C. Rural Taxation Office, B.C. Assessment, B.C. Land Titles., Vancouver Sun

Vancouver Sun Originally published Friday, September 23, 2005

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