Posted on 06/14/2008 6:23:23 PM PDT by Gamecock
Through the years, convicted swindler Val E. Southwick had many things going for him as he convinced investors to part with their money, not the least of which was his standing in the LDS Church.
Yes, he was a convincing speaker, had 20 years of investment experience, controlled a web of 150 companies collectively known as VesCor and drove expensive cars to flaunt his wealth. But it was Southwick's ability to tout his faith to the faithful that cleared the way for him to make some of the deals that eventually cheated more than 800 investors out of as much as $180 million.
"We figured if the guy was active LDS it gave us a little more hope" that the investment was safe, said Ron Bishop, of West Jordan, who with wife, Molly, overcame initial doubts about Southwick and invested some of their retirement savings in one of his real estate projects.
"They played on it [saying] he's been in business 20 years. He's active LDS. He has been very active in the church, and we figure we're like all other LDS that got into it."
The deal has ended with it unclear whether the Bishops will ever get any of their money back, and today they're living on Social Security and a state pension.
They are not alone. Southwick's fraudulent trail tracked through 30 states and three foreign countries, according to court documents and state regulators. Along the way, backed by bishops and myriad connections throughout The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, he attracted investors to a Ponzi-like operation in which he paid money to some clients with funds that came from new investors. Investigators said he also used investor funds for personal purposes and lied to them about how secure their funds were, among other violations of securities laws, for which he was sentenced to prison last week.
Alicia Foutz, of Las Vegas, heard the calling in 2003. She was thinking about how to invest $55,000 in retirement funds and had been told by advisers she should wait for a time.
"So I prayed about it and I came to the conclusion I needed to talk to Bill Hammons." Hammons, now a St. George resident, previously had been bishop over Foutz's LDS ward in Las Vegas and was financially successful in real estate. "At the time, he was teaching Sunday school class and he really did portray himself to be an upright and above-board individual, totally and completely," Foutz said. "I felt he was a 100 percent gold-type person."
Over the next three years, Foutz ended up investing $1.3 million with Southwick through Hammons, for a promised 14 percent return. She sent the checks in notes that began "Dear Bishop." Looking back, she feels misled by Hammons, who Foutz said mentioned Southwick's LDS membership while convincing her she should invest.
Now, nearly 65, she is back to work for at least another five years, saving $500 per paycheck to pay for a new retirement. Hammons is the object of at least one lawsuit in connection with selling investments on Southwick's behalf and has been called by state regulators the single-largest outside seller of VesCor notes - perhaps as much as $52 million. He has been under investigation by state regulators for not being a licensed securities broker, and not disclosing to investors that he was receiving commissions and violations of state securities laws, but no state charges or civil actions have been filed.
Adam Dunn, an attorney in the St. George law firm representing Hammons, contends that his client never used his religious affiliation in connection with investments in Southwick's companies but that "he viewed Mr. Southwick as trustworthy because of Mr. Southwick's [LDS] affiliation."
Dunn also said Hammons denies allegations he violated state securities laws. Southwick and his attorney, Max Wheeler, declined comment for this article. In addition to Foutz, among the investors in VesCor was Hammons' companion on his LDS mission and other LDS members in his St. George neighborhood and Las Vegas ward.
Such associations are not unusual in the Mormon faith or other religions. Nor has it been unusual for the church to regularly warn its members about the dangers of shady investments, from the penny-stock scams of decades ago to more recent instances of investment fraud.
Warner Woodworth, a Brigham Young University professor in the Department of Organizational Leadership and Strategy, said there are many reasons for so-called affinity fraud, including a culture of friendship and trust.
In the LDS culture, despite admonitions from church leaders, he said a high value is placed on having big bank accounts, owning cars and houses, and being successful. This includes a belief that God blesses the faithful. "Middle-class Utahns who are active members of the LDS Church tend to hold this Protestant value that they are special, that God loves them more than others and that if they work hard they will have great material success," said Woodworth.
Some of his students say they aim to be rich by 30 so they can devote money and energy to their church. "I know of people who have met in the temple to talk about investments and felt they were inspired to put their money in a miracle mine up in Idaho," said Woodworth, who thinks there needs to be more educational emphasis on the realities of personal finance.
From Southwick's office in Ogden, strewn with LDS artifacts, state investigators said he often played the faith card while making his sales pitches.
"Southwick emphasized his membership and ecclesiastical roles in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints," according to a state investigative report. He "showed his LDS temple recommend, or mentioned its existence . . . all of which appeared designed to breed a sense of trust between Southwick and investors." Some members of the faith even supported Southwick when he was facing sentencing last week. Members of his ward, two former bishops and a former stake president wrote letters of support to the judge.
"In a particular church responsibility of mine over many years I observed with first-hand knowledge Val's Christ-like attributes in making other lives much better through his teaching, service and sharing of his means many times over," said one letter.
Although Southwick has been the target of lawsuits or securities investigations dating back to the mid-1980s, the president of his LDS stake in Ogden said he did not receive complaints about Southwick until a duped investor came to him last year. Mark Bischoff said he discussed the matter with an attorney for the church.
"The policy of the church is that if there are civil proceedings and civil actions, we chose to wait for that action to happen," Bischoff said. "So we didn't act immediately" on the complaint.
He and church spokesman Scott Trotter refused to discuss Southwick's current status within the church, but Bischoff said there had been discussions with higher-level church officials.
"There's been communication with those above me about the whole issue."
In March, about the time Southwick was pleading guilty to nine second-degree felony counts of securities fraud, the LDS Church issued a statement read in Utah wards that was prompted by "reports of fraud schemes and unwise investments." It called for members to invest with established financial institutions.
"We are also concerned that there are those who use relationships of trust to promote risky or even fraudulent investment and business schemes."
On a personal level and through the interconnectedness of the LDS community, Southwick's standing in the church was solid as recently as last year. Thomas S. Monson, who today is the president of the church, presided over the marriage of the Southwick's son, John David, on March 21, when Monson was a counselor to the late church president Gordon B. Hinckley. Monson also met with the family before John David Southwick's mission in 2004.
Ping
“They played on it [saying] he’s been in business 20 years. He’s active LDS. He has been very active in the church, and we figure we’re like all other LDS that got into it.”
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WOW, a mormon swindler...
Was his real name Joseph Smith ?????????
What Would Joseph Do. Is that what WWJD really means?
Even bright people get burned, witness the forged “Salamander” letters of a few years ago.
Why not
To the mormons, the false prophet Joseph Smith has more standing with God than Jesus..
And Jesus doesnt exist in the here after..
At least the moslems say Jesus was a prophet and a good man..
I take it you are a Muslim?
Jesus is Eternal... That means forever.
Jesus is Eternal... That means forever.
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And where will He be while the mormons are having their forever orgy ????????????
I’m not saying anything. The Protestant church is eat up with these people.
Why do mormons hate Christians ???
Why do you hate Mormons so much?
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Does Jesus hate mormons ???
And yet He speaks against their blasphemeous beliefs and warms us against false prophets like Joseph Smith..
Mormons do not worship Joseph Smith. They worship Jesus Christ. The name of the church is the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.
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And yet they have not doctrine of worshipping the Jesus of the Bible in the here after..
And they must go passed Joseph Smith to get into their version of the here after..that is blasphemy..
There is no mention of getting an OK from Jesus.
They will spend eternity wife swapping and making “spirit babies”..that is blasphemy and not Biblical...
Who knew?
The name of the church is the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.
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The name of my car is Cadillac but its really a Buick..
I take it you are a Muslim?
Who knew?
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OK
Who blabbed ??????
You should be banned.
I keep clicking her name and she's not banned yet. What are you waiting for?
The level of discourse here reminds me of why I decided against going on a Freeper cruise. LOL
My wife and I went on the last one and had a fine time.
Excuse me for butting in, but I thought it was necessary to get past Joseph smith to get into Mormon heaven, and/or to qualify for "godhood", or whatever you call it...
I thought it was part of his "revelation"?
From "Lightplanet, a mormon aplogetics site;
While speaking about our own dispensation, Brigham Young said that people of this dispensation will not enter God's Kingdom without the "consent" and "certificate" of Joseph Smith as a passport to entering where God and Christ are. Brigham Young then explained what he meant: "It is his [Joseph's] mission to see that all the children of men in this last dispensation are saved, that can be, through the redemption" (Journal of Discourses, vol.7, p.289).
The "passport," then, that people will need to enter heaven is the same as they have always needed, no matter what dispensation they lived in. To accept Christ is to accept his prophets: without the priesthood authority and inspired teachings of the Lord that have come through Joseph Smith, no one in this dispensation, living or dead, can be redeemed...
Must have his consent, and approval... hmmm... gotta get to the temple with my tithe... NOT!
Moses went to the Mountain, and came back without seeing God's face...
In John 1:18, the apostle wrote: “No one has seen God at any time.” In Exodus 33:20 God said to Moses: “You cannot see My face; for no man can see Me and live.”...
Yet, Joe Smith said he did what no other man can do, including all the OT prophets.? Excuse me, but I think I will consider Paul a prophet, and Joe Smith a farce! His life is a lie, and anyone that believes the Mormon lie will suffer for eternity. God does nor lie!
These cons with the fig-leaf of religion are just awful.
And they make some of the best episodes on “American Greed” on CNBC.
PiNg
Thanks for the pictoral “blast from the past”.
Here in Columbia, MO, Mr. Bakker (sp?) now is on Mediacom Channel 9;
I just see him occassionally when surfing the channels.
I think he’s got some gig down in Branson/Springfield area.
This truly of country of second (and more) acts.
To: fproy2222; restornu
PiNg
26 posted on Sunday, June 15, 2008 6:20:55 PM by Gamecock (The question is not, Am I good enough to be a Christian? rather Am I good enough not to be?)
I think Gamecock is looking for a conflict by calling us.
What do you think?
No, just wondering what your opinion of this is.
According to Mormons, Joseph Smith as an Apostle and Prophet stands at the gate much like Peter. And we also understand that Jesus is supreme judge and the way.
You may disagree whether Joseph Smith is an Apostle and will be there with Peter, but I find it interesteing that so many cirticize Mormons on a point of Doctrine, before consulting the Biblical teachings on that Doctrine that other Christians share.
Also The Septuagint properly translates the Hebrew phrase as δεδόξασται ἡ ὄψις, "his face was glorified";
That he spoke face to face is also in the Bible. So we have some scriptures that say he spoke face to face and some that don't. How do we reconcile seemingly contradictory verses?
Moses was transfigured so his face shone like an glorified angel. When he came down from the Mountain it was so bright he had to wear a veil to shield the glory of his face from the people.
IOW, God can effect a change on a mortal man, allowing by his condescension angelic glory to shine on his face, otherwise without the condescension of God he would be killed.
To insist that God doesn't have a mechanism or way to speak to man face to face contradicts the Bible and also puts constraints on the condescension of God.
We will agree or disagree on many things, but that is pretty well decided. Besides, John also had something to say about the subject! He may have some clue...
John 1: 6There came a man who was sent from God; his name was John. 7He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all men might believe. 8He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light. 9The true light that gives light to every man was coming into the world.[b]
10He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. 11He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. 12Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— 13children born not of natural descent,[c] nor of human decision or a husband's will, but born of God. 14The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only,[d] who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.
15John testifies concerning him. He cries out, saying, "This was he of whom I said, 'He who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me.' " 16From the fullness of his grace we have all received one blessing after another. 17For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. 18No one has ever seen God, but God the One and Only,[e][f]who is at the Father's side, has made him known.
Isn't God a spirit according to John 4:24?
>>> unless it is taken as allegory?
God is referred to as "God is love" and "God is light" as well. How much is allegorical or metaphysical (so to speak) I don't know. In the Mormon belief system spirit is "matter", it is also described as "intelligence". This religious belief system about the metaphysical nature of spirit and light is found in mormon scriptures and predates Einstien's link between light, energy and mass by a hundred years. But I don't claim to really knows what level of allegory or literality the scriptures use for each. Scientists can't figure out light as it has some properties of waves and some of particles.
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