Posted on 05/02/2010 5:39:16 PM PDT by Colofornian
Southwick, Koerber, Hammons and Mowen -- a gallery of Utahns convicted or facing criminal charges for involvement in some of the state's biggest fraud schemes.
But the four represent only a sampling of the problem that has wracked Utah in recent years as the recession has pushed more schemes into the open.
Frustrated by the wave of fraud that by one estimate took $750 million out of Utahns' pocketbooks last year, regulators, law enforcement officials and attorneys are organizing a free "Fraud College" next month in Utah County for the public to call attention to the problem and to try to combat it.
But the one player that all agree has to lend its loud voice to the proceedings if they are to be as effective as possible will be largely silent -- the LDS Church.
This is Utah, after all, where The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints claims about 60 percent of residents as members. Beyond the numbers, there is the church's organization into close-knit local wards led by male authority figures where members' social and religious lives revolve around shared beliefs in the sacredness and uniqueness of their religion.
Those characteristics make Mormons vulnerable to what regulators and government investigators label "affinity fraud" in which groups who through shared associations develop bonds of trust that can be easily exploited by con artists. Though other faiths are similarly vulnerable, that is particularly true in the insular Mormon culture of Utah.
"There's this notion that if you pay your tithing and do what you're supposed to do, the windows of heaven will be open to you and God will pour you out a blessing such that there's not room enough to receive it," said Keith Woodwell, a church member and director of the Division of Securities, the state's chief investigator of investment fraud. "So it's very easy for someone who has [fraud] as their motive to use that doctrine and say, 'Look, you're a member in good standing and you pay your tithing and you're entitled to be blessed.' "
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Choosing not to participate » But the church, after initially signaling to organizers that it would be a key player in the fraud conference that is drawing representatives of other faiths, has chosen not to send a high-ranking authority to speak.
A church spokesman declined to say why it was not participating.
Mark F. Zimbelman, a Brigham Young University professor of accounting who teaches a class about how frauds are committed, will be the LDS member on the interfaith panel at the Fraud College. But he said will not be speaking for the church.
The church's decision is a disappointment for organizers, who wanted a strong LDS presence to send a message about safe investments.
"I don't think any church has done enough, including the Mormon Church," said attorney Brent Baker, a former Securities and Exchange Commission lawyer and a specialist in securities fraud cases.
Discouraged by the level of fraud in Utah and the inability of government to deal with the problem, Baker and fellow attorneys, state regulators and others saw the Fraud College set for June 30 at Utah Valley University in Orem as a way educate Utahns and give them the tools to evaluate pitches and make decisions about whether to invest.
The sessions will include an interfaith panel in which representatives of several faiths are scheduled to participate. But organizers saw the involvement of the LDS Church as crucial, given the level of fraud perpetrated in its ranks and what many perceive as its muted response to the problem.
"I think more needs to be done" by the church, said Francine Giani, a church member and executive director of the state Department of Commerce. "A couple of years ago we saw a statement that was read over the pulpit that I was happy about, but we should see more and we should see it often."
In a written statement, LDS Church spokesman Scott Trotter said church leaders have been warning members for years about the dangers of fraud and get-rich-quick schemes. "These messages have been delivered over the pulpit in General Conference, in official letters from church leadership, and in articles found in official church publications," he said.
Even without an official LDS presence, Fraud College organizers think they will still be able to put on a credible event. The one-day session will feature panelists speaking on various aspects of investing and on investment fraud. Gov. Gary Herbert will be the keynote speaker. Spokeswoman Angie Welling said the governor agreed to participate because he's concerned about the issue.
"Too often Utahns are very quick to simply trust those people in their inner circles, whether it's through church affiliation or any other social or recreational group," said Welling, adding that the governor will talk about the importance of research before investing.
Barbara Bowden knows the pitch all too well. She and members of her family invested about $1 million with a former LDS bishop, mostly because of his standing in the church.
"Bill Hammons reached a great deal of people in the church, and I know he did perpetuate the fact that he was a bishop or had been a bishop and that was first and foremost your reason for trusting him,"said Bowden.
Hammons of St. George is facing trial this year on 10 felony fraud-related charges for allegedly helping bilk dozens of people out of tens of millions of dollars. Hammons, who denies he knowingly participated in a crime, was the largest fundraiser for VesCor Capital, the entity associated with what appears to be the biggest financial fraud case in Utah history.
VesCor owner Val E. Southwick, who is serving a lengthy prison sentence for his role, displayed LDS symbols in his Ogden office, and was known to sometimes push his Mormon temple recommend across his desk at potential investors. Southwick has been excommunicated, the church confirmed on Friday.
State regulator Woodwell would like to see the church treat fraud as a violation of as sacred relationship.
"I'd love to hear a very clear statement that this is a relationship of scared trust that you have with your ward members, stake members," he said. "And to abuse this relationship of trust, to take advantage of someone financially, is not just a crime but that it is really a reprehensible and an egregious abuse of that relationship. And it should be treated in the same way the abuse of other sacred relationships are treated. It's just like spousal abuse or child abuse."
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Worst in the country » Fraud is a long-standing problem in the state, stretching back decades as it ebbs and flows, coming back each time with a vengeance, said James Malpede, who Leads the FBI's white-collar crime unit in the state. Utah has lost its ranking as the top state per capita in fraud but it remains a huge problem.
"I'd say per capita it is one of the worst in the country," said Malpede.
How bad? The agency is mostly limiting itself to investigating cases in Utah involving $20 million or more.
"Most of what we're working on is $25 million and up, and a lot of what we're working on is $100 to $150 million and more," said Malpede.
Attorney Baker said he came up with an estimate of the amount of money Utahns lost to big fraud schemes in 2009 based on cases in which charges have been filed and those he knows of where no actions have yet been brought.
"I did a rough calculation of Ponzi schemes I saw over the last year that came through Utah and I would say it was at least $750 million."
Mike Hines, chief of enforcement at the Division of Securities and a 20-year veteran of fraud investigations in Utah, said state and federal officials are limited in what they can do in educating people about how to avoid affinity fraud.
"As I step back as a regulator I look at it this way. If the trust within the affinity causes the harm, the affinity has some responsibility in helping us solve the problem," he said. "As regulators, we can't do it. We can't catch their attention."
The Fraud College is intentionally being staged in Utah County, which in the past decade or so has become a center for fraud in the state.
"There's a much higher percentage of cases in Utah County or that touch Utah County," said Malpede of the FBI, who was assigned to Provo for a time.
Rick Koerber, who has pleaded not guilty to 20 fraud-related charges in federal court, operated out of Utah County with an real estate investment operation the government says raised at least $100 million. Jeffrey Mowen also was a Utah County resident. He is in jail waiting trial on charges of fraudulently taking about $10 million of investor funds.
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Focus on Utah County » Officials say there are several reasons for Utah County's heightened profile. One is the growth of wealth over the past 20 years as the economy prospered before the recession and the corresponding rise in home prices. This left many would-be investors with the belief they had available funds that could return big profits.
Attorney Mark Pugsley, who handles securities cases and recently served on the advisory board for the Division of Securities, told about one man who was soliciting investments for Mowen in Utah County that is 77 percent LDS.
"They just used the ward list and went straight down and made phone calls to everybody. Next to each name where they successfully raised money they wrote a dollar figure in the margin," said Pugsley, who also blogs about fraud in Utah at utahsecuritiesfraud.com.
Two fraud-related phenomenon particular to Utah and more so to Utah County are the recruitment of returned missionaries into what turn out to be illegal activities and the creation of investment programs based on multilevel marketing models.
Returned missionaries often come back with enhanced communications skills and thick skins but in recent years have been met with fewer employment options because of the recession, Baker said. Other young people also are caught up in scams when they are recruited to raise money for businesses, he said.
"You have this 18- to 25-year-old segment that frankly is being recruited as lieutenants and ultimately perpetrators or perpetuators of the fraud," he said.
He would like to see the church debrief missionaries about the dangers of being caught up in a fraudulent activities as they seek employment after their church service.
Regulators say another type of fraud particular to Utah County involves multilevel marketing in which participants recruit others into an investment, who then recruit still others, with each level receiving a return from the investment of those recruited after them.
Plenty of companies use that marketing plan legitimately, but recruitment of people into some types of "business opportunities" within the multilevel marketing business model often crosses legal lines, and participants become victims and participants in the crime at the same time.
"In the securities industry you rarely hear of multilevel marketing of fraud programs," said state regulator Hines. "But [in Utah] we hear of them with regularity."
All of this fraud is taking a toll not just on individual Utahns but on the state's economy and its future. Millions of dollars have been drained that could have gone to legitimate businesses or even into relatively safe investments.
"All of those hundreds and hundreds of millions of dollars leak out of the legitimate investment system and just disappear," said attorney Baker. "That can't go to fund the company that has the next cure for cancer or the new clean energy company, nor can it go into safer market-based products like mutual funds."
From the article: But organizers saw the involvement of the LDS Church as crucial, given the level of fraud perpetrated in its ranks and what many perceive as its muted response to the problem. "I think more needs to be done" by the church, said Francine Giani, a church member and executive director of the state Department of Commerce. "A couple of years ago we saw a statement that was read over the pulpit that I was happy about, but we should see more and we should see it often." In a written statement, LDS Church spokesman Scott Trotter said church leaders have been warning members for years about the dangers of fraud and get-rich-quick schemes. "These messages have been delivered over the pulpit in General Conference, in official letters from church leadership, and in articles found in official church publications," he said.
From the article: Barbara Bowden knows the pitch all too well. She and members of her family invested about $1 million with a former LDS bishop, mostly because of his standing in the church. "Bill Hammons reached a great deal of people in the church, and I know he did perpetuate the fact that he was a bishop or had been a bishop and that was first and foremost your reason for trusting him," said Bowden. Hammons of St. George is facing trial this year on 10 felony fraud-related charges for allegedly helping bilk dozens of people out of tens of millions of dollars. Hammons, who denies he knowingly participated in a crime, was the largest fundraiser for VesCor Capital, the entity associated with what appears to be the biggest financial fraud case in Utah history. VesCor owner Val E. Southwick, who is serving a lengthy prison sentence for his role, displayed LDS symbols in his Ogden office, and was known to sometimes push his Mormon temple recommend across his desk at potential investors. Southwick has been excommunicated, the church confirmed on Friday.
But that doesn't seem to slow them down with 'solutions'
/johnny
When will the Lds church wake up and take a more assertive leadership role?
No church or state wants it’s minions financially educated. Too troublesome. Better they get fleeced ( by others of course ).
God is not Santa Claus. Where do they get this stuff? Not from the Bible.
I was one of the lucky young returned missionaries that was hired after college by Xerox Corporation in 1967. I was sent to the San Francisco branch in Mountain View California. I was able to ascend very quickly in the corporation because of the church training of selling concepts. Selling copiers was very easy. Ethics was another matter.
As a young manager I sought out and hired several RM’s because of the belief that RM’s were already trained to sell, which they were. Then I noticed a certain attitude that was sort of like the Romney approach which in my opinion lacks ethics. Seems like nothing matters but getting the order. I too had that opinion sorry to say. And as long as you bear fervent testimony everything is right. I left the church thirty years ago.
So the LDS Church teaches you salesmanship techniques without ethics? Why do they do that? I’ve never heard of any other religion that teaches sales.
Just saying that my perspective is slightly different than your question. If out of context you are asking whether ethics is an issue I would say that most likely the young ascending salesmen in the corporate world are doing everything they can to be accepted and use all the methods to make the deal. If their ethics differ and they need to fudge a bit they will.
Young Mormons are no different, however are way ahead of the game because of their ability to handle concepts.
The "milk before meat" video of a Mormon class, shows how Mormons are taught to sell their religion and avoid revealing truths at too early a stage to potential converts.
Many times you'll find someone with a background in one of the many non-LDS Mormon groups who wends his way into an isolated stake, and next thing you know he's sold millions of dollars of life and casualty insurance ~ and then he/she disappears!
Other times it's one of the fellows from the older (circa 1702 for post Scandinavian appearances) congregations flying under the name Church of the First born. (NOTE: do not rely on the SPLC definitions of these groups ~ they are so wrong on so many counts it's unbelievable ~ they want to restrict the non-Mormon related COTFB to just the 19th century Laestidians ~ which is bizarre).
Some COTFB frauds against LDS folks have been limited to the standard bad-insurance deal. Others are more serious. Warren Jeffs' family come to mind as probable COTFB types who moved in on some isolated but otherwise wealthy independent non-LDS Mormons and turned them into a regular gravy train for the Jeffs and a couple of other families under the title FLDS.
That deal was the rough equivalent of how Mr. Howell, calling himself "David Koresh" took over a small SDA (Seventh Day Adventist) denomination ~ one of his grandmothers claimed COTFB affiliation in the Tulsa area, and he endedup being taken out of business by Bill Clinton whose baby daddy was a member of another COTFB group in Arkansas (which gives you some links to REAL Gypsies and REAL traditional scams).
Isn’t this the Prosperity Gospel that many Evangelicals follow??...real question...saw some guy on religion TV talking about “seed money” and the like...magritte
That was my favorite. What was its title again?
Which Bible do you use? Mine says:
Malachi 3:10 "Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it."
You may interpret it differently, but the text is there...
It keeps getting pulled from youtube, but someone here has a link, perhaps Elsie.
(For the Mormons? Yes!)
And they got it direct from their founder:
"And if ye seek the riches which it is the will of the Father to give unto you, ye shall be the richest of all people, for ye shall hae the riches of eternity: And it must needs be that the riches of the earth is mine to give: (original LDS "Book of Commandments, Chapter XL, vv. 33-34 (Now D&C 38:39) (Joseph Smith, Jan. 1831)
"Awake, O kings of the earth! Come ye, O, come ye, with your gold and your silver, to the help of my people, to the house of the daughters of Zion." (Smith, D&D 124:11, 1838)
"And send ye swift messengers, yea, chosen messengers, and say unto them: Come ye, with all your gold, and your silver, and your precious stones, and with all your antiquities; and with all who have knowledge of antiquities, that will come..." (D&C 124:26, 1838)
For traditional Christians, it was more "Come all ye faithful" (Christmas hymn). For Smith it was, "Come ye, with ALL your gold and silver."
Yea, its the “name and claim it”, stuff. Disgusting.
Wow.
What are you talking about?
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