Mormons are often financially successful, I believe, because they are ruthless and amoral when it comes to business dealings. They don't think twice about ripping people off, as long as they don't drink coffee or say Goddamnit.
Some examples from Morg I grew up with...

At one time it was a former Mormon Bishop (and my former seminary teacher), the late Randy Shipley, who had the largest personal bankruptcy ever recorded in California.

Another Member of the Church (Mission Viejo Stake) ran a HUGE insurance fraud in the 80's where as a broker, he took money but didn't buy coverage. Many people faced medical catastrophes with no coverage because of that worthy Priesthood holder.

Third member of Mission Viejo Stake with a HUGE mansion, fancy cars and all the trappings went to Jail for fraud.

My former Fiancé's Dad went to Jail for fraud also. He was a bishop a couple of times up in Happy Valley.

I was only LDS until 1988, and yet the vast majority of felons that I have met in life were Mormon.

There are rather a lot of Mormon grad students at top flight universities in the US, so clearly all Mormons do not become successful through fraud.

But they do seem to end up in the news for fraud in numbers higher than you would expect for their share of the population. SLC is the smallest city in the nation with i's own Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) fraud investigation office, and it does not lack for work.

Mormons are trained from birth to lie about what they know to be true, in ways large and small. Is it any wonder at all that they tend to breed sociopaths? I'm amazed at how many still do have a functioning conscience.

And the vast majority of felons I've arrested during my life were not Mormon.

I don't see any direct correlation between either financial success or criminal behaviors to Mormonism.

You find successful people that are Mormon, and successful people who are not Mormon.

You'll also find "felons" who are and who are not Mormon.

If you lived in a predominantly Catholic region, you'd find Catholics preying on each other just as you do Mormons preying on each other here in Utah.

+1

Catholics in Utah have "seige mentality" and are a vibrant, loyal bunch. So are the Greek Orthodox and Christian Fundamental religions. Very healthy and remarkably free of affinity crime in Utah.

Why? They have to be a good example to the Mormons. I was a private detective in Utah specializing in white collar crime and Mormon on Mormon was the most common by far. In fact, I never had an affinity crime case that wasn't a Mormon.

In my own personal experience --everyone who cheated me out of wages in Utah was Mormon. The non-Mormons and other religions seemed to have some ethics. I got the feeling that Mormons kind of thought it wasn't really a sin to screw over an apostate.

Maybe you had a different experience.

Anagrammy

Big city Catholic politicians in the Great Lakes Region and the Northeast are some of the crookedest people on earth. I don't know what San Francisco is like. Louisiana is another place that is as crooked as they come and full of Catholic pols. When you are the dominant religion, the power that comes to you causes a lot of corruption.

I think out here in certain parts of the west you find lots of wealthy mormons simply because they got here slightly ahead of the rest of the westward migration. Mormons grabbed up alot of property and set up alot of infrastructure in these areas. That wealth has grown over the generations and set alot of famlies up for prosperity and recognition in thier communities. I doubt this is so in all cases but I know it is the case in certain lines of my own family as well as others we have been connected to since the four corners began to be populated with non Natives.

I have noticed that many of the ward members are upper middle class in my Ward. I am a blue collar worker so I don't fit well with many of the members in the ward.

Mormons pride themselves on being wealthy. Mormonism teaches that if you are righteous, you will be wealthy because of God's blessings. Many members work extremely hard to get that money and live the life of affluence... hey the GAs do!

I notice that Stake Presidents and up always make at least six figure incomes. TSCC is a church of appearances and a church that is of this world.

This post got me thinking about a nasty individual called Douglas McCoy who we encountered years ago in New Zealand when we lived there. He was a cheap con-man and compulsive liar who fleeced a great deal of people with his "smooth" talk and supposed "charm"...I googled him out of curiosity today after years of trying to forget him and boy what a shock! He is still absolutely full of it even claiming to be chased by a London based Mafia trying to harm him...Talk about a God-complex! Still full of his own sense of self-importance!
We encountered many mormon cons and con-people to meet the demands of many vulnerable and desperate members only too willing to believe them because they were held up as "righteous priesthood holders" by the hierarchy. Its pretty obvious that his self-imposed status as Mr Successful and Mr Hard-done-by is a twisted, narcissistic attempt to win admiration. I felt sick.
In countries like Australia and NZ, where the membership is predominantly lower-socio economic, people like him thrive. Anyone with half a brain (say for instance has a degree) is immediately put on a pedalstool making it very easy to abuse such opportunity for influence.

SL Tribune
Utah officials say they are currently investigating cases in which 4,400 people have lost as much as $1.4 billion.
"A rough estimate is that half of the fraud being investigated in Utah involves affinity fraud among LDS members."


Val Southwick Ponzi Scheme - Bishop
.......................................................
Shawn Merriman Ponzi Scheme- Bishop
..........................................................
Anthony Vassallo "In California, the SEC said Vassallo told investors, many of whom he met in church, that he had developed a software program that allowed him to buy and sell options that generated profits of 3.5 percent a month with little risk."
.....................................................

Kleenmaid collapse - " What's more, chairman Andrew Young and his brother Brad were Mormons and that added to their image as upright and ethical members of the community."
..............................................................

Mortgage Fraud - Sentenced were Bradley Grant Kitchen of Provo, David R. Bolick of Sandy, Steve Wells Cloward of Orem, Ron K. Clarke of Provo, and Jeffery David Garrett of Provo.......... The men were indicted by a federal grand jury in 2007 on charges they conspired to create a multimillion dollar mortgage fraud scheme involving a Utah County development that was originally thought to total $18 million in fraudulent loans.
................................................................
Ted James Johnson Jr-
Investors believed in Giles County businesses
People who gave money to Ted James Johnson Jr. said he seemed to know what he was doing......It was not the cost but the deceit that bothers him, Charles Wayne Gentry said gently from the witness stand Thursday in federal court in Roanoke.
He'd gathered his savings, sold his house and store and counseled his wife and brother-in-law to put in their inheritance -- $724,000 in all -- only to see the money disappear in the collapse of Mountain Investments and Dogwood Farms, two businesses run by a pair of Giles County financial advisers indicted last year on 42 charges tied to securities fraud....
Johnson's investors included fellow Mormons from Giles County and beyond, teachers and university professors, and businessmen.
..........................................................
A major Utah investment fund has collapsed, leaving more than 268 creditors owed $168 million.
Of that total, investors in the Waterford Loan Fund from Utah and 19 other states are owed $100 million, according to preliminary figures compiled by a contract manager for the company and attorneys. Assets were listed at $40 million.
.......................................................
Leticia Avila -

"Leticia Avila used her LDS Church connections and the promise of cooperation from a high-ranking immigration official to con $4,000 apiece from undocumented immigrants attempting to get legal visas, according to more than two dozen affidavits from victims.
Many of the alleged victims say what is most upsetting is that they were betrayed by someone who preyed on their religious faith. They trusted Avila because she was a fellow member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Spanish-speaking branch in Millcreek. In some cases, it was a local church leader who suggested they talk with Avila about becoming legal. "
.............................................................
Rick Koerber

"Federal prosecutors on Tuesday accused an Alpine man of defrauding investors in a multimillion dollar real estate scheme.
U.S. Attorney Brett Tolman said Rick Koerber collected more than $100 million from investors but spent much of it on expensive cars, restaurants, movie making and his own housing. Tolman announced a three-count indictment of Koerber on Tuesday.
The number of victims, most of whom live in Utah, could be in the hundreds, said Tolman. But investigators have yet to determine which of Koerber's investors are "purely victims" and who may have "facilitated the crime," he said.

Koerber, who dubs himself a "Capitalist, Mormon, Dad" on his Web site, could not be reached for comment Thursday. Koerber was an ardent backer and donor to the school voucher movement in 2007. "
.............................
New York Times article on Daren Palmer, faithful Mormon in Idaho Falls, who agreed this week to plead guilty in a $78 million dollar scheme where he conned his family and his fellow Mormons.
http://is.gd/inUQmH
.....................................
SALT LAKE CITY -- A Lindon man suspected of orchestrating a Ponzi scheme and defrauding investors out of more than $18 million pleaded guilty to wire fraud in federal court on Thursday.

Jeffrey Lane Mowen, 48, entered the plea as part of a deal with federal prosecutors. In exchange, prosecutors dropped two additional charges of wire fraud, as well as charges of solicitation to commit a crime of violence, tampering with a witness and retaliating against a witness.

Melodie Rydalch, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney's Office in Utah, said though Mowen will be sentenced later, his penalty has already been determined.
--------------------
Wayne Ogden from Ogden, Utah. Active LDS at time of multi-million dollar ponzi scheme.
--------------------
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filed a securities fraud lawsuit last month against Salt Lake City-based Art Intellect Inc. and its three principals, Patrick Merrill Brody, Laura A. Roser, and Gregory D. Wood.
In its original complaint, the SEC says Art Intellect, which operates under the name Mason Hill, collected more than $2.5 million from about 75 investors since April, 2009.
Investors, who were allegedly asked to submit a deposit of $20,000 per property, reportedly were promised returns of 10 percent to 30 percent, with monthly net rental profits of $650 to $1,000.
SEC alleges that the funds were used for Mason Hill's operating expenses, as well as to pay for "lavish trips" and personal expenses for Mr. Brody and Ms. Roser. Funds from later investors also were reportedly used to buy properties and make payments to earlier investors.
--------------------
n March 23, 2011, it filed a complaint against Mike Watson Capital, LLC, a company based in Provo, Utah. The SEC also named Michael P. Watson, a resident of Mapleton, Utah, and Joshua F. Escobedo, a resident of Spanish Fork, Utah as defendants. According to its press release the SEC has alleged that Watson and Escobedo “raised more than $27.5 million from more than 120 investors through Mike Watson Capital’s issuance of promissory notes… Watson and Escobedo told investors that returns were generated by real estate investments, and backed by substantial equity and cash flow produced by company properties. In reality, the properties never generated sufficient income to cover investment interest or redemptions, and therefore investor returns were paid primarily from new investors’ funds.” The SEC alleged that the company owes more than $19 million in unpaid principal and interest on its promissory notes to investors, its real estate portfolio has tanked, and commercial banks have foreclosed on at least nine properties. This one looks pretty grim for the people who initially invested $27 million of their hard-earned money with these two Utah County guys -
-----------------------
http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/money/51503972-79/investors-clark-complaint-payday.html.csp
A Hyde Park man has been accused in federal court of orchestrating a Ponzi scheme under the guise of an online payday loan company.

The Securities and Exchange Commission on Friday filed a complaint in U.S. District Court against John Scott Clark, 58, and his businesses, Logan-based Impact Cash and Impact Payment Systems. The SEC alleges that between March 2006 and September 2010, more than $47 million was raised from 120 investors who were promised lavish returns for funding payday loans.

According to the complaint, Clark sold securities through both companies that totaled $47 million. About $4 million of that allegedly was raised for equity investments in the companies, while the rest came from investors who agreed to provide capital to the companies for payday loans.
---------------

Raymond P. Morris, 42, of Draper, conducted an unregistered offering and operated the Ponzi scheme “at least” between March 2007 and January 2009. The scheme defrauded “at least 90 investors” and was a Ponzi out of the gate, the agency said.Three other Utah men, including attorney Luc D. Nguyen, 40, of Draper, helped the fraud spread by conducting no due diligence, recklessly repeating assertions made by Morris as though they were truthful and coming up with their own lies to drive money to the scheme, the agency alleged.Also charged were James L. Haley, 49, of Draper, and Jay J. Linford, 49, of Orem.
---------------------
PROVO - The aftermath of a massive Ponzi scheme that may have affected hundreds in Utah County has turned into a nasty tangle of overlapping court cases.
The questions are as basic as who is a victim and who is a perpetrator. And the answers likely won't come any time soon.
Prosecutors last October secured a temporary restraining order from 4th District Judge Fred Howard freezing over $2 million in assets belonging to several people connected with the California payday lending company Money & More.
Prosecutors in April filed an array of securities fraud and money laundering charges against five people: Larry O. Bosh, of St. George; D. Shawn Benson, of Ivins, Washington County; Michael J. Smith, of Mona, Juab County; David Q. Poulsen, of Salem; and Gale Robinson, of San Jacinto, Calif., the owner of Money & More.
-----------------------------------
SALT LAKE CITY (AP)-

A Utah money manager accused of running a multimillion-dollar Ponzi scheme has pleaded guilty to a federal wire fraud charge in exchange for a 10-year prison sentence.
Jeffrey Mowen entered the plea in Salt Lake City's U.S.
udge Dee Benson set sentencing for April 15.
As part of the plea agreement, Mowen will forfeit any assets gained from the scheme, including 29 cars that were not sold at public auction.
Defense attorney Stephen McCaughey says in exchange for the plea, prosecutors agreed to drop a murder-for-hire charge.
Prosecutors contend Mowen defrauded investors of millions of dollars and tried to arrange the killing of four witnesses. He was arrested last April in Panama.
------------------------
Former secretary of Murray painting contractor steals $1.3 million
July 23rd, 2011 @ 5:04pm
By Dennis Romboy

SALT LAKE CITY - A former secretary for a Murray painting contractor funneled more than a $1 million in customer payments into a personal account, according to a federal indictment.

Pamela Jane Madsen is charged in U.S. District Court with five counts of mail fraud and four counts of money laundering. Madsen worked for Professional Painting Inc., where her duties included payroll, data entry and preparing checks for deposit.

Prosecutors say Madsen created an account at U.S. Bank in November 2007 under a slight variation of her employer's name. For the next three years, she deposited customers' checks totaling at least $1.3 million into the account for her personal use, according to the indictment.

Madsen credited customers' accounts on the company's books to make it look like they had paid their bills, according to the indictment. Some of the checks came from two of the state largest general contractors, Jacobsen Construction and Big-D Construction.

The indictment seeks to seize from Madsen two pickup trucks, a BMW sedan, two snowmobiles and homes in Bluffdale and Taylorsville.
------------------------------------
SEC: Two Utah County Men Ran Ponzi Scheme
Ballard Spahr partner Brent R. Baker is representing one of two Utah men accused in federal court of running a $27.5 million Ponzi scheme. Mr. Baker's client is accused of posing as a broker for a Provo-based business, according to a complaint filed by the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Mr. Baker said his client wasn’t aware that the business was running a Ponzi scheme and has been cooperating with the SEC investigation. He "is looking forward to putting this behind him," Mr. Baker said.
--------------------------

Utah Ponzi Scheme Revealed

His name is John Scott Clark, and according to the Securities and Exchange Commission, he’s a Ponzier. The Utah man and his two funds, Impact Cash and Impact Payment Systems, scored $47 million from gullible investors, including three hedge funds that should have known better.
------------------------
Provo councilman Steve Turley charged with felonies

PROVO -- After a year of complaints, doing their own investigation and raising Cain at Provo Municipal Council meetings, a group of citizens knew they were heard on Wednesday when the Utah County Attorney's Office charged Municipal Councilman Steve Turley with 10 second-degree felonies and his fellow elected officials asked him to resign.

The "exhaustive" official investigation from the Utah County Bureau of Investigations took into account complaints, Turley's activities on the Municipal Council and as a developer and landowner and a request from the city for an ethical investigation, although they only looked at possible criminal activity, not any ethical questions.

The evidence gathered supported seven counts of communications fraud, two counts of exploitation of a vulnerable adult and one count of a pattern of unlawful activity. This came a week after the group of 23 citizens again approached the city and asked for an investigation and the meeting itself devolved into mayhem.

ther charges dealt with a two-year court case about a million-dollar tract of land in Diamond Fork Canyon. According to the probable cause statements, Turley in June 2009 presented a copy of a check for $2.645 million to the attorney for Trudy Childs, who owns 2,500 acres in Diamond Fork Canyon; Turley represented that those funds were available to enforce a 90-day option he held to buy the property. The county investigator found that Turley did not have the actual check, and the owner of the funds did not intend to allow Turley to use the money. Turley sued Childs two years ago to enforce the contract; the lawsuit has been tied up in dueling paperwork ever since. Turley claimed that he gave childs a 90-day, $30,000 loan and she gave him an option to buy her property if she didn't pay him in 90 days. She didn't; he tried to exercise the option. Childs claimed that she only intended to give him an option on 80 acres of her property and that he falsified paperwork to get all of her land.
Several counts dealt with his property development. According to documents, in December 2006, Turley had a potential homebuyer sign a purchasing agreement raising the offer price of a home Turley was building to $265,000, but promised that the final price would still be $172,000. Turley then allegedly used the new agreement, absent the lower final price, to get an extension on a loan from the bank, which the bank would not have provided with the complete information.

In January 2007, while building two homes, Turley allegedly ordered cabinets for accessory apartments in the homes knowing that city zoning did not allow for accessory apartments, but told the potential homebuyers they were acceptable, which allowed him to charge more for the homes. He sold four of these homes; all later had financial difficulty and two were going through foreclosure.

Finally, in September 2007, a person moved into a home Turley owned, and Turley said he was going to deed the house to him. The documents state that deed was never recorded and couldn't be because Turley didn't have clear title to the home. He then listed that home as an asset in a loan application.
Turley was elected in 2003, re-elected in 2007 and is up for re-election this year; he is not running again. He is currently serving as a high council member in the Provo Bonneville Stake of the LDS Church.
Read more: http://www.heraldextra.com/news/local/central/provo/article_341120bc-b8a7-11e0-a5e9-001cc4c03286
------------------

http://www.statesman.com/news/local/austin-man-with-mormon-heisman-ties-faces-fraud-1709494.html?cxtype=rss_ece_frontpage

Much of the money Barton raised for Triton's investments was collected from fellow members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, or Mormons, whom Barton had met through his participation in the church. Detmer knew Barton through their shared membership in local Mormon congregations, as did former Houston Astro Jeff Kent, who said he considered investing with Barton but eventually backed out.

At one point, local Mormon leaders had even designated Barton an expert whom congregants could turn to with their financial questions.
As recently as two years ago, Kurt Barton traveled in a private jet and watched Longhorn football games from a luxury suite. He fraternized with former football stars, sponsored a professional golf tournament and donated tens of thousands of dollars to top state political candidates, including Gov. Rick Perry.

Now he works for a local document shredding company owned by his girlfriend. Court documents show he takes home barely $1,000 per month after making child support payments to his ex-wife, who divorced him soon after news broke that he had been accused of orchestrating a $50 million Ponzi scheme that took advantage of hundreds of investors across the country.

Salt Lake City Tribune reported today that Gov. Gary Herbert on Thursday pledged a crackdown on investment fraud in Utah where officials say they are currently investigating cases in which 4,400 people have lost as much as $1.4 billion.

He said the group is serious about prosecuting investment crimes and is launching an educational effort to keep people from being defrauded. Herbert called the problem “enormous” as he stood with local, state and federal officials who are members of the Utah Securities Fraud Task Force. “These kinds of fraud are things that we will not tolerate,” said Herbert at an afternoon news conference. “We are going to be aggressive. We are going to be proactive.”

“We believe the problem is bigger than these numbers indicate,” said McTighe.

James S. McTighe, FBI special agent in charge of the region that includes Utah, Idaho and Montana, said the federal investigative agency treats investment fraud “as a major issue here in Utah.” He said 370 potential scammers are under investigation in 115 cases.

The gathering of local, state and federal officials emphasized the prevalence of Ponzi schemes and affinity fraud. Ponzi schemes involve using monies from new investors to pay off earlier investors and make it appear an enterprise is prosperous. The officials described affinity fraud as a way of marketing bogus investments that involve members of a group who share an interest or relationship that makes them vulnerable to someone within the group attempting to scam them.

Affinity fraud is a serious problem in Utah because about 60 percent of residents share membership in one church, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

An Orem resident who asks that her last name not be used, Kaylene, said she invested $35,000 with a man who, like herself, was a member of the LDS Church. She said the man, identified in court documents as Terry Wayne Brown, caught her at an emotional time after her husband had died and used his church affiliation to convince her to invest without a contract or a receipt.

She described him as “a man from a really nice family, big home, new truck, nice clothes” who came to her with an investment that he said had changed his life.

“Then he told me he had been guided by the spirit to people who are struggling financially,” she said. “Then he said, ‘And I know I have been guided to you. I am here for your financial rescue.’ ”

Brown pleaded guilty last year to two counts of securities fraud and was sentenced to 90 days in jail and ordered to make restitution.

A rough estimate is that half of the fraud being investigated in Utah involves affinity fraud among LDS members.

i don't know if there's a correlation between mormons and money.

all i know if that i'm better off now than when i was in the cult. all of a sudden, i'm 10%+ richer and i have extra 10+ hours a week for myself and my kids.

plus ..i own myself...i'm happier than ever when i came out of the closet intellectually speaking. i have no shame, no guilt to piss off an invisible super human/alien for who i am.


that's priceless.


for everything else, there's mastercard.

However, I don't think mormons overall are more wealthy than than their counterparts.

... like all other mormon endeavors.

Timothy



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/25/2011 08:19AM by Timothy.

Remember....it's ALL about appearances!

Theres a huge drive towards professional jobs or office work. You dont just get a job you get a good job andyou make money. Musicyans and artists seem to only be able to keep such careers for a short time unless they are being used as an example. Most of the time any talent like that is kept to a hoby and because of timme its kept to a rather stricly controld church verion of a hoby.

you hear it when mormons find out about certain people and say 'why cant they get a proper job?' when they are I knot know store managers or not to bad workers but arnt being forced into boxes and conform.

The church does not want free thinkers even in the workplace.

Pressure to sucseed and to become sucsessful was very high. It wasnt just being driven and maybe wanting to get a good job and sucseed it was the fact I was expected to go from rock b ottom to a job i'm totaly unsuted for. It got to much.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/25/2011 09:26AM by blindmag.

interesting. it might be cultural/peer pressure then.


i don't think it's got to do with mormon doctrine as such (as "thou shalt be a ....")

But I do remember that Utah ranked near the bottom in millionaires per capita.

There is simply no way that members can give away 10% of their income, finance missions, support large families (with the large houses and cars required for that), and still come out ahead financially. There are no magic blessings for believing in a false religion.

I think they compensate to some extent by learning to pinch pennies (not tipping well at restaurants, shopping sales, reusing clothing, etc).

And many live beyond their means. I've told my kids many times not to judge how well somebody is doing by the house they live in, or the cars they drive. You never know what kind of debt they are carrying.

people are wealth for the most part because they work hard, make good choices etc. not because they rip others off

You familiar with this quote? "Behind every great fortune is a great crime."

That's true on smaller levels, too.

Whenever a wealthy person tells me, "I got rich by hard work," my standard reply is, "Whose?"

Because you can damn well be sure it wasn't their own.

a truly greedy individual

They are all poor as far as I'm concerned.

I don't think there is a higher % of wealthy Mormons than the rest of us. I think the majority of mos are middle class. There are few really poor mormons too. Mission Viejo is a rich part of Orange County so of course there are going to be rich mormons mixed in there.

I was wondering. what do you mean by rich? How much money do rich people have?

Four reasons on that question...
1.Greed
2.Greed
3.Greed
and finally...
4. They are in debt up to their eyeballs!

I do remember quite well that a few years ago, up in the Denver area that a Mormon bishop was defrauding his fellow Mormons. It was some sort of Ponzi scheme (usually are) and he went to jail for like 10 years, all his posessions were taken, house gone, art collection gone, boat gone, cars gone, etc,etc,. The wife divorced him, then she took the kids and moved to UT where she could have a support system with her fellow mormons. Last I heard she was working as a cashier at a convienence store.

Many of them are not actually rich, but wanna be rich.
Several are middle class and sometimes upper middle class.

Why? No matter what they say, in practice, they aspire to be rich, because it's part of the Mormon culture. Rich = righteous
Average or poor = unrighteous

But also because to be able to afford tithing, they know they have to make a x#%@$ load of money!

So not Biblical!

According to the new McMansions being built in our neighborhood, these rich Mormons are giants, because they need double doors, 15 feet tall to enter their house, and ceilings two stories high to make room for their swelled heads, 25,000 square feet and a 4-car garage for 2 adults, 2 kids, and a dog. Frightening!

True Believing Mormon's who become rich ascribe their success (at least in part) to their religious adherence. They are reinforced in this belief by being the people who get the serious and influential callings in the Church.

When poor people in the Church don't become rich they become disallusioned and leave/go inactive.

Richer people are more easily integrated in Mormon wards because they are seen as more likely to contribute to the workload and the finances.

I heard this via a sister of my estranged father, and only a little bit from him years later, that during is checkered, wandering career he spent some time in Utah defrauding Mormons in some way. He was somehow involved in a business making containers to hold skis in transit. That's all I know, but I found it interesting and remembered it when I saw the church advise members against affinity fraud.

a few leaders battled to be chosen to take the prophet Hinkley around when came out to West australia.

The one chosen was the most filthy rich that got the job to
pick him up from airport and sholfer him and his wife around
etc in a fancy car also.

The filthy rich leader paid the most tithing. I should know
I was the clerk and saw the cheque, end of year all in one tithing slip, over up to 2 half hundred thousand aust dollars
as contribution. He won the battle of the leaders who would
have the job of taking care of prophet when came over visiting,
put up hotel and personal one to one with prophet that became his personal friend....I should know the personal friend of prophet was my icon if ever I aspired to be rich but I would have to think like him compared to USA conservative republican
a neigbour and father type figure to me, who brought my son
down the street for his xmas present, a two dollar toy and
even personally delivered it how nice was that he he.....

Rich and snobby class but, a good man nevertheless did no harm
and was a nice lds neigbour.

larry.

Mormons are just easier to take from because they have a built-in trust mechanism.
The gospel teaches you that childlike faith (that is believing in fairy tales) is a good thing.
Mormons are conditioned to believe in fairy-tales throughout their lives, so instead of seeing a fairy-tale with a too-good-to-be-true wary eye, they more often think it's God pouring-out-a-blessing.
A had mormon relatives mortgage their house to invest with a church member of high standing in the church. They lost it all. I don't think it was a fraudulent investment, just a foolish one. They had to sell the house, wich they'd owned for decades.

Another factor is that mormons tie financial affluence to religious affluence...because the church does. There is a white-collar glass-ceiling from bishop on up, and mormons are conditioned to finacial affluence being due to exceptional wisdom.
Also, Mormons may see affluence as a way of benefiting the church. They feel more self-worth for paying more tithing, and I've heard TBMs say that they chose an occupation specifically to make themselves handy for the church (like dentists), not just in money, but in discretionary time and geographical discretion.
And, the pressure I felt to make more money when I was TBM came from having to to be a sole provider. My wife very much subscribed to the husband-breadearner and wife-mother paradigm, and whether implicitly or explicitly she pressured me to make more money.

Even so, I would say that flagrant fraud is the exception in Mormonism. I've seen plenty of Mormons shun political and financial come-ons at church.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/28/2011 10:43AM by amos2.

What I noticed was the special favors given amongst the brethren. In my city, many dental students are Mormon. I found out there is Mormon on the application committee who always gets 2 or 3 Mormons admitted every year. That person insures there is a pipeline of opportunity for no other reason than that person is a member of the church. It's called favoritism.

You guys are so funny. Ya, right, Mormons are rich because they:

1. Just appear rich.

or

2. Because they're part of a pyramid scheme or some other fraud.

Bullshit. Many are wealthy because they know how to manage money and value education. Don't muddy the waters with your personal vedettas against the morg.

So, then why do so many Jews appear to be wealthy lawyers, doctors, movie moguls and such?

Bwahahahahahaha!

Ron