In its details, Huntsman’s legal action draws on claims revealed in late 2019, when a former investment manager for the church filed a whistleblower complaint with the IRS, alleging the Utah-based faith had nearly $100 billion in accounts meant for charity work but not spent that way, with some of it instead used to pull church-backed businesses out of financial trouble. (Illustration by Christopher Cherrington | The Salt Lake Tribune) The lawsuit quotes the Mormon pioneer-prophet as saying: “If we accept salvation on the terms it is offered to us, we have got to be honest in every thought, in our reflections, in our meditations, in our private circles, in our deals, in our declarations, and in every act of our lives.” The $100 billion complaint and you bold-italicize stuff in your complaint, you’re not filing a serious complaint.” The 13-page lawsuit read more like a statement than a legal action likely to succeed, the law professor said, calling it “procedurally and factually deficient.”Īnd, noting some of the suit’s quirky language and presentation, Brunson added, “When you start your judicial complaint with a quotation from Brigham Young. “And if you later discover that they’re doing stuff with the money that you don’t like, you’re out of luck.” ”The general rule is when you make an unrestricted donation to a charity, it’s the charity’s money,” he said. Unless Huntsman’s tithing donations were made as a gift with explicit restrictions, Brunson said, he’s unlikely to have legal grounds to recover the funds. One legal expert, Sam Brunson, a Latter-day Saint and a tax law professor at Loyola University in Chicago, said the lawsuit lacked specifics and “isn’t going to answer anything.” Neither Huntsman nor his Los Angeles attorney, David Jonelis, responded to requests for comment. “Clearly, however,” the suit adds, “the LDS Corporation failed to treat Mr.

The suit states that James Huntsman “has the utmost respect for the members of the church, and likewise respects their beliefs and customs,” noting his devotion to leadership roles as a faithful Latter-day Saint “almost his entire life.”

He is the son of the late Utah industrialist-philanthropist Jon Huntsman Sr., who also served for a time as an area authority in the church. The 50-year-old Huntsman is the founder and owner of Blue Fox Entertainment, a film distribution company in Southern California. (Photo courtesy of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints)

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