Attorney General tries to wrest UEP Trust from polygamist church
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The Utah Attorney General’s office on Thursday asked a court to freeze the assets of a southern Utah polygamous sect’s trust fund and replace its top leaders – including church President Warren Jeffs – with an independent third party. The state is seeking the immediate suspension of Jeffs’ authority, along with that of five other trustees, over the trust fund for the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. The trust, called the United Effort Plan, controls church property and assets – which include church members’ homes and land. The trust has been estimated to be as much as $100 million but no one knows for sure, Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff said Thursday. Church members formed the trust during the 1940s, willingly turning over their property to the church, so that all could share in the community’s assets. More : signonsandiego.com |