I was reading the thread about David George McConkie, a lawyer from Colorado Springs, who is currently charged with sexually assaulting a minor over many years:

https://www.exmormon.org/phorum/read.php?2,2490253

I'm sure that most board members naturally wonder if David is a relation of the former Mormon apostle Bruce R. McConkie, author of "Mormon Doctrine." In search of a possible link (since confirmed by Eric K. on that thread,) I read Bruce's Wiki biography. And I came up with this nugget (slight edits for readability:)

"In August 1960 McConkie, along with several other businessmen (including J. Thomas Fyans), formed the Memorial Estates Security Corporation (MESC), with a stated purpose of constructing memorial parks for deceased loved ones. McConkie became its Vice President. By September 1964, the company was failing, and in November, MESC filed for bankruptcy. McConkie, along with fourteen other MESC officials were sued by 270 stockholders and bondholders of the company, accusing the company of prominently displaying LDS Church affiliation to imply endorsement in initial sales pitches. The suit also accused the company of failing to register as an investment company with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission as required by law.

In a questionnaire sent to all investors, it was found that two thirds of all investors were elderly (ages 60-75), who had invested fifteen times as much as persons thirty years and under and four times as much as those in middle age. When asked why they contributed to the company, close to half mentioned trust in McConkie or other LDS Church leaders specifically. Further investigation showed that the company had failed to pay dividends long before its collapse, and failed to inform investors of its insolvency. The case was settled out of court on April 25, 1969, three days before going before a jury trial."

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I'm not sure if this qualifies as affinity fraud, but McConkie and his business partners definitely used their LDS church affiliations and prestige to target elderly investors out of large amounts of money.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bruce_R._McConkie



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/16/2023 08:57AM by summer.

I was a relatively new member of the corporation having dinner with a professor (Mormon) at my school, when he commented he lost $35K in an investment touted by Paul H. Dunn. This was in the mid 70's. That should of alerted me immediately of problems in this organization. I did not know the phrase 'affinity fraud' at the time. The professor was promised 35% annual returns which would help him pay for missions and education for his children. At least that was marketing pitch. I was uncertain if he was trying to warn me or just expressing grief after losing so much money.

The public schools are asked to do too much as it is, but in our modern society, knowledge of investments is essential education for everyone. Anyone with even a rudimentary understanding of finances would know that a promise of a 35% annual return is neither realistic nor sustainable. Even the stock market as a whole has only given a return average of 7% annually. While some professional portfolio managers can beat the market, no one can promise that they can continue to do so.

A promise of a 35% annual return should ideally raise a red flag for anyone.

It makes me wonder what Bruce R. McConkie and his associates promised their investors.

The biggest thing that most people never learn about investments (and this applies outside Mormon circles as well) is that the greater the reward that is promised, the greater the risk that the promise will never be fulfilled. Mr. McConkie and company took advantage of the lack of knowledge of the relationship between risk and reward for their own (and possibly the LDS church's) personal gain.

Yes, it's a difficult concept. It also seems that McConkie's investment offering was in no way suitable for seniors, most of whom are well past the point where taking huge investment risks is advisable.

My mom was an intelligent woman, but even she never quite got the risk/reward concept. She was used to the high returns she was getting from CDs at the time, and when that went away, didn't understand why investments with similar returns were too risky for her. I tried to explain it over and over, but she never understood it. Unfortunately, an investment advisor took advantage of her lack of knowledge, and sold her an unsuitable investment that ended up losing a lot of money. I wish that I had known more at the time to give her better advice than this charlatan of an advisor (in retrospect, a mellow balanced stock and bond fund would have been perfect for her, along with her CDs.) He profited at her expense. She resented him for the rest of her life for cheating her out of her money.

Fyans was called as a General Authority in 1974, five years *after* his outing as a fraud. He was elevated to the Presidency of the 70 during 1976-85. They didn't even need to have their power of discernment to fail; the church named him as a top leader while knowingly aware of his scams. Mormon values hard at work, again.

Hmmm. Fraud might become a feature and not a bug when it comes to LDS leadership. The "honest to your fellow man" thing must be for the little people.

"The ability to fool 'some of
the people some of the time'
is seen by mormon leadership
as a real plus!"

--Yo Mama, Cello player to the stars

This is neither here nor there, but remember how church regional rep R. Dean Udy went to prison for affinity fraud? I believe he even died in prison. Anyway, that should have tipped smarter people off. But the church, as you might guess, just quietly disciplined him, and stuck another body in the position.