Abuse of Authority and Tax Exemptions in the WT Organization

I will relay this as hearsay as I was not personally involved, but perhaps some of you can personally attest to such abuses for the apologists out there.
Even this "hearsay" was verified by another person who was involved to some extent.

This Spanish former elder told a two-fold story about abuse of authority and abuse of the tax exemption that WTS has.

Tax exemption- His story was about how, in the building of an Assembly Hall in Illinois, the people in charge of various portions of the project bought materials and automobiles with the tax exemption number given to them.  Among their materials and automobiles were materials and automobiles for their home and personal use. 

He then went on to describe the situation a double Kingdom Hall with six Spanish congregations found itself in.  The mortgage payments (to WTS) were killing all six congregations as they had many illegal immigrants and many minimum wage members.  They all figured that if each congregation could raise $20,000 all at once, they could pay off the mortgage and only have reasonable utility bills and the like to pay.  The members were told exactly what the money was for.  He said that children broke open their piggy banks and adults went into any savings they had.  They wrote down what everybody contributed and one congregation came up with the money and put it in a separate bank account in a couple of elders names, not part of the congregation finances.

As it turned out, only one congregation could do it.  So it wasn't going to be done.  If they didn't have all the money, ($120,000) there would still be a mortgage.  The one congregation held the $20,000 in that private account while waiting to see what might happen with the other five congregations.

When the C.O. visited, he went over the finances.  He said he wanted to see the account for the $20,000.  Nobody in that congregation had even mentioned the money as it was a private matter and hadn't been used yet.  It was apparent that somebody (theorized as an elder) in one of the other five congregations told the C.O. about the money.  The former elder telling this story said that he showed the C.O. the bank book and explained what it was from.

The C.O. wanted to hold onto the bankbook and contact WTS to see what should be done with the money.  The former elder telling this thought that the C.O. might actually have wanted to keep the money for himself as he was older and was known to have no savings and wanted to "retire."  That's just theory and I only pass it along because it was in the story.  Regardless, the former elder (not former at the time) told the C.O. this was unacceptable as the publishers were told what the money was for, and it was collected for that one reason, and it would only be used for that one reason.  The former elder actually had to snatch the bankbook back from the C.O.

The C.O. said he would have the elders removed if they opposed any actions he took, but he didn't say what he was going to do.  To be safe, the elders broke out their notebook recording who donated what, and the next day returned everybody's money to them.  Four of the elders (including our story-teller) went a bit far and announced from the platform that they were "renouncing" their elder status over the matter.  They wrote the WTS and said they would remain as elders until WTS decided how to replace them.  Many members wrote the WTS and stated their upset at the situation.

The story teller eventually had to call WTS because he heard nothing from them.  He was patched directly through to some arm of the Governing Body and this person on the phone was aware of the entire situation.  He was told that the four elders were "apostates" for what they did.  Our former elder left the religion over this.  (His story was in Spanish, interpreted to English.  I won't try to fill in any gaps that I don't have accurate understanding of- I don't know about judicial committees and Society interference.)  Some WTS people came to the congregation and interviewed members, asking them if the elders instructed them to write letters.  They concluded their visit with a harsh talk to the congregation and the four were officially removed or allowed to quit.  (I am not sure which- I think the story teller was not sure which.) 

The congregation no longer exists, but it did struggle on for a few years beyond that situation.  Our story teller told us this was the congregation with the most loving, caring reputation and had more members than they could handle at the time- hence their ability to raise the money.  I (OTWO) do remember, at the time, rumors about that Kingdom Hall and some financial problems with them coming about by some action of the elders, but the whole situation was over 10 years old at the telling of this story.  It was just rumors.  I actually pass that Kingdom Hall several times a month.  I don't investigate personally, but for a double hall, the small parking lot is full on Sundays but there is still plenty of street parking.  I don't see an overwhelming number of Spanish members coming and going from the building.  Our story-teller felt that several members went elsewhere because of the situation.

Thanks for sharing this OTWO. This has the ring of truth, I truly don't put anything past WTcorp. Hopefully, some of the elder or pubs close to that situation are on the JWN and can add or fill in the gaps.

Wow that second one is a heck of a story.. I believe it though

as for the first one.. no big. We did that up here when we were building both our assembly hall and our KH. Hell, I cant tell you how many tools I have bought with our congregations tax id from HD... some of them I did use at the site but they are mine and bought with my money.

Completely credible.  I ran into stuff like this as an elder and it made me sick.  Witnesses and the Society can be very greedy - which is why you keep hearing about financial fraud in the organization.

metatron

I thought it was very much full of the ring of truth.

The fellow telling the story commented about how the abuse of the tax exemption disturbed him because these were supposed to be people above such corruption, the truth.  He was clearly more upset by the second story, but I have to pass his conclusions on as theory.  He didn't know what would have happened to the money.  I loved how he said they immediately just returned it to the donators.

Not surprised at all.

I will bump once or twice then let it go.

This story sounds awfully familiar, I know I've read this somewhere before. I've been on so many websites though, I'd never be able to recall.

OTWO- How long ago did this happen?

  OTWO- Wow. What experiences those are ! Jeez. Isn't it sad how greed can come into play with these situations ? Many years ago I knew of a group of elders in my hometown who had a company called something like " Bankers Mortgage Exchange " and they got older witnesses , even Circuit Overseers and elders - a good number of people to invest their money in their company promising an increase to them. Naturally, if it's too good to be true- it probably is. Many witnesses got taken for a ride and lost thousands of dollars without being compensated back.  Awful situation. Yet many in the organization plod along and call that conduct " imperfection " as opposed to " criminal behavior ".  Thanks for sharing those stories. Peace out, Mr. Flipper

OTWO - So many similiar events like the one you described happen worldwide - thanks for sharing yours. The wbt$ really do take the lowly publisher for granted, worlds apart. Cheers Mattieu

Glad they gave it back to the publishers too.  

OTWO- How long ago did this happen?

The Hall was built about 1993 and this took place shortly after, say 1995.  It is a double hall on the near south side of Chicago (18th Street). 

Makes me think that the WTS knows how to 'play' Mexico government as evidence of the 'bribe' system of the past in that country.   Maybe part of why they closed the Central American branches and sent up to Mexico branch.  The WTS headquarters leadership have no conscience taking from the poor.

The C.O. wanted to hold onto the bankbook and contact WTS to see what should be done with the money.  The former elder telling this thought that the C.O. might actually have wanted to keep the money for himself...

I bet it would have ended up in the WTS' pocket.

I'll share something that happened in my area.  I'm copying this from previous usage.  I've edited it to try to condense it.

Three congregations shared one building and one was saving to purchase land and start their own building. There was a controversy over that even because the congregation saving to build a hall would not chip in on remodel costs to the existing building - costs that exceeded $200,000.

Then along comes the Circuit Overseer and he tells the congregation that has been saving money for a new building that they aren't going to get their own building. The lines for the city are going to be redrawn and a new congregation formed. Many in this congregation are going to be moved into the new congregation. The elders are told the best thing they can do is donate the money to the Building work and move on.

In the meantime, the hall that many of these folks will be moving into, shared with yet another congregation went up for sale and they hope to build a new hall themselves. So, many that move into this building will have lost the money they already saved and will have to start over saving.

And the RBC or the Society has said that the new hall for this congregation will be built will be in a certain part of town where no one wants to be. Over the last couple of decades, most of the JWs with the means have left the bad parts of town and the congregation with the hall for sale is down to about 60 people, all minorities and all poor. The Society wanted to redraw the lines, forcing more people into this congregation and forcing a new congregation to use the same hall, splitting expenses. But the hall and it's land is worth about half a million dollars. So they'll sell that, take some of the money and buy land. The new hall will be built in a poor part of town, a cheap cleared off lot somewhere. The members of the congregation will end up with a new mortgage to pay for the building, though the money made from the sale should pay for everything. Guess who gets the bulk of that half a mil?

What's amazing to me is that there are several real estate agents and mortgage brokers in this area who are JWs. Of all the people to see problems with how the Society works with real estate, you'd think they would see it first. But they don't. They're so blind to what the Society does.

Accountant speaking here: what the CO attempted to do was outright fraud.  If he had succeeded and some one called the cops he would have been in deep do-do. 

Essentially the various congregations involved had done exactly the right thing, they worked up an agreement to do something for the benefit of all and placed the money in escrow to wait until all the pieces were in place.  At that point there are two (and only two) things that can happen legally, the money is used for its intended purpose or it is returned to the people that donated it.   I suppose a third option would be to pay down the mortgage and adjust the payments from the congregations accordingly.   But they would all have to agree to that.

From what I've been able to determine some of what goes on with the WTBS' kingdom hall funds would embarass a sub-prime mortgage broker.