“James Huntsman, son of a prominent Mormon family from Utah, filed a federal lawsuit Tuesday accusing the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints of fraud, saying it spent members’ tithes meant for charity on commercial purposes. In the suit, Huntsman says he wants back millions of dollars he donated and plans to give it to ‘organizations and communities whose members have been marginalized by the Church’s teachings and doctrines, including by donating to charities supporting LGBTQ, African-American, and women’s rights.’ The suit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, comes 16 months after a former high-level investment manager with the church filed a whistleblower complaint to the Internal Revenue Service. The complaint, which The Washington Post obtained in December 2019, alleged that the Church amassed about $100 billion in accounts intended for charitable purposes and misled members by stockpiling surplus donations using the tax-exempt donations to prop up a pair of businesses.”

“Huntsman, 50, runs a film distribution firm in Southern California. He stepped down in 2016 as an executive with Huntsman Corp., a massive chemical supplier his father founded in 1970. Jon Huntsman Sr., who died in 2018, was a billionaire industrialist and philanthropist in Utah. James’s brother Jon Huntsman Jr. was a Utah governor, presidential candidate and an ambassador to Russia, China and Singapore. In the suit, Huntsman says after the reports of the fund came out, he ‘repeatedly approached the corporation and demanded the return of his donations. However, the LDS Corporation refused, effectively taking the position that it could do whatever it wanted with tithing funds'” – Washington Post.