The remaining 5% belongs to the management firm the two relatives co-own. roots - including Utah Gov. Kimball. Members today wear normal modern clothing, although they are encouraged to be modest and keep a high standard of dress. While the Kingston Group, founded in 1935, is not affilated with the FLDS, members practice a fundamentalist version of Mormonism that involves polygamy. Ten former members of a Utah-based polygamist sect known as the Kingston Group are pursuing punitive damages against the organization after they say it subjected them to years of unpaid labor, sexual violence and human trafficking. said. The complaint says Ted Kingston inherited or acquired his father's shares. The complaint says Ted Kingston inherited or acquired his fathers shares. [37], The Kingston family and other members of the LDCC have faced two lawsuits, one in 2006[38] and another in 2022[39] accusing members and the organization as a whole of sexual abuses, including pedophilia and underaged marriages, within their membership. "My father has 18 wives," said Mary Nelson, who is telling how she became an unlikely whistleblower against prominent members of her own family -- the Kingston clan. Also known as the LDCJC, the Kingston Clan, and The Order, it is a religious organization created by members of the Davis County Cooperative Society or DCCS in 1977. The extent of the clan's influence only came to light recently, when the IRS raided several Kingston-owned businessesincluding Washakie Renewable, an energy company owned by Julianna's former . sltrib.com 1996-2023 The Salt Lake Tribune. Mary might never have become a whistleblower if she hadn't met Bryan Nelson, a fellow student at Salt Lake Community College who helped her escape the clan after she says she was ordered to marry her 17-year-old cousin. Those permits were renewed annually. Jacob O. Kingston, the companys CEO, pleaded guilty Thursday to 41 charges including money laundering, fraud, conspiracy and witness tampering and obstruction of justice, according to a court docket. Included on the list is Jacob O. Kingston's house at 2072 E. Creek Rd, Cottonwood Heights, UT with a market value of $4 million. The IRS paid the company 50 cents or $1 per gallon, depending on the quality of the fuel. However, the fraud accusations confronting the Kingston Group extend well beyond Washakie and other Order-run businesses. D. [45] Members allege to have been targeted for audit at a rate over 9x the published IRS average for the general population, with no pattern of fraud being found outside of a couple of bad-actors. marriage.". Copyright 2023 CBS Interactive Inc. All rights reserved. The administrative law judges decision is expected to be made public in late June. to produce a baby a year. after he was charged earlier this month with two counts of incest and one In the 1970s, Ervil Joseph Smith, founder of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, "When I found out that Mary's father had over 200 children, I knew something was very wrong," said Bryan Nelson. Ferrer asked. The plaintiffs attorney, Roger Hoole, declined to elaborate beyond his clients lawsuit or respond to requests for interviews with former group members. Carolyn regularly worked at and tended . Casino owners had to submit to a new, more stringent licensing process. The "organization, as insiders refer to it, has maintained a remarkably low profile in Utah at the same time it has built a financial empire that ranks it among Utah's most sizable corporations. [22][23] Currently the group claims that although different skillsets bring different financial outcomes, there is no homelessness within the DCCS, and internal programs exist for those experiencing financial poverty.[2]. A check of public documents in Salt Lake County alone of business and real estate holdings reveals an astonishing array of enterprises. Clyde Kingston died in 2005. has a body bag. None of them received a paycheck, they allege. The government alleges the brothers hired the enforcer to intimidate and harm potential witnesses -- and those witnesses could very likely be these whistleblowers. [15][16] The Grand Jury was described as "The polygamist hunting Davis County Grand Jury" by the Ogden Standard-Examiner in 1959. A young girl's The delay appears to have been a side effect of the law change in the late 1990s. Why do media and non-members sometimes refer to the DCCS as the 'Kingston Clan', 'Kingston Polygamous Group' or 'Kingston Cult'? It didn't find any. By 1935, his followers began to move to Bountiful, Utah, intending to live under a United Order communal program as defined by Joseph Smith in the Doctrine and Covenants. The Washakie assets and those belonging to the individuals who pleaded guilty will be seized and could recoup much of the money the federal government says was lost. Entities with ties to the Kingston polygamist clan are trying to prevent the disclosure of thousands of documents seized as part of a massive fraud case against four members of the family. It was an unlikely crime partnership: a Bel Air billionaire and gas station titan, who investigators call the boss of the Armenian Mafia. The pleas came in a closed hearing Thursday in federal court in Salt Lake City. Mr. Van Wagoner, the historian, notes that in fact plural I can imagine the stress factor of these people worrying about losing their homes for something they had nothing to do with," Foster said. count of unlawful sexual conduct with his niece, all third-degree felonies. Corp.; Fountain of Youth Health and Athletic Club; East Side Market; Mountain There. The group has a community bank where everyone, including young children, are said to have . As found in: Multiple sects currently claim to be true successor, however, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, Factional breakdown: Mormon fundamentalist sects, "Unlikely whistleblower helps uncover alleged half-billion tax scam by secretive polygamist sect members", "Inside 'The Order,' One Mormon Cult's Secret Empire", The Primer, Helping Victims of Domestic Violence and Child Abuse in Polygamous Communities, "Plural Marriage and Mormon Fundamentalism", "John Ortell Kingston (Elden's Brother) Leads 1948-87", "Patterns of Polygamy Davis County's Kingston clan - County's polygamy roots run deep", "Kingston pleads guilty to incest charge", "Incest could be behind probe of Kingston family", "2021 Utah Code:: Title 76 - Utah Criminal Code:: Chapter 7 - Offenses Against the Family:: Part 1 - Marital Violations:: Section 102 - Incest -- Definitions -- Penalty", "New allegations of abuse in the polygamous Kingston family", "Utah polygamist sect accused of indoctrination, rape and child marriage", "As trial nears end, critics of polygamous towns wonder whether verdict will matter", "Polygamists are urged to make public statement", "Shurtleff: Child bride polygamous marriages appear to have stopped", "No longer performing child-bride marriages? the Observer's source said. He is defending David at least the LDS Church: The Latter-Day Church of Christ. Jeremy Kingston was sentenced to a year in prison in 2004 for taking LuAnn Kingston, his cousin and aunt, as his fourth wife in 1994; their relationship began when he was 24 and she was 15. Ted Kingston has been the public face of Lake Elsinore Casino for years, representing the business in local news interviews, promotional events and government meetings. Department of Commerce records show at least 48 businesses affiliated with the Kingston family. His brother and the chief financial officer, Isaiah E. Kingston, pleaded guilty to 17 counts. Before a 2016 federal raid on Washakie Renewable Energy offices and other businesses associated with the Kingston Group, the energy company was one of the highest-profile businesses in Utah. The lawsuit cites Washakie Renewable Energy as an example of the groups many attempts to defraud the government. Starting in the late 1990s, many media outlets began using these as derogatory terms to attribute the negative acts of a small number of individuals and unfairly project them onto the entire DCCS population. Illustration by Sean McCabe. Two locations serve as primary headquarters for many Kingston operations; a tidy but nondescript brick building it 3212 S. State St., and a nearby concrete warehouse-line structure at 53 W. Angelo Ave. The Kingston Group said the concept of bleeding the beast is abhorrent and was never a tenet of its organization. They got married and contacted the . Members of the Kingston Group operate several businesses and schools in the suburbs of Utah's capital. His brother, John Ortell Kingston, took over the leadership of The Order incorporated in the 1970s as the Latter Day Church of Christ. See more ideas about bountiful baby, kingston clan, kingston. "There was nothing that was going to get in my way of stopping this," he added. [46], In July 2019, Jacob Kingston, Isaiah Kingston, and two others pled guilty to participating in a fraud scheme masterminded by Lev Derman, a non-member and Armenian national. Carl E. Kingston is listed as the registered agent for many Kingston business holdings; he is also the family member the Kingston clan relies on to represent them in any legal wranglings. According to the government, Washakie's founders, brothers Jacob and Isaiah Kingston, falsified the company's tax filings to obtain a massive $511 million worth of fraudulent tax credits. [7] Upon the creation of the LDCJC, most members of the DCCS became members of the church and most retain dual membership in both organizations to this day. "Yes, I miss them very, very much," she said. Original reporting and incisive analysis, direct from the Guardian every morning. The lawsuit against the group is not the first time it has faced media scrutiny or legal peril. Men and boys wore blue coverall-type suits tied with strings; women and girls wore plain blue denim dresses. Adding to the Kingstons's coffers are farms and businesses in northern Utah, and and holdings in Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, California and Nevada -- including business associations with casinos, the Observer's source said. The lawsuit explains how the birth certificates of multiple plaintiffs failed to list their biological fathers, so those men could escape the legal consequences inherent to having multiple and often underage wives. (Mormon doctrine, The people who bought the casino in the 1990s were descendants of the men who started the Davis County Cooperative Society. Pro-polygamy groups estimate there are about 30,000 to 40,000 people in Utah who live in polygamist communities. The group added: Once an individual has made a decision on who to marry, members are encouraged to seek the blessing of their parents, family and/or church leaders, but to say that one individual chooses or heavily influences who will marry who is entirely inaccurate.. In its report, the Bureau of Gambling Control recommended the licenses be denied. have estimated the Kingston holdings at $150 million to $170 million. The two boys pulled into the driveway and shifted the green Honda into park. The Kingston Group argued that it is parents prerogative to file birth records for their children how they choose within the bounds of the law. To help Utah achieve statehood, leaders of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints issued a manifesto ending polygamy as a practice in 1890. III of the state's constitution, which ensures religious freedom while The episode, "Polygamy, Power and Profits: The Case Against the Kingstons," airs Friday, May 31 at 8/7c on CBS. June 15, 2011. The case has resurrected a sordid side of Utah culture. -- including business associations with casinos, the Observer's source / CBS News. (Weber County Sheriff's Office via AP, File). 8.6/10 Excellent! titles and other names that shield the Kingstons from direct scrutiny. is half sister. Other properties have looser ties to the crimes and belong to rank-and-file members of the Davis County Cooperative Society, also known as the Kingston Group or The Order. Tracing the clan's holdings is difficult, though, given the Kingston's penchant for placing businesses and real estate holdings under corporate titles and other names that shield the Kingstons from direct scrutiny. The Kingston sisters were able to help her escape although Ava wanted to stay with her family, she knew she couldn't give up her sense of self and continue watching the cycle of abuse continue. . The Kingston clan is also known as the Davis County Cooperative. All rights reserved. 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