How the WTS hides its cash.....you may find this interesting

by God_Delusion 62 Replies latest watchtower scandals

• 

  MMXIV

  V interesting thread C Scienza. I agree that the WTS will try and protect themselves from possible threats and therefore use trust mechanisms to do so. Of course they will also use every means possible to reduce their tax liabilities which adds weight to this. The process to move funds between companies via invoicing is such standard practice too - tax avoidance a strong reason or shifting profits around.

  Just because an organisation is non-profit making or a charity does not mean they aren't creaming off significant sums via simple invoicing to other companies - not necessarily WTS related. The people who will know this are the admin staff - has anyone worked in the interco accounting or billing sections of WTS? Anyone dealt with processing invoices with generic descriptions like "management or consulting fees"? Also what governance is in place - who signs these off?

  In terms of the WTS being run like a business - get real - clearly it has to and would have folded half a century ago if not. I don't dispute there is a conflict with telling members the end of the world is nigh and then making long term strategic & financial plans for WTS - but history will have told them that you have to plan for the future. (ok ok I know that sounds opposite to every PT... store treasures in heaven and forget your pension). How could you manage printing & distribution of so many books/mags without detailed long term cashflow forecasts. I imagine their more recent strategies of KH consolidation (that I've read on this site) are a result of their long term planning and an effort to squeeze significant efficiencies to offset a potential drop in contributions.

  The sale of Brooklyn is in my humble opinion going to be the big series of transactions to watch. How will they spread the risk of these proceeds - who decides what goes where and who signs it off.

  As for the WTS being a money making tree - I would be interested to understand your model in more detail C Scienza. At a high level it has been fairly successful albeit they've gone about it in a rubbish way especially in terms of maximising wealth (gets it's members give up their source of income and also gives away free literature).

  There have been plenty of local money scandals in congregations - I recall one elder in a neighbouring cong took nearly £50k from the KH fund to "keep his wife happy" (although no-one could ever make that miserable cow happy) - but have there been any huge misappropriations of funds from the WTS - not necessarily by the top brass - but people who have access to it? Don't think there'll be criminal cases as I doubt if the WTS would have pressed for charges due to bad publicity - both in bringing Jah's name into it and don't want to send message to rank & file that their contributions aren't being protected.

  MMXIV
• 

  dutchstef

  If you realy want to find out more, start looking on the website of the Pensylvania Department of state.

  https://www.corporations.state.pa.us/corp/soskb/Filings.asp?361674

  Ofcourse to get more information you have to get you logincode and authorisation, or find a hacker...
• 

  blondie

  The name of the 1st WT corporation:

  Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania

  Even their main publication appeared this way:

  Zion's Watch Tower and Herald of Christ's Presence.

  If the money is going thru the original corporation which the below quote seems to indicate, I can see a reason why they might have had to change the way the name is written on checks.

  *** km 5/07 p. 3 Announcements ***Donations for the worldwide work that are made by check at district conventions and those sent to the branch office should be made payable to "Watch Tower." The branch office’s financial address is Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania, c/o Treasurer’s Office, 25 Columbia Heights, Brooklyn, NY 11201-2483.
• 

  Lady Lee

  But I mean actual cash. Money collected from all those contribution boxes. Can they get that money out of the country and deposited to thoise off-shore accounts so that it never appears on their books?

  If a cheque is made out to you it has to go to a bank. Hmmmm could they be depositing all those cheques directly to the off-shore accounts therefore having it never appear on their own books?
• 

  Midget-Sasquatch

  But I mean actual cash. Money collected from all those contribution boxes. Can they get that money out of the country and deposited to thoise off-shore accounts so that it never appears on their books?

  If a cheque is made out to you it has to go to a bank. Hmmmm could they be depositing all those cheques directly to the off-shore accounts therefore having it never appear on their own books?

  I don't think it would be all that easy. It would require alot of collusion. Just at the KH level there are 2 people required to collect the money and all of it is noted on receipts (with separate copies that have to be given to the secretary), and those receipts get double-checked when the accounts are auditted. At conventions, there are also more people at hand when the cardboard boxes are emptied and the people are counting up the amount and also noting then on account sheets. I think the IBCs and trusts are the more likely and legit way of funneling money.
• 

  JWoods

  While it is an interesting supposition, I think the issue is really meaningless without any sort of proof.

  BTW, I used to work in accounting at the circuit and district assemblies, and no cash was ever sent to the WTS. The district and circuit had checking accounts just like a congregation, deposited the money, paid the assembly bills by check. Most of the money left over was sent to the society after a token approval at the elder's meeting during the last day of the assembly. They also paid both the district and circuit overseer's expenses for the week of the assembly from the assembly account.

  It is true that they almost always presented an accounts report to the assembly as a whole which made it look like they were under water so that more contributions would come in on the last day.
• 

  ziddina

  " Oh, and before you say that they have got dubs working as their Financial Advisors, trust me on this, they don’t...."

  I agree; the WTBTS' hypocrisy when they sent out a 'call' through the congregations in the early '80's for - and I quote - "We need computer programmers to program our new computerized printing presses... And they must be 'COLLEGE-EDUCATED' computer programmers, not 'self-taught'...."

  Such rank two-faced, mealy-mouthed monstrosity!! After decades of discouraging - on pain of 'spiritual' death - the average Witness from getting a good education that would improve our chances for a secure financial future, the WTBTS had the unmitigated GALL to ask for "COLLEGE EDUCATED computer programmers"!!!!

  That was the final blow which infuriated me so much that I - in effect - stomped out of the religion... I wanted to go to college to become a geologist; a "worldly" aunt had offered me a thousand dollars (in 1970) towards my college education, but THANKS TO THE WTBTS' idiocy, I DIDN'T go!!!

  So, in their typical behavior pattern of FLAGRANT HYPOCRISY [July 2009 Awake: "Is It Wrong to Change Your Religion"...], the 'biggies' at the top of the Borg would make sure that THEY have a 'secure financial future', even though they DENY A SECURE FUTURE, both financial and physical, to their poor, deluded followers...

  What MONSTERS!!!! Zid
• 

  ziddina

  "I don't think it would be all that easy. It would require alot of collusion. Just at the KH level there are 2 people required to collect the money and all of it is noted on receipts (with separate copies that have to be given to the secretary), and those receipts get double-checked when the accounts are auditted..." Midget Sasquatch

  "BTW, I used to work in accounting at the circuit and district assemblies, and no cash was ever sent to the WTS. The district and circuit had checking accounts just like a congregation, deposited the money, paid the assembly bills by check. Most of the money left over was sent to the society after a token approval at the elder's meeting during the last day of the assembly.... They also paid both the district and circuit overseer's expenses for the week of the assembly from the assembly account...." JWoods

  [Edited to read...] I think some people are laboring under the false notions that (a) the actual, physical CASH must be transferred in its original form... NOT at all!!! Since it's NOT illegal to tranfer monies out of the country, via shady means, if you will, there would be NO PROBLEM with the WTBTS working with their own bank to transform the cash from the assemblies into a wire transfer into an offshore account - easy, quick, convenient, and the money goes "POOF"!!!

  As Sasquatch pointed out, there are double-checks and balances to prevent the "Rank and File" from getting their poor, undeserving hands on any of that money... And I agree that the same sort of 'caution' should - probably would exist at the top of the financial department of the organization... But, aside from that, as I stated above, the money could conceivably be transferred LEGALLY into practically any account that the WTBTS' financial director would designate...

  And also that (b) the monies from the assemblies are a primary source of income... As pointed out by others, the monies willed to the WTBTS and donated from private parties [think Michael Jackson's mother...] would probably comprise a large portion of the income - and a portion NOT SO EASILY TRACED... And therefore much more easily transferred into off-shore accounts... [end edit]

  Oh, please, people!!! Like the methods for siphoning money off from "legitimate" business fronts haven't been perfected since the 1920's when organized crime and the Mafia first began their 'money pipelines' to move illegally gained monies out of the jurisdiction of the U.S. government?? And the techniques have continued and have been refined further by drug moguls... The WTBTS is SURE to have learned from those techniques... And - without doing anything actually ILLEGAL, would probably use any and all means to move the money... All it would take is the transfer of the monies sent to the society after a token approval at the elder's meeting during the last day of the assembly.... into another account that would eventually be transferred into the off-shore accounts... And so on...

  What I WANT TO KNOW is how can we "HACK" into those accounts and drain them??? Zid
• 

  edmond dantes

  Regardless of the fact that they claim to be no part of the World they must invest surplus money somewhere in the World .

  It would surprise me if they didn't invest Jehovah's money in off shore accounts. They have the mindset which tells them to invest wisely and to obtain maximum return on their capital. They will also have secret emergency funds readily available.

  There doesn't have to be proof of these things, just let them prove differently, otherwise it must be assumed that they follow the normal corporate route.

  They are not accountable to the rank and file enough for my liking. Let them put their cards on the table and their hands where we can all see them. If they can twist doctrine on a regular basis then they can hocus pocus the cash.
• 

  Mad Sweeney

  This has been sort of mentioned but I think it is too important to allow sitting as a sidebar: This isn't the Governing Body doing this. It is the company heads and their employees. The GB may not even know anything about it.