My father (a presiding overseer or whatever they call them now) told me over a decade ago after speaking with bethel overseers (or whatever they call them now) that the ecclesiastical governing body of Jehovah's Witnesses intentionally separated itself from the legal corporation of The Watchtower Bible and Tract Society for the express purpose of protecting itself from lawsuits and from situations that happened in Russel's day where in the event of persecution or an outright ban on the Watchtower societies printing and publishing activities, the authorities would attempt to go after the legal directors of the corporation, none of whom would be actual members of the governing body. This would leave the governing body free to continue to direct the spiritual activities of Jehovah's Witnesses.
The legal corporation, The WTBTS, was only formed to meet the legal requirements for charitable organizations, publishers etc. It was the brainstorm of legal and accounting minds of some Jehovah's Witnesss in positions of influence and power, members of the governing body. So Losch is correct, he doesn't answer to the WTBTS. The WTBTS is a corporate vehicle created to attain the goals of the ecclesiastical governing body of Jehovah's Witnesses.
Stroke of legal genius really, but the governing body of JW's is so dependent upon the great publishing/marketing vehicle that they have created within the WTBTS in order to influence the flock whom are sparsely scattered throughout the world, that crippling the WTBTS could still cripple the governing body's influence among the flock.
The idea originally was that in the event of the demise of the WTBTS due to government sanctions/bankruptcy, the governing body could simply form a new legal corporation and continue on business as usual. They may have underestimated the brand power of the WTBTS in the JW community though. Many people, not being bright enough to see though marketing manipulation, may be more loyal to the brand name WTBTS than the actual product it sells (governing body bullshit).
Thank Jehovah for the newest streak of marketing genius, the internet, aka jw.org. (I know it is not new, but new to them). Worldwide influence, cheaper than paper, few volunteers needed from the increasing apathetic flock, and while I haven't bothered to check, I have no doubt someone at headquarters has had the accounting/legal forsight to incorporate the website and any donations that flood in thru paypal/credit card under a completely different corporate umbrella from that of the WTBTS. If they're truly smart, the new org will have 100% different corporate directors/board members so that no association with WTBTS and its legal/financial difficulties can be claimed.
Not sure what the legal rules in the US are for corporate association as I'm an accountant from Canada, however for the sake of victims let's hope the courts can see thru the legal machinations set up by individuals to create distance and remove legal culpability. In Canada, board members/directors can be sued individually for the criminal/negligent actions/inactions of a corporation. I assume its the same in the US? The governing body, knowing this, has removed themselves from the board and management of the WTBTS.
However, all associated with JW's know they are psychologically controlling the board members and management of the WTBTS even though they legally hold no positions in WTBTS and have no legal vote on any issues. It raises an important legal issue that could be precedent setting. Can individuals who completely pyschologically control/ influece the board members of a corporation be held legally responsible for the actions of the corporate directors they influence?
In Canada, family members of corporate directors are considered as controlling a corporation of which another family member holds control even if they hold no position in the corporation themselves. That's because the court recognizes the strong psychological influence of family. Will they also recognize the purely psychological as opposed to legal influence of the governing body over the WTBTS and hold them both equally accountable? The governing body themselves claim a close family association. They are "brothers" in the faith and the governing body is our "mother").
It will be fascinating to watch the outcome.
