Jeffs trying to usurp UEP Trust, attorneys say
 
By Geoff Liesik
Deseret News
Read Wisan's court filing

SALT LAKE CITY — Warren Jeffs may be a convicted felon serving prison time, but attorneys for the United Effort Plan Trust say that hasn't stopped the FLDS leader from causing problems for them, and in turn, for his current and former followers.

From behind bars, Jeffs has instructed a "shadow elite" comprised of Fundamentalist LDS Church leaders, such as Willie Jessop, to block any effort by a court-appointed fiduciary, Bruce Wisan, to administer the trust, according to a memorandum filed Thursday in 3rd District Court by UEP attorneys.

"These instructions included the hiding and destruction of documents and directing municipal government leaders," the court filing states.

Jeffs is serving two sentences of five years to life in prison on a two-count conviction of accomplice to rape stemming from a "spiritual marriage" he presided over between a 14-year-old girl and her 19-year-old cousin. He faces additional charges in Arizona and Texas, as well as federal charges tied to his attempt to flee from authorities, which landed him on the FBI's Most Wanted list for a time.

Rod Parker, a Salt Lake attorney who represents FLDS members opposed to the fiduciary's plans for the trust, calls the allegations that Jeffs is still in control of the sect from prison "outrageous." He characterized it as a tactic Wisan is using to "divert people's attention from his own failure as the fiduciary."

"He's at war with the beneficiaries of the trust. He openly acknowledges it," Parker said. "He calls it a psychological war. That's what this is when they put this kind of stuff out. This has nothing to do with the administration of the trust."

The $100 million-plus trust holds most of the homes and property in Hildale, Utah; Colorado City, Ariz.; and Bountiful, British Columbia, Canada — communities long dominated by members of the FLDS Church. It was seized by Utah's courts in 2005 after state attorneys alleged Jeffs — then a fugitive from Arizona criminal charges — had used trust assets for personal benefit and left it vulnerable to liquidation from default judgments in civil lawsuits filed in 2004.

Wisan was appointed by 3rd District Court Judge Denise Lindberg to serve as fiduciary of the reformed trust, which eliminated the communal property nature of the trust — considered a basic tenet of FLDS teachings — in favor of private property ownership. He claims that statements dictated by Jeffs in documents attached to Thursday's court filing show that the man some consider a prophet is still calling the shots.

The dictations, Wisan told the Deseret News on Friday, were among the records seized by authorities during the 2008 raid on the church-owned Yearning For Zion Ranch in Eldorado, Texas. There were also additional records which, he said, show Jeffs and other FLDS leaders are improperly influencing municipal leaders in Hildale and Colorado City, which has led to the misappropriation of funds.

"This is clear documentation that the FLDS leaders are more interested in control, than in making sure the people they claim to serve receive ownership of their homes," said UEP lead attorney, Jeffrey Shields. "Under (Jeff's) direction, shadow leaders like Willie Jessop are doing everything they can to keep us from shining a bright light on what's been going on."

Parker argues though, and UEP attorneys concede in court records, that the dictations are two to four years old.

"They tell us nothing about what's going on today and they are not authenticated," said Parker, who added that trust attorneys have offered different sources for the documents in different court filings.

"Nobody's being straight about where these documents came from," he said. "I think it's because they're from an illegitimate source and so it's an effort to conceal the source."

Parker said he has no way of knowing whether Jeffs is directing FLDS opposition to Wisan's management of the trust, but he doesn't believe he is.

"My impression is no," he said. "I'm certainly not taking direction from him, but I couldn't say for sure who's talking to whom."

The attorney added, however, that he does know Wisan's plan is opposed by 95 percent of the people the fiduciary is supposed to be protecting. He called the court filings by Wisan's attorneys, and the press releases that herald them, "a sideshow…This has nothing to do with court," Parker said. "This has everything to do with Bruce Wisan believing he's losing the public opinion battle.

"I think he's legitimately losing the battle because he's at war with the people he's supposed to protect and people can relate to that," he added.

When asked how many FLDS members support his efforts, Wisan said: "There's no way in the world I could ever answer that." He noted that it's his belief that members have been told that if they cooperate with him in any way they will be ex-communicated from the FLDS Church and lose everything.

But, Wisan also said he's been told if the land held in the UEP Trust was subdivided and then deeded to the individual beneficiaries, as many as 25 to 35 percent of FLDS members would keep their deeds. If that were to happen, he said, it could financially cripple the sect's leaders.

Both sides are preparing for a Feb. 17 appearance before the Utah Supreme Court where justices will hear oral argument on an FLDS request to convert the trust back into a religious entity. The court is also expected to decide that day whether Parker, who represented the UEP when it was under FLDS control, should be disqualified from continuing to represent the sect in future litigation.

e-mail: gliesik@desnews.com
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DeseretNews.com
Originally published Friday, Jan. 22, 2010
 
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