Sued Mormon Church to Get My Tithing Back - James Huntsman Story | Ep. 1997
Mormon Stories Podcast
Dr. John Dehlin
4.5 • 5.7K Ratings
🗓️ 26 February 2025
⏱️ 195 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
In this long awaited interview, James Huntsman, a successful businessman and member of the Huntsman family, joins John Dehlin and fraud attorney Mark Pugsley to discuss his high-profile fraud lawsuit against the LDS Church—how he lost his LDS faith, why he pursued a fraud lawsuit to get a tithing refund, what he learned, and why he has no regrets.
00:00:49 Brief overview of James Huntsman's lawsuit
00:07:27 Family background info
00:18:50 Served a mission at 18
00:22:21 Discussion of a kidnapping in their family
00:36:27 Emergence of Ensign Peak & church investments
00:49:58 Cracks start developing in James’ faith
01:03:03 What led to him deciding to file the suit
01:09:35 The downsides of him suing
01:17:00 Comparing the organized structure of his family’s business to the disorganization of the church
01:28:55 What sparked his desire to sue the church
01:37:00 “It was a very personal battle for me”
01:48:40 Statute of limitations for fraud
01:54:00 Everyone now knows how much the church has - floodgates of awareness have been opened to the churches bad financial dealings
02:07:00 James has no intention of damaging the church
02:14:15 The church today does not need members tithing
02:26:00 How did they feel after they filed?
02:44:20 Are churches protected from committing fraud
02:58:00 James feels relieved that it is all over, and they can talk about it now
03:11:29 Final thoughts & Conclusion
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hello everyone and welcome to another additional Mormon stories podcast. I'm your host, John DeLinn. It's February 27th, 2025. And today we are here to interview the man who sued the Mormon Church for, I would say, fraud and asked for his tithing back. He is none other than James Huntsman. Hey James. Good morning. |
| 0:24.4 | This is not your Mormon's, your first Mormon Stories episode. Do you realize that? Do you remember |
| 0:27.7 | the first one we did? There were some movie we reviewed back in my old office once and you |
| 0:32.2 | appeared. I don't know if you remember that. You're right. I do. So this is actually your second |
| 0:35.7 | technically Mormon Stories appearance that I can remember. |
| 0:38.3 | Here we go. |
| 0:38.6 | I appreciate that. |
| 0:40.2 | James, for several years, we've covered on Mormon Stories podcast, James' attempt to sue the Mormon |
| 0:49.1 | Church to get a refund on $5 million worth of tithing that he paid, feeling like the church represented |
| 0:57.1 | what it was doing with its tithing. |
| 0:59.9 | And it seems as though those legal proceedings are kind of either wrapping up or are wrapped |
| 1:05.2 | up. |
| 1:06.3 | And so James and I have always, you know, anticipated potentially one day, maybe having him tell a little |
| 1:13.6 | bit about this story. So that's kind of what today is going to be about. But if I have any |
| 1:19.7 | influence in today's interview, what I'm most interested hearing is kind of James's Mormon story to the extent that it plays into this ultimate decision |
| 1:34.1 | he made to sue the church. It's worth mentioning that the Huntsman family is very well known |
| 1:40.9 | for the half of you who have never been Mormon. The Huntsman family is very well known in Utah and within the church. |
| 1:49.0 | James' dad, John Huntsman Sr. was not only a very successful businessman and philanthropist. |
| 2:00.0 | He also was an area authority for the church from, I think, |
| 2:02.8 | 2000 to 2005. Same time Hans Mattson was an area authority. And James' older brother, John Huntsman, |
| 2:12.3 | Jr. was governor of Utah and ran for president back in the day when Mitt Romney was also running for |
| 2:19.9 | president. There are also a few family or close connections with apostles, Mormon church |
... |
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