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Documents filed in Utah’s Third District Court on Wednesday November 12, 2008, clearly show that the Diversity Foundation, Dan Fischer’s instrument for maintaining a professional distance while still attacking the FLDS Church, has played a highly significant role in having the UEP placed under court management and in shaping the way in which the Trust has been administered since the court takeover.

 

Through its attorney firm Hoole & Hoole, Diversity recruited ex-FLDS members to sue the Church. Although the lawsuits were filed in the name of individuals, The Diversity Foundation was actually the party of interest, paying the attorney fees and all expenses, making the decisions while these lawsuits were in process of litigation, and profiting handsomely when the suits were settled.

 

Diversity was the moving force in persuading the State of Utah to initiate probate action against the UEP.  On May 26, 2005, a petition was filed, alleging that the former trustees were not defending the Trust against the two lawsuits funded by Diversity. Diversity also submitted the recommendation that Bruce Wisan be appointed as the Special Fiduciary to oversee the Trust and, through its attorney firm of Hoole & Hoole, nominated five of the six members of the Trust advisory board. It is significant to note that with the exception of Robert Huddleston all members of the advisory board are ex-FLDS members, several of whom have close personal ties to Dan Fischer. Deloy Bateman and Seth Cooke are both brothers-in-law to Dan Fischer, John Nielsen is an employee of Dan Fischer’s Ultradent Products, Inc., and Carolyn Jessop stayed at Dan Fischer’s home after her “escape” from Colorado City.

 

After Wisan’s appointment as Special Fiduciary, Diversity made a payment of $10,000 on June 24, 2005, to cover his initial start-up costs. Diversity’s attorney firm Hoole & Hoole drafted the Reformed Trust document adopted by the Court in 2006, which included a provision whereby Diversity’s clients were reinstated as beneficiaries of the Trust. In addition, Bruce Wisan and the Diversity Foundation entered into collusive agreements to share privileged information, including the use of the same private investigator, Sam Brower, working simultaneously for both parties. Since 2004 Brower has been investigating the FLDS full time in Utah, Arizona, Texas, and Colorado. Billings of the Special Fiduciary include discussion of an 80/20 split of obligations for Brower’s services. All of this was going on at the time that the lawsuits funded by Diversity were still pending.

 

Wisan thus was hardly a neutral party in defending the Trust against these lawsuits but rather a collaborator. Upon settlement of the two suits, Diversity’s attorney Roger Hoole received $23,700 and the Diversity Foundation $26,300.

 

Through its inappropriate participation as detailed above, Diversity has been given a unique platform to accomplish Dan Fischer’s agenda of demonizing the FLDS Church and presenting to the Special Fiduciary and to the Court his one-sided view of the FLDS community.

 

The Diversity Foundation itself is little more than a front for Dan Fischer to carry out his agenda of hatred against the FLDS Church, all concealed behind a tax-exempt and supposedly charitable corporation. The real purpose for the existence of Diversity will be apparent to anyone studying in detail the tax returns posted for the years 2001-2007 on this website under “Legal Documents.”

 

It is only possible to touch on a few of the highlights in this article, returns for the years 2004 and 2005 providing the most revealing information. The total for donations to the corporation in 2004 was $506,214. Of this amount $136,951 was paid for legal fees and $212,973 for professional fees. For helping the so-called “lost boys,” eight loans were made for a total of $14,174, only 2.8 percent of the total expenditures.

 

In 2005, the year that Bruce Wisan became the court-appointed Special Fiduciary for the UEP, the total donations to the corporation were $993,729. In the section on “Grants and Allocations” are listed two donations for disaster relief of $60,000 and $75,000 and a few other charitable donations, including the following: Rent, utilities and living expenses for needy individuals, $6,710; Food, clothing, medical and miscellaneous charitable, $20,130; and Educational tuition, books and supplies, $17,478.

 

Such donations, however, were a small part of the total expenses. Legal fees that year were $436,459 and other professional fees $244,877. These two categories alone accounted for 69 percent of Diversity’s total expenses for the year. Included with the 2005 return is a listing of the highest paid independent contractors. Chapman Security & Investigations, LLC, received $99,955 for Security Services; Hoole & King received $388,647 for Legal Services; and Sam Brower Investigations received $121,556 for Security Services. 

 

It would be interesting to know how Diversity justifies these expenses under its stated mission: “To help communities foster respect for race, ethnic background and religion.” Indeed, the bulk of the funds appear to have been spent for the purpose of persecuting a particular religious culture.

 

Link to related legal documents: