The accountant appointed to run a polygamous sect?s property trust says the state of Utah should pay the $4.67 million owed to his firm and others, according to court documents.
"The trust is facing a continuing, ongoing crisis due to a lack of funds to pay the cost of the administration," attorneys for Bruce R. Wisan argued in documents filed in 3rd District Court. "... the costs associated with this public benefit should not, and cannot, be borne solely by the fiduciary?s accounting firm and the professionals."
The Utah Attorney General?s Office countered that Wisan should be paid with assets from the trust, not the state, and he was expected to limit his actions to work the trust could pay for.
An attorney for the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, meanwhile, says Wisan alienated sect members by trying to "remake the community" after he was appointed to run the trust.
"He apparently believed he had a blank check, either from the FLDS or the taxpayers, to do this," said attorney Rod Parker in a statement, pointing to the $2 million Wisan was paid before 2008. "He should be held accountable for his actions."
Originally maintained by contributions from FLDS members, the trust was taken over by the state in 2005 amid allegations of mismanagement by trustees.
Valued at about $110 million, it holds nearly all the homes and property in the FLDS home base of Colorado City, Ariz., and Hildale, Utah. The trust is still at the center of a heated legal battle as the sect tries to reclaim it in court. A federal judge decided in February that the 2005 takeover was unconstitutional and ordered it be temporarily returned to the FLDS.
That decision ignited a showdown with the state court judge who had been overseeing the trust. The U.S. 10th Circuit Court of Appeals stepped in, issuing an order that Wisan should stay in control of the trust but should not make any major changes. The Utah attorney general also argued that order prevents Wisan from getting any payments, but Wisan says "justice and equity" require the state to pay.
The federal appeals court isn?t the only legal battle that?s playing out. Trust litigation has twice come before the Utah Supreme Court, attorneys are defending a civil suit filed by a former sect member, and Wisan is fighting a misdemeanor trespassing charge. Money is also owed to engineers, employees on the ground in Colorado City and Hildale, and a public relations firm. Another $2 million is owed in property taxes.
With those expenses continuing to mount, Wisan attorney Jeff Shields said they agree with the state that the bills should eventually be paid by the trust, but that the state should pay for now, until trust property can be sold to raise cash.
"It?s really just a loan," Shields said. But with no end in sight to the legal battle, "it?s to the breaking point."
Twitter: @lwhitehurst
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