Breaking (27 articles)

Jared Harding Wilson

A temple’s tale: Years after child sex abuse lawsuit, Mormon stake president accused of coverup became temple president, abuser attended

BREAKING NEWS FROM FLOODLIT.org: A Floodlit investigation has revealed that after a stake president in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS/Mormon church) was accused in a lawsuit of covering up child sexual abuse, the church then promoted him to be a seventy and temple president. The church settled the lawsuit in 2015.…

Details

URGENT: Help Floodlit.org support survivors of alleged child sexual abuse by Wade Christofferson. We need your info!

URGENT: Please contact Floodlit.org if you are a survivor or know a survivor of alleged sexual abuse by Wade Christofferson, if you have any information about his leadership/membership history in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, or if you knew him personally. We (Floodlit.org) are currently helping several abuse survivors to assemble information…

Details
Wade S Christofferson

BREAKING: Mormon church excommunicated alleged child sexual abuser, rebaptized him, put him in bishoprics, per multiple alleged victims who told Floodlit.org that church officials, including an apostle (the accused’s brother), kept abuse secret for years

URGENT: Please contact Floodlit if you are a survivor or know a survivor of alleged sexual abuse by Wade Christofferson, if you have any information about his history in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, or if you personally knew him. Thank you so much! contact Floodlit.org BREAKING NEWS FROM FLOODLIT.ORG Nov. 25,…

Details
Wade S Christofferson

Wade Christofferson: federal sex abuse charges unveiled; searched “In Ohio do clergy have to report child abuse confessions”, per court records

UPDATE Nov. 26, 2025 – For further updates in this developing story, please see Floodlit’s case report on Wade Christofferson. Wade Christofferson case report » — FLOODLIT.ORG NEWS Nov. 25, 2025, 2:52 pm ET – On Nov. 20, Floodlit.org broke the news that Wade Christofferson, 72, of Dublin, Ohio, was being held in the Salt Lake…

Details
Mormon church accused of omitting evidence to stop sexual abuse lawsuit after rejected $250 million BSA immunity bid

BREAKING: Mormon church accused of omitting 19 pages of evidence in “deeply disingenuous” attempt to stop sexual abuse lawsuit after rejected $250M immunity bid

Floodlit, an independent newsroom reporting on sexual abuse in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, has obtained documents revealing a legal battle in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware, as part of the Boy Scouts of America (BSA) bankruptcy proceedings. This article is part of a series of Floodlit special…

Details
Latter-day Saint church in Potomac, Maryland

Rinse & Repeat: Mormon church trying to force BSA victim to dismiss sex abuse lawsuit

Floodlit case report: Richard Kent James Complaint: John Doe v. LDS Church, Bill Marriott, Mormon officials John Doe Objection to LDS Church Motion, BSA Bankruptcy, July 21, 2025 BREAKING: Mormon church accused of omitting 19 pages of evidence in “deeply disingenuous” attempt to stop sexual abuse lawsuit after rejected $250M immunity bid – Nov. 5,…

Details

BREAKING: Washington lawsuit says Mormon church covered up child sexual abuse by convicted priest

(pictured above: Francis “Mickey” Cochran, convicted child sexual abuser and Mormon high priest in the 1980s) Paul Diehl, the Seattle stake president during the alleged coverup, was promoted by the Mormon church to a Quorum of the Seventy from at least 1997 to 2000. Floodlit.org obtained a copy of the lawsuit. Read the full details:…

Details

BREAKING: Utah Mormon youth leader, 47, arrested for allegedly attempting to meet 13-year-old girl at LDS church to sexually assault her

Case report: https://floodlit.org/a/b345/ Jacob Fisher (Jake Fisher) was a Mormon church member and ward young men’s leader in Eagle Mountain, Utah. Fisher was arrested in August 2025 for allegedly sending explicit videos of himself to, and attempting to meet to sexually assault, a person he thought was a 13-year-old girl (but was actually an undercover…

Details

BREAKING: “There is no ‘sexual abuse’ file,” Mormon church risk manager declared in 2023 lawsuit

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (commonly known as the Mormon church) has long positioned itself as a leader in handling abuse, with officials claiming its approach is the “gold standard” and that “no religious organization has done more.” But a startling discovery from a 2023 lawsuit challenges that narrative.   A System…

Details

For 26 years (1963-89), LDS-BSA top execs knew of “perversion files,” but allegedly did not tell LDS church

Floodlit.org has learned that from 1963 to 1989 (26 straight years), five Mormon men who knew of the Boy Scout perversion files held the paid position of top liaison between BSA and LDS church. If an LDS official’s 2012 statement is true, none of them informed the church. Could the church have done more? This…

Details

Findings re: Mormon official’s declaration on church knowledge of sexual abuse

Floodlit.org has learned that in 2012, LDS church risk management director Paul Rytting declared under penalty of perjury, “the first lawsuit against the Church relating to sexual abuse was brought in 1989.” But we found two prior lawsuits (1986, 1988) directly contradicting his statement. Did he know? This article is part of a series of…

Details

FLOODLIT discovers three more Mormon sex abuse settlements, totaling over $2 million

FLOODLIT has learned of three more settlements the Mormon church paid after alleged sexual abuse of children. 1. $1.5 Million in 2019 in Riverside County, California (case RIC181995). An employee sexually abused a minor attending daycare on church property. Plaintiff Law firm: Estey & Bomberger 2. $500,000 in 2010 – location unknown. Law firm: Nye, Stirling,…

Details
mormon-2025-appeal-abuse-63

BREAKING: Mormon church files appeal after losing civil suit against sex abuse insurers

Part of a series of Floodlit special reports on lawsuits alleging sexual abuse coverups by Mormon officials. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has filed an appeal after losing a lawsuit against insurance companies regarding more than $27 million in legal defense costs and $32 million in child sex abuse settlement payments to…

Details

Mormon church loses civil suit against insurers over sexual abuse settlements

Part of a series of Floodlit special reports on lawsuits alleging sexual abuse coverups by Mormon officials. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has lost a civil lawsuit against insurance companies over settlement payments it made to six West Virginia families in 2018 regarding allegations that Mormon officials hid child sexual abuse allegations…

Details
Email from Paul Rytting, Mormon church risk management director, to insurers regarding a sexual abuse case, Mar. 9, 2018.

Timeline: LDS church sued insurers to collect $90 million, after settling 5-year-long child sex abuse suit

FLOODLIT.org, an independent newsroom investigating sexual abuse in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, broke the story last week that the church spent nearly $60 million over five years to defend and settle a lawsuit filed in 2013 by six West Virginia families who said church leaders covered up the abuse of their…

Details

BREAKING: New lawsuit against Mormon church says temple worker sexually assaulted a man during anointing ritual

In a lawsuit filed Jan. 27 against the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, a man says he was sexually assaulted by a church volunteer during an anointing ceremony at the Los Angeles California Temple in 1984. The case (2:25-cv-00703-RGK-E) was filed in the Central California District Court. FLOODLIT has obtained a copy of…

Details