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SALT LAKE CITY — L.R.L. says she was 16 years old when she was forced into an arranged marriage with a first cousin nearly 11 years older than her.
She was born and raised a member of "the Order," a polygamous Utah sect often referred to as "the Kingstons" by outsiders, according to a lawsuit filed Wednesday in 3rd District Court. Her parents were brother and sister and her father had over 300 children by at least 14 wives, it alleges.
As a child, she was often abused by her father's "first wife," the lawsuit states, adding that sometimes she was ordered to take off her shoes and socks, and then the first wife would stomp on her bare feet while wearing boots with spikes or cleats on the bottom.
She was allowed limited education, but in middle school was forced to drop out and work full-time for the Order, according to the lawsuit. Her first job was with the Order's "bank," where she claims she was trained to sign Order member names on checks using signature stamps and process the checks to real banks.
"She was not told and did not understand why she did these functions," the suit states, and she never received a paycheck for her work, either. Rather, allegedly like all Order members, her wages were sent to the Order's bank, where the majority of funds are funneled "through back accounts at the Order bank to pay member expenses — typically owed to itself or Order businesses ... while funneling the balance of the member earnings into bank accounts at real banks controlled by the Order."
L.R.L. had been taught her entire life that marrying early and having children was a requirement, according to the lawsuit. She was soon coerced into the unwanted marriage with her cousin, she said, and despite not desiring sexual relations with him, became pregnant shortly after.
She gave birth to a baby girl while still 16 years old. Her husband continually raped her, and she faced community pressure to become pregnant again, according to the lawsuit, which also alleges that about six months after her daughter's birth, she walked in on her husband sexually assaulting the child.
After witnessing this, L.R.L. began looking for a way to escape the Order with her daughter. In February 2022, she said she and her baby fled with the help of one of her brothers.
Now the woman is seeking restitution.
She's one of 10 plaintiffs, mostly women, in a 109-page lawsuit filed against 24 identified members of the Order. Twenty as yet unidentified members of the Order are also listed as defendants.
The group is seeking unspecified general, punitive and other damages.
The lawsuit details the plaintiffs' stories, all of which allege abuse and exploitation. J.R., the only male plaintiff, left the Order at age 18 and came out as gay after being repeatedly sexually abused by men within the Order, the lawsuit alleges. After he left, he claims the Order sent six or seven boys to "severely" beat him and call him gay slurs.
Some plaintiffs escaped the Order while unwanted marriages were pending, while others were trapped by their abusers for years, bearing multiple children, according to the lawsuit. One says she was punished for using birth control; another says she suffered a miscarriage and was accused of killing the baby.
The lawsuit also lists multiple Order-run organizations it says are doing business under various names, including the Latter Day Church of Christ, Redwood Grocery & Health Foods and John's Market Place. It additionally states that "Corporate Does 21 through 200" are defendants, as well.
The suit lists a number of "common and intentional" practices within the Order that it alleges harmed the plaintiffs, such as:
- Girls are taught that "bearing children with her husband is required" and are "impregnated when they are young so they cannot leave."
- Girls and women are required to "submit sexually against their will to their husbands to produce children."
- Fathers are not named on birth certificates "to create confusion, avoid criminal prosecution for fathering children in underage, plural and incestuous marriages, and/or for illicit labor and tax reasons."
- The Order "bleeds the Beast," which refers to the concept of defrauding governments for the Order's benefit. For instance, the Order "systematically prepar(es) and fil(es) false tax returns."
- Order members are taught they are governed by the laws of God, not society, creating "the seeds of anarchy" which "blossom to justify any action deemed necessary to advance the needs of the Order ..."
In particular, the lawsuit singles out the Order's leader, Paul Elden Kingston, who members believe holds the keys to perform spiritual marriages.
"(Eldon) personally performs or delegates to certain (members) the performance of all marriages in the Order, including those that are kept secret because they involve incest, bigamy and/or underage girls," according to the lawsuit. "It is largely through the Order's illegal marriage practices that the Order is able to unlawfully make girls and their children religious martyrs and traffic them for sexual and labor purposes."
Members of the Kingstons have long generated controversy in Utah. In the early 2000s, some were arrested and jailed on incest charges, had children removed by state welfare officials and been sued over similar accusations of physical and sexual abuse.
Additionally, in 2019, some members admitted in federal court to creating false records in their biodiesel company to obtain more than a half-billion dollars in renewable fuel tax credits. Washakie Renewable Energy CEO Jacob Kingston and others pleaded guilty to charges including mail fraud, filing false claims, money laundering, destroying records and witness tampering.
Jacob Kingston used the money to buy property in Belize for a casino and property in Washington state to open a marijuana grow house. He also bought himself a house in Sandy and California businessman Lev Dermen a 2010 Bugatti sports car. In 2013, Dermen gave Jacob Kingston a chrome Lamborghini, according to court documents.
Later in 2013, Jacob Kingston said Dermen, who was also charged, had him send $32 million to associates in Turkey and another $1 million to his company, Viscon International, according to prosecutors. Jacob Kingston also transferred money to accounts in Luxembourg.
The Kingstons admitted to buying at least 100 million gallons of fuel from third parties and rotating it in tanks in Texas, Louisiana and Panama to make it appear that Washakie was buying and selling biodiesel.
Jacob Kingston filed false claims in the company's name for more than $272 million in biodiesel mixture tax credits based on that project, according to court documents.
In all, prosecutors say the government lost $511.8 million in the scam.
