LDS Church Sends Legal Notice to 'Mormon Wikileaks' Over Leaked Slideshow

By Michael Gryboski, Mainline Church Editor Monday, March 06, 2017

A group of Mormon women walk to Temple Square in an attempt to get tickets to the priesthood meeting at The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints semi-annual gathering known as general conference in Salt Lake City, Utah April 5, 2014. The group, who want ecclesiastical equality with men, seeked admittance to a male-only session of the faith's spring conference on Saturday, as they promote the ordination of women into the lay priesthood of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. | (Photo: Reuters/Jim Urquhart)

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has sent a legal notice to a "Mormon Wikileaks" website after it posted a slideshow presentation exclusively meant for church leadership.

Mormonleaks.io posted a PowerPoint presentation last week reportedly showcased during a Quorum of the Twelve Apostles meeting from December 2015. It has since been removed.

Centered on "issues and ideas leading people away from the gospel," the PowerPoint listed items like pornography and "lack of righteousness" as factors in people leaving the church.

In a legal notice sent to the website owners last Wednesday, the LDS Church's Intellectual Property Office argued that Mormon Leaks unlawfully posted the slideshow.

"A copyrighted PowerPoint presentation being distributed through your 'Mormonleaks.io' website ... contains material not authorized by the IP Owner, its agents, or the law," read the legal notice. "Please act expeditiously to remove or disable access to this item."

Originally called MormonWikileaks, MormonLeaks was launched last December by a former Mormon to be a place where internal church documents could be posted.

According to its website, MormonLeaks "provides a safe, secure, and anonymous way to submit documents, videos, or any other information regarding the Church."

"Prior to 1960, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints provided its membership an annual report to account for the income and expenses of the Church. These financial reports are not available to the general membership today," noted the site's "Overview" section.

"Many other details of the Church's day to day operations are not shared with its members. For example, the Church Handbook of Instructions Handbook 1, is only distributed to Stake Presidencies and Bishoprics."

Ryan McKnight, founder of the website, told The Christian Post in an earlier interview that the site came from increased interest over a series of videos of church leadership meetings that he posted to YouTube.

"I was bombarded with people, you know, employees of the church that leaked some things to me after that. Nothing that was really newsworthy," explained McKnight last December.

"I really saw that there was a need for people to maintain their anonymity. That was what was holding a lot of people back. So I ramped up efforts, put a team together."

In a statement released last Wednesday, MormonLeaks noted that they have removed the slideshow but intend to post it again in the near future.

"We are currently working with our attorneys to find a solution that will allow us to make this document available again and avoid interruptions in the future," stated the site.

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