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The Cult Dossier · No. 081 · Christian-Derived

Kingston Clan

Latter Day Church of Christ; the Order; Davis County Cooperative Society

1935 – present · Salt Lake County, Utah; Nevada; Idaho

IX. THE FUNDAMENTALIST AND POLYGAMOUS GROUPS

Fully religious — Mormon fundamentalist and commercial

Who led it

Founded in 1935 by ELDEN KINGSTON; later ORTELL KINGSTON, then PAUL ELDEN KINGSTON, leader since 1987.

What it worshipped and taught

Plural marriage plus a doctrine of BLOODLINE PURITY — the Kingstons regard themselves, in the SPLC's summary, as the whitest of the white, descended directly from Jesus Christ and King David, and teach explicitly anti-Black doctrine; and marriage between close relatives, including uncles and nieces and half-siblings, is practised to concentrate it. Ortell Kingston reportedly applied cattle-breeding logic to the family. The clan operates as a vertically integrated business empire — the Davis County Cooperative Society — whose value is genuinely unknown and the estimates diverge wildly. THE SOUTHERN POVERTY LAW CENTER (2017) REPORTED IT AS WORTH AS MUCH AS ONE BILLION DOLLARS, with some 6,000 adherents; OTHER ESTIMATES PUT THE ASSETS AT 150 TO 200 MILLION. WHAT IS DOCUMENTED IS THE STRUCTURE: a network of businesses spanning a grocery store, pawn shops, a garbage disposal business, an insurance company, a politically influential biofuels plant, a high-end firearms manufacturer, dairy farms and coal mining. Former members describe working in group businesses for minimal pay.

Who was in it

Ortell Kingston; Paul Elden Kingston; DAVID ORTELL KINGSTON, convicted in 1999 of incest and unlawful sexual conduct with his 16-year-old niece, whom he took as his 15th wife, and sentenced to ten years (he served four); JEREMY KINGSTON, jailed for a year in 2004 over a relationship with a cousin that began when she was 15; JOHN DANIEL KINGSTON, convicted of beating that daughter unconscious when she fled; MARY ANN KINGSTON, the survivor whose case broke the story; Jacob, Isaiah, Rachel and Sally Kingston, convicted in the biodiesel fraud, and LEV DERMEN, the Los Angeles businessman at its centre; KATHRINE NICHOLS, the 2025 federal plaintiff.

How it ended, or where it stands

Active; leadership repeatedly prosecuted.

The dead

—

Of note

The most financially sophisticated group in the dossier. Its distinguishing feature is the fusion of a bloodline theology with a genuine multi-state corporate structure — the doctrine and the balance sheet reinforce each other.

Its timeline

  1. 1935 Elden Kingston founds the order after leaving the LDS Church.
  2. 1998 A 16-year-old girl escapes after being made the 15th wife of her uncle; her father beats her with a belt 28 times in a barn.
  3. 1999 David Ortell Kingston convicted of incest and unlawful sexual conduct; John Daniel Kingston convicted of child abuse.
  4. 2010–2018 THE WASHAKIE FRAUD. Washakie Renewable Energy, owned by Jacob and Isaiah Kingston, and the non-member LEV DERMEN conspire to claim more than ONE BILLION DOLLARS in renewable fuel tax credits; the IRS pays out more than 511 MILLION.
  5. 2019 Federal prosecutors move to SEIZE homes and businesses as fraud defendants plead guilty. Charges across the case include mail fraud, false claims, money laundering, DESTROYING RECORDS and WITNESS TAMPERING.
  6. APRIL 2023 SENTENCES: Dermen 40 YEARS; JACOB KINGSTON 18; ISAIAH KINGSTON 12; their mother RACHEL KINGSTON 7; Jacob's wife SALLY KINGSTON 6. (An earlier version of this file gave Jacob the 40 years that went to Dermen.)
  7. 2022 FORMER MEMBERS, represented by attorney Roger Hoole, FILE A CIVIL SUIT against Paul Elden Kingston and dozens of individuals and entities, alleging child marriage, sexual and physical abuse, fraud and unpaid CHILD LABOUR.
  8. MAY 2024 TEN WOMEN sue the Latter Day Church of Christ and the Kingston family, making similar claims.
  9. 22 JANUARY 2025 A FURTHER SUIT IS FILED. The complaint describes the community as 'A RACKETEERING ENTERPRISE, HATE GROUP, AND CORRUPTED POLYGAMOUS CULT', and alleges SEX TRAFFICKING under both federal and Utah law, sexual battery and abuse of a child, rape of an adult, infliction of emotional distress and civil conspiracy.
  10. FEBRUARY 2025 KATHRINE NICHOLS, 20, files a FEDERAL suit alleging that relatives coerced her into an underage, abusive and bigamous marriage TO HER UNCLE at sixteen.
  11. 2025–2026 The litigation continues; NO FINAL RULINGS HAVE BEEN REPORTED. The group says publicly that it opposes child marriage and fraud.
  12. Present About 7,500 members by a 2019 estimate (the SPLC said 6,000 in 2017); the businesses continue.

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