That Which Can Be Destroyed by the Truth Should Never be Spared Its Demise:

Part II: Is TST a Ponzi scheme with shell corporations which launder money through a corrupt hierarchy of self-promoting narcissistic ne’er-do-wells who will do anything to make a buck.

**Disclaimer: I am NOT speaking ON BEHALF OF The Satanic Temple nor am I an authorized representative of TST**

In many cases, if not all of them, the “reasoning” behind these allegations indicates the exact opposite conclusion of what conspiracists claim. Irrespective of anything cited as “proof,” conspiracists will always maintain some level of loud, ill-informed, moral indignation toward The Satanic Temple. Which side of the “TST bad” dogma they choose to argue depends upon the day, and is as changeable as the weather in Texas.

One day they will proclaim: “TST leaders are too involved, too controlling, with entirely too much power and influence — they are all cult leaders!” The next, those same figureheads are “too removed and mysterious, always working in a secret shadow network, acting like master puppeteers” (especially whenever there’s a woman in leadership, any woman is obviously a puppet for Lucien or Malcolm’s talking points, incapable of original thought or forming their own opinions. These misogynists also opine that there aren’t enough women in leadership positions). On the financial front: “There are too many separate corporate entities confusing the finances!” The next: “There are too few discrete accounting avenues confusing the finances!” and so on…

Some conspiracists attempt to draw people into the self-serving and blatantly false narratives they have chosen to cultivate by claiming the mere existence of “for-profit” entities is somehow a heinous act of treason, inconsistent with all of TST’s principles. Here is a perfect example of disgruntled former members attempting to tarnish TST’s reputation based on something they know nothing about:

The concept and practice of having distinct legal entities to fulfil separate business functions isn’t particularly difficult to grasp. As such, it almost feels condescending to break this down on such a rudimentary level; however, for the sake of transparency and to demonstrate how ludicrous these vindictive and juvenile attempts at creating the appearance of scandal truly are, that is exactly what I will do.

Separate Legal Entities for Unique Functions

United Federation of Churches DBA The Satanic Temple, The Satanic Temple Incorporated, and Reason Alliance:

For those unaware of the current state of affairs in the United States of America, this may come as a bit of a shock BUT: people aren’t always keen to partner, conduct business with, or even accept donations from explicitly Satanic organizations. The co-founders recognized the likelihood TST would face discrimination early on, so The United Federation of Churches was conceived as a generic name that could be used immediately and would increase the probability of access being granted to various public forums. They filed an assumed name certificate The Satanic Temple which ensured the name could be used as needed. At the time, it made sense to structure the legal entity as a Limited Liability Company (LLC) because TST did not initially intend on seeking IRS tax-exempt status. Additionally, the Baphomet monument is owned by and trademarked under The United Federation of Churches LLC, since it was constructed prior to TST seeking tax-exempt status.

After a few years, it became clear that choosing not to file for tax exemption with the IRS no longer made financial or logical sense, particularly since TST’s legitimacy as an actual religious organization was constantly called into question and scrutinized. Receiving tax-exempt status from the IRS helped establish legitimacy in the eyes of the courts. This type of exemption is called a 501(c)(3) exemption that is available to nonprofits and religious organizations. In order to receive this exemption, it was necessary to create the corporation, The Satanic Temple, Inc.

The Satanic Temple Inc. and Reason Alliance are both non-profits. Reason Alliance was created because TST is routinely and illegally discriminated against. Unfortunately, proving discrimination is challenging, timely, and costly. For instance, The Satanic Temple cannot get liability insurance for various events, so Reason Alliance is used to host activities. Additionally, Reason Alliance is necessary for TST’s after school programs because insurance companies will not insure TST. Reason Alliance’s specific mission is to promote the tenets of TST. This transparency is of utmost importance and ensures that donors know exactly how their donations are used.

The United Federation of Churches, The Satanic Temple Inc. and Reason Alliance all operate without the existence of payrolls. All three entities work with independent contractors and volunteers for labor, and professionals, mostly lawyers, which constitute the largest amount of expenses. Neither Lucien nor Malcolm have ever taken a salary or a draw from UFC, TST, or Reason Alliance.

Affiliated Entities

Sixty Four Bridge Street LLC DBA The Salem Art Gallery:

The physical headquarters for The Satanic Temple is located in Salem, Massachusetts. The first floor of headquarters is an art gallery — this is a separate business and thus has a separate legal entity: Sixty Four Bridge Street LLC (the physical address of HQ) with an assumed name certificate for The Salem Art Gallery. The art gallery sells t-shirts, candles, figurines, and other Satanic paraphernalia. They also handle all of the online sales from shopsatan.com. As anyone with a functioning brain can comprehend: this type of business has operating costs (manufacturing, shipping, etc.) and requires employees who are able to process transactions, order and maintain inventory, answer inquiries, and provide customer service to keep the shop running on a daily basis. While The Salem Art Gallery is a completely separate entity, it exists because TST’s co-founders acknowledge that it is not smart to rely solely upon crowd-funding efforts to support TST’s numerous legal battles (each of which have mounting legal bills); a portion of the proceeds from The Salem Art Gallery are donated directly to The Satanic Temple and used to fund legal expenses. One of the asshole conspiracists perpetuating the notion that TST is financially nefarious actually tried to paint TST, Lucien, and Malcolm in a bad light after “researching” a publicly available database and learning that The Salem Art Gallery received government funding from the U.S. Treasury’s Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The purpose of the SBA’s PPP loans is to provide small businesses with funds for payroll costs including benefits. Since there are no payroll expenses for UFC, TST, or Reason Alliance none of those entities would have been eligible for PPP funding. The Salem Art Gallery shutdown during the pandemic because the owners value their employees’ health and trust in science. Their employees were unable to work, and The Art Gallery’s proceeds from in-store sales were non-existent; however, this program allowed businesses to be able to pay their employees despite the shutdown.

Conspiracists would have you believe that The Salem Art Gallery applying for and accepting these PPP funds (funds which allowed their employees to stay fed and to keep a roof over their heads despite their inability to work) is some type of power move to keep the owners’ pockets full. This is obviously a lie.

Yet another reason it makes good accounting and ethical sense for these entities to operate separately is because TST’s various campaigns and activism efforts are crowdfunded. These crowdfunding efforts are assigned specific financial goals based upon the anticipated legal costs involved. As such, it is of vital importance that the funds donated are used toward the purpose intended by the donor. For instance, if someone donated to TST’s Religious Reproductive Rights campaign and later found out their funds were used to fund the salaries of employees in The Salem Art Gallery (pandemic or not), they would have every right to be upset. That is precisely why there are separate legal entities for unique functions that do not commingle their funds. Ask any competent accountant, separate legal entities for distinct functions is both a smart and commonplace business practice.

Alternative Platforms for Bringing Satan to the Masses:

The algorithmic biases against Satanic media are more insidious than the average person would likely assume (and likely not something the casual reader or member would even consider as a factor actively working to stifle TST’s efforts and activism). Algorithms are not neutral — companies like Facebook, Google, and YouTube systematically oppress Satanic speech and content by design. As Greaves notes: “Search for ‘The Satanic Temple’ on YouTube and notice that the first page of search results is unlikely to yield the YouTube channel of The Satanic Temple itself.” (Lucien Greaves provides an in-depth explanation of these obstacles here: Algorithmic Anti-Satanism | Lucien Greaves on Patreon for those who are interested).

Additionally, Facebook is cancerous for actual activism. The benefits of Facebook (and other social media platforms) for grassroots activism and the ability to connect with like-minded people should not be ignored; however, the good often fails to outweigh the bad. While Facebook does have rules in place that theoretically protect individuals from calls for violence and/or harassment, those Terms of Service Agreements are often poorly enforced and disproportionately disregarded when Satanists’ well-being is involved. As the era of Trumpism has demonstrably proven, Facebook’s efforts at curbing disinformation are dismal at best.

Facebook and other social media platforms are breeding grounds for disinformation and are seen by sociopathic grifters as tools to further propaganda and to grind their axe, visibly railing against organizations and people who have never done anything to them personally but they see as the ‘enemy’ (once their dreams of self-aggrandizement have come crashing down when their actions and poor choices have resulted in an indisputably persona non grata situation). The ease at which disinformation spreads on platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram is the exact reason that this piece is necessary. To provide an alternative to the toxicity of Facebook, The Satanic Temple also partners with two small affiliated companies: Cinephobia LLC (Doing business as The Satanic Temple TV — aka TST TV) and Winstonian Enterprises (aka The Satanic Estate) which are used for both entertainment and educational purposes. TST, UFC, and Reason Alliance would all exist and function regardless of whether these various affiliated entities exist.

Cinephobia LLC DBA The Satanic Temple TV (a.k.a. TST TV):

The Satanic Temple TV (legal name Cinephobia LLC) made its debut into the world on Halloween of 2019 (a bit more than seven years into TST’s inception). The “About me” page on the website explicitly details this arrangement: https://thesatanictemple.tv/about/. The Satanic Temple TV has talented employees who are financially compensated for the time and effort (blood, sweat, and tears) they dedicate to keeping the platform functioning, meeting with content creators, editing content, etc. I don’t think any reasonable person would find that ‘scandalous.’ Additionally, TST TV compensates content creators who wish to showcase their work on the platform and allows said creators to workshop their contracts to fit their unique needs. TST TV also allows creators to partner with multiple distributors rather than demanding sole rights to individuals’ creative work. As an affiliate, The Satanic Temple TV donates a percentage of their proceeds to The Satanic Temple.

Winstonian Enterprises DBA The Satanic Estate (also known as TSE):

As we all know, 2020 was a year of firsts. I do not believe many of us expected to find ourselves in the midst of a pandemic, unable to physically interact with our fellow Satanists and local congregation membership (because we care about their safety). Feelings of isolation and hopelessness lingered over each of us in unique ways, whether it was missing our families, enduring financial hardships, losing friends and loved ones to COVID-19, or experiencing a general (yet inescapable) feeling of uncertainty growing by the day. Even still the pandemic drags on, with government officials and public leaders failing us at every fork in the road. Enter The Satanic Estate, a handful of individuals who took a gamble by creating a virtual gathering space for Satanists, investing their own money and not even knowing if they would break even (a risk they really couldn’t afford to take but went for anyways in the hope that their efforts would bring people together and provide space for community during the pandemic). As it turned out, they have succeeded. The platform debuted in July of 2020 and has been steadily improving ever since. The Estate is a great place for Satanists to congregate virtually and attend live lectures. They hosted Grey Faction’s inaugural annual conference featuring speakers from all sorts of backgrounds (both Satanic and non-Satanic) to speak about the dangers of pseudoscience and the Satanic Panic. Additionally, it has been an outlet for Satanists to celebrate various holidays together, serving as a replacement for the in-person events many of us grew accustomed to holding with our congregations) (and have been missing out on since the pandemic began). Users can choose to turn their cameras on and speak ‘face to face’ with other Satanists from all over the world. Additionally, as an affiliate, The Satanic Estate donates a percentage of all proceeds to The Satanic Temple.

Brief Recap

One minute the presence of multiple organizations where people can choose: “donate to Religious Reproductive Rights,” “Purchase a subscription to TST TV,” “Attend a lecture at The Satanic Estate,” “Purchase Satan Swag,” etc. and know exactly what they are donating to or spending their money on is “shady.” The next, these clowns suggest that funds are being funneled toward nefarious (or at the very least indeterminate) causes. So, what we are left with is a classic “damned if you do & damned if you don’t” conundrum in which these bitter folks are pretending to be Judge and Jury from behind their keyboards and achieving nothing.

This “accounting 101” lesson is necessary because idiots like this exist and revel in being hypocritical.

Personally, my favorite part is when they bemoan the idea of people working for a non-profit, making a profit — when they were in fact (knowingly) referencing a for-profit entity they knew damn well had offered them compensation for their time. This discussion culminated with them proclaiming “D & M always get paid.”

Of course, when confronted and asked to provide proof of their claims, they defaulted back to: “That would be in violation of my NDA.” Right — that makes a ton of sense. Slander an organization? Perpetuate blatant lies? Go on an active campaign against TST (using multiple sock puppet social media accounts) in a desperate attempt to stay relevant, no matter the cost — play the victim and turn every inconsequential interaction they’ve ever had with TST members into something sinister? Sure. Those things are just fine, no considerations to NDAs given at all. But… back up their claims with evidence? Nah — that’s obviously too much to ask for.

Lucien is on record (under oath) explaining that he draws no salary from his position as co-founder and spokesperson for The Satanic Temple; though, it would be perfectly legal, reasonable, and ethical for him to do so. He does actually risk his life for The Satanic Temple. But, fuck me, we better listen to these ass clowns because they’re clearly onto something….NOT.

TST is a Pyramid Scheme?

There are absolutely ZERO required obligations for the various chapters (now congregations) to financially support The Satanic Temple, no “buy-ins” or annual dues. Over the years, a few Chapters have voluntarily done fundraisers (however since TST’s inception in 2012, the total amount donated to The Satanic Temple by the various chapters totals less than $20,000). Chapters/Congregations are required to follow various behavioral protocols but no financial ones. Anyone calling TST a pyramid scheme is engaging in slander while most likely not knowing what a pyramid scheme actually is.

Conclusion

Corruption Abounds:

So, there you have it in its entirety: TST’s “crazy complicated web of shell companies” used to “launder money” through their “corrupt hierarchy” all to benefit the “self-promoting narcissistic ne-er-do-wells at the very top” who will “do anything to fatten their wallets” …you know, or not. 😉

Final Note

Feel free to submit any genuine inquiries directly to me via email: viceovervirtue666@gmail.com and please be patient for my response(s) as there is a plethora of misinformation that I plan on combating prior to addressing (or even reading) any replies to this piece. Bear in mind, this is only “Part II’’ of an entire series, the next installment will delve into how TST is allegedly a “cult” that ex-members have narrowly “escaped” from after being mind controlled and stripped of their rights to speak!