A federal judge has blocked the sale of assets held in the polygamous FLDS church’s communal land trust while he decides whether the faith’s constitutional rights have been violated by Utah authorities.
U.S. District Judge Dee Benson issued a temporary restraining order late Tuesday, stopping a pending sale of land held in the United Effort Plan trust.
Utah’s state courts seized control of the trust in 2005 amid allegations of mismanagement by church leaders, including Warren Jeffs, the ecclesiastical head of the church who is jailed in Texas pending trial on charges of bigamy, aggravated sexual assault and assault.