There was an old post over at the former Rick Ross site (now culteducation) that showed some of the SGI properties and their estimated values: http://forum.culteducation.com/read.php?5,87661,page=35
It's a post by tsukimoto copied from an old BuddhaJones article.
Where I first started practicing (Minneapolis, MN, 1987), we got a community center not long into my tenure as YWD - maybe 1988? Before the "excommunication". Anyhow, we were all contributing "volunteer" labor - mudding wallboard, sanding, driving screws, the ones who actually knew how to do stuff were doing stuff, etc. I remember being told that not only was that one of the last kaikans to be purchased, this was also one of the last times they'd allow the members to work on fixing it up. Apparently, they were going to an all-leased-space strategy.
In Raleigh, NC, they had a leased kaikan in a small office strip - we got there in 1995. I was told that our kaikan there was actually larger than average - there were square-footage guidelines and, although this one went over, all the other possibilities had been too small.
So against this sort of background, one of the other SGIWhistleblowers and I started looking into property records. And what we found astonished us - the World Culture Center there at 525 Wilshire Blvd. in Santa Monica is owned by...wait for it...Nichiren Shoshu Soka Gakkai of America. Now. Almost 25 years after the "excommunication". The El Paso, TX, kaikan is owned by that same entity - she uncovered documentation on 3 mechanics' liens against that property from August, September, and October 10 of THIS year. The responsible party was, again, Nichiren Shoshu Soka Gakkai of America. We're now starting a semi-long-term project to check the names on SGI's owned properties.
It's an easy thing to change the name on a property (she's worked for a title company before). And, given the supposed vitriol and animosity between SGI and NS, there's simply no way they would allow a name like that to stand. IF things went down the way we were led to believe, that is. If their legal name and status never actually changed, then going to a rental policy, possibly with some shell corporation owning the property to keep both the asset AND the lease payments all in the family, would make it harder to track this down.
The sale of the Calabasas property, the former "Soka University", the one that only served a handful of Japanese nationals, was sold - an article cites Soka Gakkai/Nichiren Shoshu of America as the owners - this took place in 2005 or so. Soka Gakkai's got so much money that they could buy out any Nichiren Shoshu share - easy; why would they choose to remain in bed together?
Do you have any property ownership information or connections? Do you think it's possible that the "excommunication" was just a stunt to enable both sides to solidify their "brand" and maximize their members' loyalty, giving each a convenient enemy? Are SGI and NS still sharing the same piggybank?
Also, I just happened to notice that the LA Friendship Center is apparently shuttered. Do you have any information on that - when/why?
Doris was not the first nor the only one to postulate such a thing. Jerry [Shinkei] Marcheso brought this up more than a year ago. However, she dug up some solid proof. Astonishing. Thanks for sharing.
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