Los Angeles gay political activist Fred Karger, founder of the watchdog website MormonTips.com, filed multiple complaints with the Internal Revenue Service on Aug. 17 against The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, targeting its highly lucrative Hawai’i tourist attraction, the Polynesian Cultural Center on Oahu.

Speaking to a reporter from Honolulu’s KITV, Karger alleged that the church takes advantage of its tax-exempt status, with top Polynesian Cultural Center executives — high-profile Mormon Church members — using the center for their own personal and financial gain.

“We are doing what no other organization does. We’re fighting back against the Mormon Church on something very sacred to them—their tax-exempt status,” Karger told KITV. “Church leadership has been attacking and demeaning women, the LGBTQ community and abetting and covering up rampant sexual abuse in the church for decades. Now they will have to defend all their highly questionable tax practices all over the U.S. The Hawaii filings are just the first of many that we are looking into.”

Karger launched his Hawaii investigation a year ago, running a 30-second TV ad featuring Hawaiian activist, the late Dawn K. Wasson, seeking tips from the public about questionable church practices. Karger also produced an “insider” cartoon series called “Salt Park” to engage ex-Mormons.

The three initial complaint filings to the IRS contain 283 pages of allegations that Karger says resulted from the TV campaign. “They boast that it’s a $100 million a year operation,” Karger told KITV. “It’s very successful, I’ve been there many times, beautifully run—but coincidentally they always have either a loss or a loss carryover.”

Ashley Whitmer, a former 29-year church member, accompanied Karger. She blasted the church hierarchy on separate sexual abuse allegations.

“In the wake of the Catholic priest abuse news, there have been similar cases of abuse in the Mormon Church, as well,” Whitmer said. “Along with others, I believe the Mormon Church should ban the practice of asking sexually explicit questions to children beginning at age 8 behind closed doors with one man.”

According to Whitmer, those questions are part of a “worthiness interview” that bishops conduct with children, a practice the church is under pressure to end. Both Karger and Whitmer hope the increased attention will force action.

“We’re trying to get the pressure on the Mormon Church to do the right thing,” said Karger.

A spokesperson for the Polynesian Cultural Center declined comment in a phone call with the Los Angeles Blade on Monday.

In an email to KITV, the Polynesian Cultural Center noted that it’s a nonprofit organization and that “100 percent of its revenue goes to daily operations and to support the education of its student-employees from neighboring Brigham Young University-Hawaii,” a university run by the LDS Church.

Reporting by KITV ABC4 Honolulu, the staff of the Los Angeles Blade, and wire service reports.