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ANALYSIS

For decades, polygamous sect leader Winston Blackmore has exercised power and control over some 500 souls from his stronghold in Bountiful, B.C. He is their chief, their decision-maker. He enjoys many women, having taken some two dozen wives in accordance with what he claims are sacred religious beliefs.

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He seems to enjoy notoriety. He once proposed that he and his flock of “fundamentalist Mormon” followers receive star treatment on American reality TV.

But there have been consequences. Mr. Blackmore, 60, recently fought the taxman and lost. A Tax Court of Canada judge agreed last year with an earlier ruling, finding that he’d under-reported his private company’s income by $1.8-million over six years. The judge slapped him with $150,000 in penalties, and she dismissed claims that his community is a “religious communal congregation” and thus tax exempt.

Higher rates of domestic violence and sexual abuse

Mr. Blackmore is now being sued by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for alleged trademark violation. The church, which represents mainstream Mormons, wants nothing to do with Mr. Blackmore, Bountiful and its polygamous ways.