Max H. Parkin notes that some early Church leaders and members engaged in speculation.

Date: May 1966
Type: Academic / Technical Report
Source: Max H. Parkin
LDS
Hearsay: Direct
Secondary
Reference: Max H. Parkin, "The Nature and Cause of Internal and External Conflict of the Mormons in Ohio Between 1830 and 1838" (M.A. Thesis; Brigham Young University, May, 1966), 286–90
Scribe/Publisher: Brigham Young University
People: Richard Livesey, Max H. Parkin, Sidney Rigdon, Joseph Smith, Jr., Warren Parrish
Audience: Reading Public; PDF
Transcription: This trend towards making excessive profit from speculation in the buying and selling of lands in Kirtland was indulged in by prominent leaders of the church as well as others, which became a factor in their dissidence and distrust.
. . .
The spirit of speculation—and the problems caused by it—also had an effect upon Parley P. Pratt, who admitted that a complaining spirit temporarily alienated him from the Prophet Joseph.
. . .
While in the extreme of his anxiety and distrust on May 23, 1837, Parley wrote a letter to Joseph Smith severely criticizing him for the course he and Rigdon had taken in certain business matters associated with the current speculation in property.
. . .
After his defection from the Church, Warren Parrish sent a copy of Pratt’s letter to the editor of Zion’s Watchman, . . . Richard Livesey, . . . had the letter reprinted in his anti-Mormon pamphlet in Preston, England, in 1838.
Source Link: https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/etd/5015/
BHR Staff Commentary: Ibid., 288n20 reads:
That Joseph Smith participated in the buying and selling of land in Kirtland there can be no doubt; documentary evidence is presented in some detail in fielding, op. cit., pp. 215-225. However, the point that is not clear is Smith's motives for doing so. Vinson Knight, a member of the Kirtland bishopric, reflected the following conference decision during the summer of 1837: "More people were coming into the church daily. The Apostles who were in England and other places were sending emigrants to Kirtland and Joseph Smith must prepare for them. So it was agreed in general conference that more land should be bought. Bishop Whitney issued a proclamation to the Saints entreating them to assist all that they could in this undertaking." Vinson Knight, cited in Lola B. Coolbear, "Sketch of the Life of Vinson Knight and Abigail Meade McBride," p. 7. Located in the Special Collections Library, Brigham Young University. It would well be that Smith's land purchases were made for the Church or to provide for the needs of the Saints than for personal gain, as Fielding infers.
Citations in Mormonr Qnas: Kirtland Safety Society