WASHINGTON, DC – The U.S. Department of Labor has announced a Request for Information (RFI) on Prohibited Transactions involving Pooled Employer Plans (PEPs) under the Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement (SECURE) Act and other multiple employer plans.

SAN FRANCISCO, CA – The U.S. District Court for the District of Nevada has approved a default judgment against the now-defunct company Kizzang LLC and its president Robert Alexander, that requires them to pay $99,807 to former employees and their beneficiaries for violations of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) related to their employee health and welfare plan. 

WASHINGTON, DC – The U.S. Department of Labor today issued an Information Letter under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) concerning private equity investments as a component of a professionally managed asset allocation fund offered as an investment option for participants in defined contribution plans. 

BRAZIL, IN – After an investigation by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA), Clay County, Indiana, Circuit Court Judge Robert Pell has sentenced Larry Morse – the owner of Western Indiana Logistics Inc. in Brazil, Indiana – to a suspended term of 180 days incarceration and 180 days probation.

Morse pleaded guilty to one misdemeanor count of deception.

DES MOINES, IA – The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Iowa has issued a consent order and judgment requiring the fiduciaries of the Shinn 401(k) Retirement Plan to restore $35,032 to the Eddyville, Iowa-based Ben Shinn Trucking Inc.’s employee benefit plan.

SPARKS, MD – The U.S. Department of Labor has reached a settlement agreement with the board of trustees of the Food Employers Labor Relations Association (FELRA) and United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Voluntary Employees’ Beneficiary Association (VEBA) Fund, a multi-employer welfare benefit fund. The agreement requires the trustees of the Sparks, Maryland-based fund to pay $431,818 in previously denied severance benefits to 32 former employees of SuperFresh grocery stores. 

WASHINGTON, DC –The U.S. Department of Labor today announced publication of a final rule that expands the ability of private sector employers to communicate retirement plan information online or by email. The rule allows employers to deliver disclosures to plan participants primarily electronically, which will reduce printing, mailing, and related plan costs by an estimated $3.2 billion over the next decade.

ATLANTA, GA – The U.S. Department of Labor has filed suit against Advance Benefits Management Systems USA Inc. (ABMS), its founder and CEO C. Kenneth Johnson, and company President Randy Wright. In the suit, filed in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia, the department asks the court to appoint an independent fiduciary to employee healthcare plans previously administered by ABMS, direct the independent fiduciary to marshal the plans’ assets, obtain insurance reimbursement and pay over $7,000,000 in unpaid claims.

WASHINGTON, DC – The U.S. Department of Labor’s Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA) today issued Frequently Asked Questions under the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (COBRA) and revised COBRA model notices.

WASHINGTON, DC – The Secretary of Labor has reached an agreement with Wilmington Trust, N.A. – a Delaware-based bank and trust company – requiring Wilmington Trust to pay a combined $80 million to 21 employee stock ownership plans (ESOPs) for which it served as trustee and $8 million to the government, and to reimburse plan sponsors of ESOPs for legal costs and expenses advanced in connection with the Secretary’s investigations and litigation. 

WASHINGTON, DC – The U.S. Department of Labor’s Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA) today issued deadline relief and other guidance under Title I of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) to help employee benefit plans, plan participants and beneficiaries, employers and other plan sponsors, plan fiduciaries, and other service providers impacted by the coronavirus outbreak.

CLEVELAND, OH – The U.S. Department of Labor has obtained a consent order and judgment to remove plan fiduciaries – Attila E. Nagy and Cynthia Nagy – from the Assembly Specialty Products Inc. 401(k) Plan after an investigation by the department’s Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA) found that the fiduciaries violated the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA).

WASHINGTON, DC – Secretary of Labor Eugene Scalia issued the following statement regarding Assistant Secretary of Labor for the Employee Benefits Security Administration Preston Rutledge’s tenure at the department:

CHICAGO, IL – The U.S. Department of Labor has filed a petition asking the U.S. District Court in the Northern District of Illinois, Eastern Division, to enforce an administrative subpoena the department served to Alight Solutions LLC – based in Lincolnshire, Illinois.

BETHESDA, MD – The U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland has issued a summary judgment requiring defendants WH Administrators, its owner and chief executive officer (CEO) and chief operating officer to restore $28,650,604 to health and welfare plans sold to employers by the now defunct Bethesda, Maryland-based benefits administration company.

ANNANDALE, VA – The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia has issued a default judgment requiring defendants JWK Corp., its chief executive officer and the director of operations to restore $103,098 to the 401(k) defined contribution plan of the Annandale, Virginia-based engineering services company.

LOUISVILLE, KY – After an investigation by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA), the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Kentucky has sentenced Eduardo Chinea Martinez – co-founder of several Louisville, Kentucky, medical clinics – to 42 months in prison and three years of supervised release. The court also ordered him to pay $258,507 in restitution for defrauding healthcare benefit programs. He made full restitution on March 5, 2020, the date of sentencing.

NASHVILLE, TN – The U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee, Nashville Division, has approved a settlement between the U.S. Department of Labor, Zander Group Holdings Inc., Stephen Thompson and Jeffrey Zander involving the company’s Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP).

LOS ANGELES, CA – After an investigation by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA) and the Office of Inspector General, a federal court has sentenced Anna Vishnevsky to 37 months in prison, and ordered her to make $2,747,071 in restitution for defrauding the healthcare benefit plans of UPS Inc. and Costco Wholesale Corp. 

NEW YORK, NY – The U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey has sentenced Howard Preschel of Teaneck, New Jersey, to 30 months in prison, followed by three years of supervised release and ordered him to pay $462,049 in restitution for embezzling funds from an employee pension benefits plan sponsored by CMG Vending Inc. in Union City, New Jersey. The court also fined Preschel $10,000.