Date of Action:          April 10, 2023

Type of Action:         Employee Retirement Income Security Act consent order and judgment

Company/Owners:    Fred Vargason

Nissan of St. Charles

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Labor announced today that its Employee Benefits Security Administration will reopen the public comment period on the proposed amendment to Prohibited Transaction Class Exemption 84-14 – also known as the Qualified Professional Asset Manager Exemption – until April 6, 2023, to gather additional comments.

Date of Action:          March 7, 2023

Type of Action:         Employee Retirement Income Security Act default judgment

Company/Owners:    Gary Krieger, Stratagem Inc., Stratagem Inc. Group Medical Insurance Plan

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Labor today announced the appointment of five members and leadership for the 2023 Advisory Council on Employee Welfare and Pension Benefit Plans, also known as the ERISA Advisory Council.

The 15-member council provides advice on policies and regulations affecting employee benefit plans governed by the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974.

LOUISVILLE, KY – A federal court in Kentucky has sentenced the co-founder of several phony medical clinics in Louisville and Atlanta, who pleaded guilty to one felony count, after the U.S. Department of Labor found the operators collected $258,000 from 15 self-funded healthcare benefit programs for services they never provided.

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Labor, the IRS and the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation today released Federal Register notices that announce changes to the 2023 Form 5500 Annual Return/Report of Employee Benefit Plan and Form 5500-SF Short Form. These changes are estimated to reduce overall filing costs for employee benefit plans by $95 million annually.

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Labor announced today that its Employee Benefits Security Administration will reopen the public comment period on amendments to its Voluntary Fiduciary Correction Program and the proposed amendment to the associated class Prohibited Transaction Exemption 2002-51.

BOSTON – The U.S. Department of Labor has reached a settlement agreement with the fiduciaries of an Auburn, Maine, employee stock ownership plan to recover $6.3 million for the plan’s participants and resolve alleged violations of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act.

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Labor announced today that enforcement and compliance actions by its Employee Benefits Security Administration recovered more than $1.4 billion for retirement, health and welfare benefits plans, participants and beneficiaries in fiscal year 2022.

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Labor’s Employee Benefits Security Administration, the IRS, and the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp.

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Labor today announced a final rule that allows plan fiduciaries to consider climate change and other environmental, social and governance factors when they select retirement investments and exercise shareholder rights, such as proxy voting.

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Labor today announced that its Employee Benefits Security Administration has proposed updates to its Voluntary Fiduciary Correction Program, including a self-correction component for employers who fail to send employee salary withholding contributions or participant loan repayments to retirement plans in a timely manner. 

NEW YORK – The U.S. Department of Labor issued the following statement on today’s sentencing of George Laufenberg, former plan administrator of the Northeast Carpenters Benefit Funds, who pleaded guilty on June 3, 2022, to embezzling approximately $140,000 and making false statements to the department.

ATLANTA – A federal court judge has ordered TPP Holdings Inc., an Atlanta architecture and interior design firm operating as The Preston Partnership, LLC, and its CEO, Robert N. Preston, to restore $540,658 to TPP’s employee stock ownership plan (ESOP) following an investigation and litigation by the U.S. Department of Labor.

Date of Action:                      Oct. 20, 2022

Type of Action:                     Employee Retirement Income Security Act judgment

Date of Action:          Oct. 11, 2022

Type of Action:         Employee Retirement Income Security Act consent judgement

Company/Owners:    Paramount Industrial Machining Inc., Maxwell Schwartz, Sheila Rossmann

MOORESTOWN, NJ – The fiduciaries of an international design firm in Moorestown must pay more than $2 million to restore mismanaged assets to the company’s retirement plan and in penalties after the U.S. Department of Labor agreed to a settlement following an investigation and litigation.

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Labor’s Employee Benefits Security Administration is seeking nominations to fill five, three-year vacancies on the Advisory Council on Employee Welfare and Pension Benefit Plans, known as the ERISA Advisory Council. Nominations must be submitted by Oct. 3, 2022.

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Labor today announced a settlement with Wells Fargo and Company and Wells Fargo Bank and GreatBanc Trust Company – a plan trustee – that recovers more than $131.8 million for the retirement plan’s participants after a department investigation found that, from 2013 through 2018, the fund overpaid for company stock purchased for the plan.

CHICAGO – Following a U.S. Department of Labor investigation, a federal court has approved an order requiring the president and owner of a Chicago-area real estate company to restore financial losses to participants after he misappropriated funds from the company’s cash balance pension and profit-sharing plans.