Archived News Release — Caution: Information may be out of date.

Washington, DC - The U.S. Department of Labor’s Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA) today adopted final amendments to update financial standards and streamline record-keeping requirements of a widely used class exemption available with respect to plans whose assets are managed by qualified professional asset managers (QPAMs).

Archived News Release — Caution: Information may be out of date.

Fairfield, New Jersey - The U.S. Department of Labor has sued to obtain appointment of an independent fiduciary to terminate the 401(k) plan of defunct JAWZ USA Inc., Fairfield, New Jersey and distribute its assets to the participants. The company ceased operations in 2001.

The suit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA).

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Philadelphia, Pennsylvania - A New Jersey grand jury indicted the owner of Knight Contracting Company, Clarksburg, New Jersey, on one count of theft for failing to forward approximately $500,000 in employee contributions to the company’s pension plan.

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Cleveland, Ohio - The U.S. Department of Labor today sued the trustees of the Cleveland-based Sheet Metal Workers Local 33 pension plan for imprudently investing plan assets in risky private investments with Capital Consultants LLC (CCL) of Portland, Oregon. The department’s suit seeks to restore all losses on the investments.

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Atlanta, Georgia - The U.S. Department of Labor has sued bankrupt Terry Manufacturing Company Inc. of Roanoke, Alabama, and two company officers and trustees of its 401(k) plan, for failing to remit and timely forward approximately $165,000 in employee contributions and interest to the plan.

Archived News Release — Caution: Information may be out of date.

Kansas City, Missouri - The U.S. Department of Labor has obtained a court order appointing an independent fiduciary to manage the abandoned 401(k) plans of Guy’s Acquisition Company. The suit also asks to distribute almost $20,000 to 48 eligible participants and to terminate the plans.

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Los Angeles, California - Margo Wainwright Harris pled guilty to misrepresenting to the Labor Department that more than $80,000 owed to the money purchase retirement plan of the Frederick Douglass Child Development Center Inc. in Los Angeles had been repaid. Her plea came after the first week of a criminal trial in federal district court following an indictment that was issued in March 2005.

Archived News Release — Caution: Information may be out of date.

Archived News Release — Caution: Information may be out of date.

Detroit, Michigan - The U.S. Department of Labor has obtained a consent judgment restoring $17,928.30 to two Gladstone, Michigan-based Lakeside Machine, Inc. profit sharing & salary deferral plans – one for salaried employees and the other a collectively bargained employee plan.

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Somerset, New Jersey - Richard J. Valenti, owner of Valairco Inc., Green Brook, New Jersey, pled guilty to the theft of $105,707 of employee benefit plan assets from the company’s 401(k) plan. Valenti has already made restitution to the plan.

Archived News Release — Caution: Information may be out of date.

New York, New York - The U.S. Labor Department sued the fiduciaries of the 401(k) plan of the bankrupt Standard Automotive Corporation, headquartered in Hillsborough Township, New Jersey, for alleged misuse of more than $800,000 in plan assets to pay improper legal expenses.

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Denver, Colorado - The U.S. Department of Labor has sued to appoint a successor fiduciary to manage the 401(k) profit sharing plan of defunct Sirius Inc., Englewood, Colorado.  The company’s 401(k) plan has been without oversight since the company ceased doing business in 2002.

Archived News Release — Caution: Information may be out of date.

Washington, DC - The U.S. Department of Labor is soliciting nominations to fill five three-year vacancies on the Advisory Council on Employee Welfare and Pension Benefit Plans, known as the ERISA Advisory Council. The deadline for receipt of nominations is October 1, 2005.

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Charleston, West Virginia - The U.S. Labor Department has filed a lawsuit against Richard Lewis, trustee of the profit sharing plan of Benefit Services Inc., Charleston, West Virginia, to restore losses resulting from violations of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA).

The suit also seeks to permanently bar Lewis from serving as a fiduciary to any ERISA-covered plan in the future.

Archived News Release — Caution: Information may be out of date.

Atlanta, Georgia - The U.S. Department of Labor has sued to appoint a successor fiduciary to manage a defunct Gainesville, Georgia, company’s employee profit sharing plan. Primecare of North Florida’s plan has been without oversight since the company ceased doing business in 2002.

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WASHINGTON — U.S. Labor Secretary Elaine L. Chao made the following statement following the passage of H.R. 525, the Small Business Health Fairness Act, by the U.S. House of Representatives:

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WASHINGTON—U.S. Secretary of Labor and Chairman of the Board of the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp. Elaine L. Chao today praised Chairman Charles Grassley for his leadership of the Senate Finance Committee in acting quickly to pass bipartisan legislation to reform the nation's pension systems. The Committee unanimously approved the bill.

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Washington, DC - The U.S. Department of Labor’s Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA), the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) today released advance copies of the 2005 Form 5500.

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CHICAGO - The U. S. Department of Labor has obtained a consent judgment requiring the former president of Tri-County Heating and Air Inc., Arcadia, Wis., to restore $1,780.11 to the company's SIMPLE IRA plan.

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ATLANTA - The U. S. Department of Labor's Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA) today announced an extension of the deadline for filing Form 5500 and Form 5500 EZ annual report/returns due to damages from Hurricane Dennis in Alabama.