CINCINNATI – The third-party administrator to 56 employee benefit plans – most covered by the Employee Retirement Income Security Act – located throughout Ohio and several other states pleaded guilty to one count of embezzlement of $1 million in assets from 12 retirement plans.

The additional locations of the plans are Beth Park and Ford City, Pa.; South Plainfield, N.J.; Waltham, Mass.; Anderson, Ind.; Saco, Maine; and Orange Beach, Ala.

CHARLESTON, W.Va. – The U.S. Department of Labor has obtained a court judgment appointing an independent fiduciary to manage the retirement savings plan of Shawnee Hills Inc., a defunct mental health hospital formerly located in Charleston.

Under the judgment, entered in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia, G Trust of Topeka, Kan., was appointed as the independent fiduciary with authority to manage the plan, distribute assets to plan participants and beneficiaries, and terminate the plan.

PITTSBURGH – The U.S. Department of Labor has sued Liberty-Pittsburgh Systems Inc. of Pittsburgh and its chief executive officer, Kevin T. Weir, for failing to remit employee contributions to its 401(k) plan in violation of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act.

The lawsuit alleges that from January 2007 through December 2009 the defendants failed to remit employee contributions or participant loan repayments to the plan, and remitted certain contributions and loan repayments to the plan late without interest.

NEW CASTLE, Del. – The U.S. Department of Labor has obtained a consent judgment ordering Arkion Life Sciences LLC and its corporate officers, Earnest W. Porta, Rick, L. Stejskal, Harvey L. Weaver and Anthony J. Simei, to restore $193,795 in restitution and interest to the company's 401(k) plan.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. – The U.S. Department of Labor has obtained a court judgment and order appointing an independent fiduciary to manage the 401(k) plan of defunct BlueSky Brands Inc. of Westerly, R.I. The judgment and order resolve a lawsuit filed by the Labor Department against the company for violations of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act.

JANESVILLE, Wis. – The U.S. Department of Labor has sued Premier Vending Inc. of Janesville and its president and co-owner, David R. Biggerstaff, to restore $26,163.50 to the company’s 401(k) plan in voluntary employee contributions, plus lost interest. The case resulted from an investigation by the Labor Department’s Employee Benefits Security Administration into alleged violations of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act.

MINNEAPOLIS – A federal district court in Minneapolis has granted the U.S. Department of Labor's motion for summary judgment requiring Copy Cat Business Systems Inc. and its former owners, Susan Blackford and Joel Blackford, to repay $13,218.76 in employee contributions and lost interest owed to the company's savings incentive match plan for employees individual retirement account. The court's decision resolves a lawsuit filed by the Labor Department against the defendants for alleged violations of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act.

BOSTON – The U.S. Department of Labor has obtained a court judgment and order appointing an independent fiduciary to manage the 401(k) plan of defunct CEA Systems Inc. of Canton, Mass. The company operated as CEA Incorporated and CEA Inc.

Austin, Texas - The U.S. Department of Labor has obtained a consent judgment and order resolving a lawsuit against Austin-based HBMG Inc. and Manuel Zarate, the company’s president. The suit alleged that the defendants violated the Employee Retirement Income Security Act.

“Plan officials have a duty to manage and protect employees’ benefit plans and their assets,” said Roger Hilburn, Employee Benefits Security Administration’s regional director in Dallas. “EBSA took this action to restore plan assets that were not properly preserved for the company’s workers.”

RALEIGH, N.C. – The U.S. Department of Labor has obtained a consent judgment requiring that the Castleton Group recognize in its bankruptcy filing a priority claim of $66,705 in health insurance premiums owed to plan participants of the former Raleigh-based company.

The judgment also permanently bars former company president Suzanne Clifton from serving as a fiduciary of any employee benefit plan governed by the Employee Retirement Income Security Act in the future.

SCANDIA, Minn. – The U.S. Department of Labor has filed a lawsuit against Thommes and Thomas Land Clearing Inc. of Scandia and its owners in the U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota for their alleged failure to remit and timely forward employee contributions owed to the company’s retirement plan, in violation of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act.

PORTLAND, Maine – The U.S. Department of Labor has sued Larry Chaney and his defunct company, CLRS Enterprises, of Portland for failing to forward approximately $11,000 in employee contributions withheld from employees’ paychecks to the company’s savings incentive match plan for employees individual retirement account, known as a SIMPLE IRA. The company formerly operated as Woodward Thomsen Co.

CRANBURY, N.J. – The U.S. Department of Labor has filed a lawsuit seeking the appointment of an independent fiduciary to oversee the abandoned 401(k) plan of defunct International Business Software Solutions, a company formerly located in Cranbury. The plan covered 31 participants and had $344,692 in assets as of December 2009, the latest data available.

PASADENA, Calif. – The U.S. Department of Labor has obtained a court order restoring $601,736 to the employee stock ownership plan of defunct Air Transport Manufacturing Co. in Sun Valley, Calif. The company ceased operations and sold its assets in 2008.

BOSTON – The U.S. Department of Labor has obtained a consent judgment requiring Sylvestre Franc Inc., operator of a salon in Newton, Mass., as well as the company’s owner and the plan trustee, to restore $33,918.73 in misused plan assets to the company’s 401(k) plan.

NEW YORK – The U.S. Department of Labor has filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of New York seeking the appointment of an independent fiduciary to oversee the abandoned 401(k) plan of the defunct Swigonski Management Group, formerly located in Sherrill, N.Y.

Crystal Lake, Illinois – The U.S. Department of Labor has filed an adversary complaint against Joseph Phelan, former president and fiduciary of Phezer Enterprises Inc. of Crystal Lake, in order to prevent the discharge of $10,470 from his personal bankruptcy, which is owed to the company’s employee health plan.

West Palm Beach, Florida – A federal court in West Palm Beach, Florida, has approved a consent judgment between the U.S. Department of Labor and officers of Bonnie Tile Corp. to restore funds to the company’s savings incentive match plan for employees individual retirement account (SIMPLE IRA) plan.

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Labor’s Employee Benefits Security Administration today announced it will hold a public hearing on March 1, 2011 and if necessary, March 2, 2011, in Washington, D.C. on the proposed rule amending the definition of the term “fiduciary.” The proposed rule was published in the Oct. 22, 2010 Federal Register for public comment.

WASHINGTON – Officials at seven of the U.S. Department of Labor’s agencies will host live Web chats and, in one case, a conference call to discuss their respective regulatory agendas during the first week of January 2011. These events are open to the public and members of the press. The Labor Department’s entire regulatory agenda was published in the Dec. 20 issue of the Federal Register.