Bowmansville Company And Trustee Agree To Repay Over $1.6 Million To Pension Plan

Archived News Release — Caution: Information may be out of date.

Bella Vista Group, Inc. of Bowmansville, N.Y., and company president Pasquale Cipolla have agreed to repay $1,638,867 to the company’s profit sharing plan as restitution for substantial losses on a series of loans made by the pension plan to companies owned by Cipolla under a consent judgment and order obtained by the U. S. Department of Labor.

In addition, the company and Cipolla agreed to appointment of an independent plan administrator who is satisfactory to the department to manage the plan. Cipolla, who also was trustee of the plan, agreed to be barred from serving in a position of trust to any plan governed by the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA).

“The participants of this plan will be made whole because of cooperative efforts between the department and the Internal Revenue Service, ” said James Benages, the Boston Regional Director of the Pension and Welfare Benefits Administration (PWBA). “Close coordination among agencies of the federal government made it possible for the defendants to repay to their employees the hard earned dollars needed to pay promised pension benefits,” he added.

In 1994, the department sued Bella Vista Group (BVG), its parent Innovative Genera Contractors (IGC), and plan trustee Pasquale Cipolla for making $1.3 million in loans toBVG, IGC and others over the period 1988 to 1993. The lawsuit alleged that Cipolla failed to conduct credit checks and to require security for the loans. Numerous of the loans are in default and resulted in losses to the plan.

The settlement, entered on Feb. 24 in federal district court in Buffalo, resulted from an investigation conducted by PWBA’s Boston Regional Office into alleged violations of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act.

(Herman v. Cipolla)
Civil Action No. 94-CV-0507H

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Archived News Release — Caution: Information may be out of date.

Contact Name: GLORIA DELLA
Phone Number: 202.219.8921