Labor Department Settlement Restores More Than $20 Thousand To Illinois Plan Participants

Archived News Release — Caution: Information may be out of date.

The U.S. Department of Labor has obtained a settlement with officials of the Rolling Meadows, Ill. accounting and auditing firm of Whitfield and Reninger, Ltd., requiring them to restore $20,406 in principal and interest to two profit sharing plan participants and to pay $4,081 in civil monetary penalties.

James R.Whitfield, former trustee; and Robert W. Reninger and James M. Reninger, current trustees of the Whitfield & Reninger, Ltd. Profit Sharing Plan and Trust, neither admitted nor denied liability in the settlement, and waived any rights to restitution to their individual plan accounts.

“Our goal is to assure that consumers know that the department is only a phone call away to help protect the benefits promised by employers,” said Kenneth Bazar, regional director of the Chicago Regional Office of the Labor Department’s Pension and Welfare Benefits Administration. “Employers and workers can reach us at (312) 353-0900 for help with any problems relating to private-sector pension and health plans.”

The department filed its lawsuit Nov. 29 against the trustees for making two unsecured loans totalling $155,000 to Thomas Collins, an outside party, in 1993, resulting in a $95,495 loss to the plan. On June 16, 1994, involuntary bankruptcy proceedings were initiated against Collins and his company, Lake States Commodities, Inc., in U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Illinois. Distributions resulting from the bankruptcies have yielded $59,505 in payments to the plan.

The plan, funded through discretionary employer contributions, had three participants and $1,680,461 in assets as of June 30, 1997. At the time the plan assets were invested, the plan had five participants including the fiduciaries.

An investigation conducted by PWBA’s Chicago Regional Office resulted in the filing of the department’s lawsuit. The settlement document - a consent order and judgment - was approved by U.S. District Court Judge Wayne R. Andersen on Nov. 30, 1999, in federal district court in Chicago.

Herman v. James R. Whitfield, et al
Civil Action #99-C-7707

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Archived News Release — Caution: Information may be out of date.

Contact Name: Sharon Morrissey
Phone Number: 202.219.8921