Dallas Executives Barred From Managing Benefit Plans Under Labor Department Court Order

Archived News Release — Caution: Information may be out of date.

Dallas, Texas - Former executives of Dallas SER Jobs for Progress, Inc. were permanently barred from managing employee benefit plans under a judgment obtained by the U.S. Department of Labor.

“The department is committed to protect the benefits promised by employers,” said Steve Eischen, director of the Pension and Welfare Benefits Administration’s Dallas Regional Office, which investigated the case.

The judgment, entered on January 30 in federal district court in Dallas, Texas, resolves a suit against William Addison Durboraw, Danilio Davila and Eliezer Perez Vecchio for mismanaging assets of the corporation’s health plan.  The order also replaces corporate chairman Leonard Chaires with independent fiduciary Brooks Hamilton of Brooks Employee Benefit Services to administer the plan and distribute assets to eligible participants.  The remaining defendants were barred from receiving any restitution from the plan.

The court action resulted from a December 14 Labor Department suit alleging that the defendants violated the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA).  From June 1994 to September 1996, Duboraw, Davila and Vecchio allegedly allowed $174,423.43 in plan assets to be withdrawn from the plan’s account to pay corporate operating and payroll expenses.

Dallas SER is a non-profit organization that provided education and employment for disadvantaged individuals.  The self-funded plan, created in 1990, provides health, dental and life insurance benefits.

Employers and employees can reach the Dallas office of PWBA at 214.767.6831 for help with problems relating to private-sector pension and health plans.

The judgment and order resulted from an investigation conducted by the Dallas Regional Office of the Labor Department’s Pension and Welfare Benefits Administration into violations of ERISA.

(Chao v. Dallas SER Jobs for Progress, Inc.
Civil Action No. 3-01CV2646-L)

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Archived News Release — Caution: Information may be out of date.