Judge orders company president to restore more than $143,000
to retirement plan of Attevo Inc. in Cleveland

CLEVELAND — C. David Snyder, fiduciary to the Cleveland-based Attevo 401(k) retirement plan, has been ordered by a judge to restore $143,481.42 to the plan. The judgment resolves a U.S. Department of Labor lawsuit stemming from an investigation by the department's Employee Benefits Security Administration. EBSA found that the plan's fiduciaries violated the Employee Retirement Income Security Act when they failed to remit participant contributions and loan repayments withheld from paychecks to the retirement plan.

"This agreement restores workers' hard-earned retirement assets and rights a wrong on the part of their employer," said Joe Rivers, director of EBSA's Cincinnati Regional Office, which conducted the investigation. "People entrusted with workers' retirement plans must be held accountable. At the department, we are committed to helping workers obtain their rightful benefits when plan fiduciaries violate the law."

The investigation determined that Cirric Inc., the successor to Averrock Inc. and Attevo Inc., and its sister company, Ruralogic Inc., were all fiduciaries to the Attevo 401(k) retirement plan. So were two of the companies' owners, Snyder and Joseph Burmester. All were named as defendants in the suit and found by the court to be jointly liable for losses to the plan.

The monetary judgment will be satisfied by Snyder making payments over a 12-month period beginning Sept. 15, 2014. If Snyder fails to do so, the judgment will become immediately due from all defendants.

The judgment also permanently bars Snyder and Burmester from serving as a fiduciary or service provider to any ERISA-covered employee benefit plan, and appoints an independent fiduciary to administer, and ultimately terminate, the plan. As of Aug. 13, 2013, the plan had 24 participants and $379,424.20 in assets.

Workers participating in employer-sponsored health and retirement benefit plans, who feel that they have been denied a benefit inappropriately or have questions about benefits laws, can contact an EBSA benefits adviser by visiting http://www.askebsa.dol.gov or calling 866-444-EBSA (3272).

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Perez v. Charles David Snyder; Joseph Burmester; Cirric Inc., f/k/a Averrock Inc., f/k/a Attevo Inc.; and Ruralogic Inc. Civil Action Number 1:13-cv-02474-CAB