US Labor Department sues defunct Meyersdale company to restore unremitted participant contributions to employee 401(k) retirement plan

Date of Action: Dec. 2, 2016

Type of Action: Complaint

Defendant(s): Matthew Kenneth Smith
Wind Turbine Solutions LLC
Wind Turbine Solutions LLC Retirement Trust

Allegations: Based on an investigation conducted by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Employee Benefits Security Administration, the U.S. Secretary of Labor filed a complaint alleging:

In 2011, Wind Turbine Solutions LLC, a defunct company based in Meyersdale, Pennsylvania, established the Wind Turbine Solutions LLC Retirement Trust for its employees. Matthew Kenneth Smith owned the company and served as plan trustee.

From 2011 until the company ceased operations in April 2014, the company and Smith served as plan fiduciaries responsible for making decisions concerning the remittance of elective contributions to the plan. They withheld approximately $78,000 from the employee participants’ wages and salary, which the employee participants specifically requested be transferred to the plan; failed to transfer a significant amount of the employees’ contributions to the plan; and failed to pay interest on the unremitted contributions.

Resolution:  The lawsuit seeks to require each of the fiduciary defendants, the company and Smith, to jointly restore all losses caused to the plan by their fiduciary breaches. Additionally, the complaint seeks to bar Smith from serving as a fiduciary to plans covered by the Employee Retirement Income Security Act  in the future.

Court: U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania

Docket Number: 3:16-cv-00255-KRG