Department of Labor sues principal of defunct Pennsylvania modular building manufacturer to remove company’s health plan fiduciary, restore losses

Date of action:           Sept. 22, 2024

Type of action:          Complaint

Court:                         

U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York

Defendants:                

Jacob Frydman and iBuilt LLC Group Health Plan

Background: An investigation by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Employee Benefits Security Administration found that from March to June 2021, plan fiduciary Jacob Frydman violated the Employee Retirement Income Security Act when he failed to forward money withheld from employee paychecks to the company’s health insurance plan and to collect funding owed by iBuilt LLC. As a result of Frydman’s actions, the company’s health plan was canceled by United HealthCare Services Inc. on June 11, 2021, retroactively to its effective date of March 1, 2021. However, Frydman did not apprise employees of the funding issues, causing them to believe they still had coverage. To date, iBuilt employees’ health claims remain unpaid.

Relief: The complaint seeks to remove Frydman as fiduciary of the plan and asks the court to appoint an independent fiduciary to pay employee health claims. In addition, the complaint seeks the court to order Frydman to restore all losses to the plan and fund the claims incurred by participants and beneficiaries during the plan’s operation.

Quote: “The law requires fiduciaries to always act in the best interest of plan participants and beneficiaries. When they fall short of this obligation, the U.S. Department of Labor will use all available tools to hold them legally accountable,” said Regional Solicitor of Labor Jeffrey Rogoff in New York. 

iBuilt LLC is a defunct modular building manufacturer formerly based in Berwick, Pennsylvania.

Su v. Frydman, et. al 

Case Number1:24-cv-07170