Compliance September 28, 2004

Former Trustees Fined for Failing to Monitor Fellow Trustee

September 28, 2004 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - The Department of Labor (DoL) has obtained a consent judgment that would require three former trustees of a health and pension plan to restore to it $50,000 for failing to prevent another trustee from violating federal employee benefit law.
Reported by

>Jerome Vuoso, Ludovic Marcovici, and Francis Winn of the District 6, International Union of Industrial Services, Transport & Health Employees in New York City pension plan must also each pay a $10,000 fine for failing to monitor fellow trustee William Perry, who allegedly committed numerous violations of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA). The three trustees must also forfeit and restore any assets they have from the District 6 pension plan and are barred for life from serving any employee benefit plan covered by ERISA.

>The judgment is a result of a lawsuit filed in New York City federal district court in March 2002 that alleged that the three trustees failed to monitor Perry as he committed violations that included diverting checks amounting to over $1 million to himself, paying the union excessive amounts as reimbursements for administrative costs, failing to document expenses, and failing to collect rent on realty owned by the plan. Real estate investments account for over 90% of the pension plan.

District 6 is an organization that represents health workers and other on the eastern seaboard. The pension plan has 300 participants, and the health plan has 3,250 participants.

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