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Release Date: March 12, 2008
Release Number: 08-207-NEW/BOS 2008-079
Contact Name: John M. Chavez
Phone Number: 617.565.2075
New York – The marketing and communications
company Guild Concepts Ltd., White Plains, New York, and its president
have been ordered to repay $1.5 million to the company’s pension plan
under a consent judgment resolving a U.S. Department of Labor lawsuit
alleging violations of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA).
“The department’s legal actions will restore the
pension plan’s assets that these workers and their families have been
counting on for their retirement,” said U.S. Secretary of Labor Elaine
L. Chao.
Guild Concepts Ltd. and its president, Victor Ayala,
were named as defendants in the suit, which was filed simultaneously
with the judgment. The Guild Concepts Ltd. Employee Savings Plan
provided retirement benefits for 77 participants as of December 2007.
Defendant Ayala served as a trustee to the plan and was responsible for
the proper management of its assets.
The suit states that Ayala and Philip Liu were
co-trustees of the plan between January 1998 and May 2004. At the time
of the improper acts, Liu was also controller of Guild Concepts Ltd. Liu
is alleged to have failed to remit more than $200,000 in employee
contributions to the plan and to have transferred more than $996,000 in
plan assets to the company’s account. The suit also alleges that Ayala
failed to monitor and prevent Liu’s misuse of plan assets, while the
company knowingly received plan assets. Liu has pled guilty to
embezzlement and is currently serving a sentence of 57 months in prison.
This judgment was entered in the U.S. District Court
for the Southern District of New York. An independent fiduciary agreed
to by the parties must report to the court. In addition, Ayala is
ordered to forfeit his own plan account as restitution and is barred
permanently from serving as a fiduciary to any plan governed by ERISA
The suit resulted from an investigation by the Labor
Department’s Employee Benefits Security Administration’s (EBSA) New
York Regional Office. Employers and workers can reach EBSA at
212.607.8600 or toll-free at 866.444.3272 for help with problems
relating to private sector retirement and health plans. In fiscal year
2007, EBSA achieved monetary results of $1.5 billion related to pension,
401(k), health and other benefits for millions of American workers and
their families.
Chao v Guild Concepts Ltd.
Civil Action Number: 08-CV-01716
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placing your request at 202.693.7828 or TTY 202.693.7755. The U.S.
Department of Labor is committed to providing America's employers and
employees with easy access to understandable information on how to comply
with its laws and regulations. For more information, please visit the
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