As a result of an employees inquiry to the
U.S. Labor Department about money being withheld from his paycheck and not
forwarded to an individual simplified employee pension plan, established by his
company Dream Piper, Inc. of St. Charles, Mo., the department
today sued the SEPs trustees for allegedly retaining and using the money
for their failing companys operating expenses.
The defendants are the SEP trustees Robert and
Kimberly Brown, who were president and secretary-treasurer, respectively, of
the company. Until its closing in January 1998, Dream Piper was a small
computer graphics and consulting firm.
According to the departments lawsuit, Dream
Piper failed to forward withholdings of employee contributions to
individually-established plan accounts during 1997, with a total owed the plan
of $3,283.70, plus lost earnings.
The department is seeking to have the trustees
repay the plan for any losses, including interest. Also, the court is being
asked to remove the Browns from their positions of trust and permanently barred
from serving as fiduciaries or service providers to any ERISA-covered employee
benefit plan and to name an independent fiduciary to collect and administer any
assets owed to the plan and, ultimately, to terminate the plan.
The complaint is the result of an investigation
conducted by the departments St. Louis District Office of the Pension and
Welfare Benefit Administration into alleged violations of the federal pension
law. The lawsuit was filed in the federal district court in St. Louis on Aug.
25.
(Herman v. Robert Brown, et al) Civil Action #
4:00 CV 1360-ERW |