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Release Date: December 10, 2007
Release Number: 07-1759-ATL-369
Contact Name: Dan Fuqua/Michael Wald
Phone Number: 404.562.2078/404.562.2076

U.S. Department of Labor obtains court order restoring assets to Huntersville, North Carolina-based trucking company’s profit-sharing plan

Atlanta – The U.S. Department of Labor has obtained a default judgment in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of North Carolina requiring Vinson Van Go LLC of Huntersville, North Carolina and its chief executive officer, Gregory Vinson, to restore $7,633 to the company’s profit-sharing plan.

“The Labor Department must intercede to protect employees’ rights when it sees that companies are failing in their fiduciary responsibilities,” said Howard Marsh, director of the Atlanta Regional Office of the department’s Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA).

The judgment resolved a lawsuit filed by the department in 2006 alleging that the company diverted a portion of the plan’s assets in violation of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA).

The court removed Vinson Van Go LLC and Vinson as fiduciaries of the plan and barred them from future service as fiduciaries to any plan covered by ERISA. An independent fiduciary was appointed to oversee the plan’s assets for its eight participants. Vinson Van Go was a trucking company that specialized in expedited delivery shipments.

In fiscal year 2006, EBSA achieved monetary results of $1.4 billion related to pension, 401(k), health and other benefits for millions of American workers and their families.

Employers and workers can reach EBSA’s Atlanta Regional Office at 404.302.3900 or toll-free at 1.866.444.EBSA (3272) for help with problems relating to private sector retirement and health plans.

Chao v. Vinson Van Go LLC
Civil Action File Number 3:06-cv-00499

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