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Release Date: 06/04/1998
Release Number:
USDL:98-83
Contact Name: Sharon Morrissey
Phone Number:
202.219.8921 |
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Chicago attorney George C. Hook was sentenced to seven years in
prison and ordered to make $735,566 in restitution to the pension plan of
Wittek Industries, now under trusteeship of the Pension Benefit Guaranty
Corporation. The May 26 sentencing took place in the federal district court in
Peoria, III. Hook was convicted May 29, 1997 of wire fraud, theft from a
pension plan and money laundering for his role in raiding the company's pension
plan. |
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The plan lost $696,800 of its $990,000 in assets in a complex
scheme orchestrated by Hook and his client Carmen Viana, who owned Wittek
Industries. The scheme required deceptive wire communications to the Detroit
bank managing the pension plan's assets so that the funds would be relinquished
by the bank. Then the money was funneled through a sham real estate corporation
to the failing Wittek Corporation after a series of certificates of deposit
were purchased and used as collateral for loans to disguise the nature and
source of the funds. |
| Viana, also indicted in the case and
considered a fugitive, is believed to be living in her native country of
Brazil. She moved Wittek Industries to Galesburg after the E.C. Manufacturing
Division of Wittek in Pineville, N.C. closed in 1991. The retirement plan was
set up under a collective bargaining agreement with the United Steel Workers
Local 6141 to benefit some 200 steel workers employed at the Pineville
facility. |
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Prior to last week's sentencing, the court ruled on numerous
post-trial motions, conducted additional evidentiary hearings and addressed
lengthy objections by Hook to the pre-sentence report prepared by the Probation
Office in Peoria. Hook received a sentence of 84 months on the wire fraud and
money laundering counts and a concurrent sentence of 60 months on one count of
theft from a pension plan. He is scheduled to report to prison June 22 since
his motion to remain free pending appeal was denied. |
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The sentencing is the result of a joint investigation carried out
by the Kansas City Regional Office of the Department of Labor's Pension and
Welfare Benefits Administration, which enforces the Employee Retirement Income
Security Act (ERISA) and the Criminal Investigation Division of the Internal
Revenue Service. The case was prosecuted by the U.S. |
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Attorney's Office for the Central District of Illinois in
Peoria.
U.S. v. Carmen Viana and George C. Hook Criminal Action
#95-10010 |
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U.S. Department of
Labor news releases are accessible on the Internet. The information in this
news release will be made available in alternate format upon request (large
print, Braille, audio tape or disc) from the Central Office for Assistive
Services and Technology. Please specify which news release when placing your
request. Call 202.693.7773 or TTY 202.693.7755. |
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