|
The U.S. Department of Labor has obtained a
settlement with officials of the Rolling Meadows, Ill. accounting and auditing
firm of Whitfield and Reninger, Ltd., requiring them to restore $20,406 in
principal and interest to two profit sharing plan participants and to pay
$4,081 in civil monetary penalties.
James R.Whitfield, former trustee; and Robert W.
Reninger and James M. Reninger, current trustees of the Whitfield &
Reninger, Ltd. Profit Sharing Plan and Trust, neither admitted nor denied
liability in the settlement, and waived any rights to restitution to their
individual plan accounts.
“Our goal is to assure that consumers know
that the department is only a phone call away to help protect the benefits
promised by employers,” said Kenneth Bazar, regional director of the
Chicago Regional Office of the Labor Department’s Pension and Welfare
Benefits Administration. “Employers and workers can reach us at (312)
353-0900 for help with any problems relating to private-sector pension and
health plans.”
The department filed its lawsuit Nov. 29 against
the trustees for making two unsecured loans totalling $155,000 to Thomas
Collins, an outside party, in 1993, resulting in a $95,495 loss to the plan. On
June 16, 1994, involuntary bankruptcy proceedings were initiated against
Collins and his company, Lake States Commodities, Inc., in U.S. Bankruptcy
Court for the Northern District of Illinois. Distributions resulting from the
bankruptcies have yielded $59,505 in payments to the plan.
The plan, funded through discretionary employer
contributions, had three participants and $1,680,461 in assets as of June 30,
1997. At the time the plan assets were invested, the plan had five participants
including the fiduciaries.
An investigation conducted by PWBA’s Chicago
Regional Office resulted in the filing of the department’s lawsuit. The
settlement document - a consent order and judgment - was approved by U.S.
District Court Judge Wayne R. Andersen on Nov. 30, 1999, in federal district
court in Chicago.
Herman v. James R. Whitfield, et al
Civil
Action #99-C-7707 |
