|
 Printer-Friendly Version
Archived News Release--Caution:
information may be out of date.
For more information call: (202) 219-8921
The U. S. Department of Labor has sued the trustees of the
New York District Council of Benefit Funds for misusing more than $37 million
in assets of the pension, annuity, vacation and welfare funds of the New York
District Council of Carpenters.
The New York City District Council of Carpenters sponsors
pension, annuity, vacation, welfare and apprenticeship plans under collective
bargaining agreements with contributing employers. The plans covers more than
23,000 members. Collectively, the funds had in excess of one billion dollars in
assets at the end of September 1993.
According to the lawsuit, the trustees to the funds
violated the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) by:
- transferring more than $37.6 million from the pension, annuity and
vacation funds to the welfare fund;
- failing to collect money transferred to the welfare fund;
- paying the lease and insurance on luxury vehicles, equipped with
cellular telephones, used by numerous employees of the funds without
determining whether such use was needed and the costs reasonable;
- failing to enter into leases and collect rent owed to the pension and
apprenticeship funds by the District Council, union locals and the other funds;
- compensating employees Alan Burns and Dominick Lavacca without
monitoring services they provided to the funds and failing to obtain
reimbursement for services performed for the Council at plan expense.
Named in the lawsuit are former union trustees of the
funds, some of whom were removed by the Carpenters International Union of the
AFL-CIO last week, current and former employer trustees of the funds, the
District Council, Resilient Floorcoverers Local 2287 and United Brotherhood of
Carpenters and Joiners of America Local 1456. The individual trustees named as
defendants were Frederick W. Devine, John Abbatemarco, Charles Terjesen, Thomas
Nastasi, Jr., Robert Cavanaugh, Julius Kleinstein, Paul J. O'Brien, Edmund
Greco, Alvin M. Jaff, Richard Harding, Jr., John A. Brunetti, Francis McHale,
Pascal McGuinness, Irving Weidman, Theodore E. King, Joseph J. Fater and
Michael Crimi.
The lawsuit seeks a court order to require that the
trustees restore all losses resulting from their improper actions, require the
funds and the unions to repay any funds that were improperly received by them
and to correct all prohibited transactions.
The case is the result of an investigation by the New York
Regional Office of Pension and Welfare Benefits Administration. The complaint
was filed on July 2 in federal district court in New York City.
Archived News Release--Caution:
information may be out of date.
| |
|
