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Compliance July 28, 2016
$2 Million Retirement Plan Never Properly Terminated
A federal court has removed the plan’s fiduciary and replaced him with an independent fiduciary.
Reported by Rebecca Moore
The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) has obtained a consent judgment and order to remove a fiduciary from a $2.2 million employee savings plan and trust in Ashland, Kentucky.
According to a lawsuit filed by the DOL, involved in the coal mining industry, Horizon NR LLC ceased operations on September 28, 2004, but the fiduciary to the plan never terminated the plan.
As of September 2015, the plan had 144 participants and $2,296,818 in plan assets being held by Fidelity Management Trust Co. The fiduciary’s failure to administer the plan caused the plan’s assets not to be properly distributed to participants or their beneficiaries. Some plan beneficiaries have been unable to collect money from their account.
The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky issued a consent order and judgment removing the fiduciary as an authorized signer for the plan and appointing Lefoldt & Co., P.A. as an independent fiduciary. Lefoldt & Co., P.A will administer the plan, distribute the assets to participants and beneficiaries and have the responsibility to terminate the plan.
The court’s order is here.