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Compliance June 8, 2009
NC Sign Company Owner Fined $57K in Embezzlement Case
June 8, 2009 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - The owner of
defunct Concord, North Carolina, sign firm has been ordered
by a federal judge to pay $57,089 to the company's 401(k) and
health plans and sentenced to five years of supervised
release.
Reported by Fred Schneyer
According to a Department of Labor (DoL) news release,Mitchell W. Messer, majority owner and president of Wesco Signs Inc.,also must perform 416 hours of community service.
Messer was indicted by a federal grand jury August26, 2008, on two counts of embezzling assets from employee benefit plans governed by the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA). The indictment charged Messer with embezzlement of $19,286.21 in 401(k) assets and $5,583.38 in health care premiums.
According to the allegations,from February4 through June 17, 2005, he failed to forward retirement plan contributions deducted from employees’ paychecksand alsodid not forward health care premiums withheld from employee wages from July 11 to November4, 2005.