Deals and People July 24, 2013

U.S. Bank Names Trust, Custody Sales Officer

July 24, 2013 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - Chris Underwood has joined the U.S. Bank Institutional Trust and Custody division as a business development officer.
Reported by

Underwood is responsible for developing relationships with potential clients in Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana, Alaska and Hawaii. Her role focuses on corporations, insurance companies, foundations, financial institutions and government entities with fiduciary and custodial needs. She is based in Seattle and reports to Karl Wilson, senior vice president and regional manager.

Underwood has 25 years of trust, custody and investment management experience with Key Bank, where she served as a relationship manager with territory sales responsibilities. She is a graduate of Pierce College in Tacoma, Washington.

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Compliance July 24, 2013

DOL Resolves Case of Illegal Pension Transactions

July 24, 2013 (PLANSPONSOR.com) – The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) has obtained a judgment in federal court against a pension plan trustee who made illegal transactions.
Reported by

The trustee of two defined benefit pension plans admitted to entering into $4,232,915 in alleged unlawful plan transactions between 2002 and 2010. Colette Mordo, the trustee and fiduciary to the pension plans of the New York City-based Sadimara Knitwear Inc. and the Stallion Knits Ltd., also agreed to restore, up to that amount, any shortfall in assets owed to the plan participants and beneficiaries.

This judgment resolves a lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York alleging that Mordo violated her fiduciary duties under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA). The suit alleged that Mordo authorized the pension plans to make improper loans and transfers of plan assets over several years to multiple recipients, including members of the Mordo family and International Design Concepts LLC and Apparel Group International LLC, two companies in which Mordo had an ownership interest.

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The judgment removed Mordo from any and all fiduciary positions with the plans and permanently bars her from serving as a fiduciary to any ERISA-covered plan. It also appointed an independent fiduciary who will administer the plans, determine and pay out benefits to participants, and then terminate the plans. The DOL is authorized to seek a contempt order should Mordo violate any terms of the judgment.

Sadimara Knitwear Inc. and Stallion Knits Ltd. were garment companies headquartered in New York, New York, which are no longer in operation.

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