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DOL bars Connecticut TPA from acting as plan fiduciary

Federal court bars former administrators of Plainville, Connecticut pension plans from future service to employee benefit plans

Hartford, Connecticut - The U.S. Department of Labor has succeeded in obtaining a federal court order prohibiting the third party administrators to the retirement plans of Wasley Products Inc. in Plainville, Connecticut, from serving as fiduciaries to any employee benefit plan governed by the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) in the future.

The department recently filed suit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Connecticut against Barry Leonard Bulakites and James Albert Winslow for alleged violations of ERISA. Between late 1990 and November 1, 2002, the defendants served as third party administrators to the company's defined benefit plan for unionized employees and its 401(k) plan for non-union, salaried employees. The suit alleged that the defendants received employee and employer contributions on behalf of the plans, but did not always transmit the assets to plan accounts.

"These defendants diverted the employee contributions to bank accounts to which they had access," said James Benages, regional director for the department's Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA) in Boston. "They then used that money for their own purposes."

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