Month: June 2003

The Associated Press has this article for Yahoo! News: “More Wealthy People Avoided Taxes.” The article refers to this report (which you can access here) recently released by the Internal Revenue Service.

The following articles report on the Chao v. Enron Corporation case filed today by the Department of Labor:

• Findlaw.com has this article by Leigh Strope for the Associated Press: “Labor Department Sues Enron Over Pensions.”
  
• Reuters has this article by Peter Szekely: “US Sues to Recoup Enron Workers’ Pension.”
  
• USAToday reports: “U.S. suing Enron, former execs over pension losses.”
  
• Bloomberg.com provides this account: “U.S. Sues Enron, Former Officers Over Pension Losses.”

In this article by the Houston Chronicle–“Enron facing pension lawsuit; Former executives called negligent”–Eric Berger reports that Rep. John Boehner, R-Ohio, chairman of the House Education and Workforce Committee, praised the lawsuit and stated:

“The Department’s action puts corporate executives and pension plan administrators on notice: Take your fiduciary duty to act in the best interests of your workers seriously or the Labor Department will hold you accountable.”

The Segal Company has published this article: IRS Issues Final Regulations on ERISA Section 204(h) Notices of Reductions in Future Pension Benefits. The article discusses the final regulations under section 204(h) of ERISA which were issued back in April of this year.

A helpful article at Thompson Publishing Group: Ten Keys Listed to Compliant Debit Card Reimbursement System.

Arden Dale for SFGate.com reports FASB ruled yesterday that companies with defined benefit pension plans will for the first time have to issue quarterly financial reports on their plans. Currently, companies are only required to provide financial statements on their defined benefit plans once a year. FASB’s decision is expected to become part of new pension disclosure rules that could go into effect as early as the end of this year. Peter Proestakes, FASB’s pension project manager, said the group hopes to have a draft of the new rule out by August.

Today’s Federal Register is here.

The Secretary of Labor has filed a lawsuit in the federal district court of Houston, Texas against Enron, Kenneth Lay and Jeff Skilling, the Administrative Committee members of Enron’s ESOP and 401(k), and members of the Board of Directors for Enron. According to the press release issued by the DOL, the suit seeks to recover losses plan participants suffered “due to the mismanagement of two of Enron’s pension plans.” You can view the complaint filed here as well as a Fact Sheet and Chronology of Enron-related DOL Activity, both posted on the DOL’s website here.

The following remarks were made by Secretary of Labor Elaine Chao today in announcing the lawsuit:

We are sending a message to every pension plan officer, director and fiduciary: you have a solemn duty to safeguard your employees? pension assets. If you put those assets in jeopardy through neglect or malfeasance, we will hold you accountable.