Compliance February 23, 2011

TPA Owner Pleads Guilty to Embezzling Plan Funds

A third-party administrator pleaded guilty to one count of embezzlement of $1 million in assets from 12 retirement plans. 

Reported by

The Department of Labor (DoL) is reporting that Rhonda Sue Irvin Cox, owner of Irvin Administrative Solutions LLC, embezzled assets from 12 of the 56 plans administered by her company, between January 2003 and April 2007.Cox also pleaded guilty to one count of making false statements in documents required under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) to be kept and certified by the plans’ administrator.  

When sentenced, she faces a maximum of five years in prison on each criminal count, a $250,000 fine and a special assessment.  Cox is scheduled to be sentenced on June 1, 2011.   

“This defendant’s theft of employee benefit assets jeopardized the retirement security of workers covered by these plans.  This crime is particularly egregious in light of the duty of plan officials and service providers to protect plan assets from abuse,” said Phyllis C. Borzi, assistant secretary of the Labor Department’s Employee Benefits Security Administration, in the announcement.

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