Compliance
TPA Sentenced for False Statement on Form 5500
The U.S. Department of Labor’s Employee Benefits Security
Administration announced that the owner of Philadelphia Pension Planning
Corp. has been sentenced for making a false statement in a Form 5500 annual report.
Reported by Rebecca Moore
Charleen Ryan was sentenced to 15 months in prison and three years of supervised release for making a false statement in the Bustleton Landscaping Co. Inc. Profit Sharing Plan Form 5500 annual report. She was also ordered to pay $715,228.79 to the plan, according to the announcement. Ryan pleaded guilty to making a false statement, admitting that she prepared, executed and authorized the Form 5500 for the plan for plan year 2003.
Ryan falsely stated in the Form 5500 that the plan held $797,373 in assets at the beginning of plan year 2003 when the plan held significantly less than that amount due to losses that Ryan knowingly concealed.
“This third-party administrator jeopardized the retirement security of these workers and their families,” said Assistant Secretary for EBSA Phyllis C. Borzi, in the announcement. “We will aggressively investigate violations against plans, including efforts to conceal information about the theft of plan assets.”