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Release Date: July 24, 2008
Release Number: 08-961-SAN
Contact Name: Deanne Amaden
Phone Number: 415.625.2630

U.S. Labor Department obtains order restoring $125,000 in pension assets to employees of defunct Phoenix company

San Francisco – The U.S. Department of Labor has obtained a consent judgment in which Phoenix-based Hyacinth Corp. and its president agreed to restore $125,000 owed to participants of the corporation’s money purchase plan.

The judgment resolves a Labor Department lawsuit against Hyacinth Corp. and Richard Ashburn of Malibu, California, for allegedly violating the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA). The suit alleged that, beginning in July 1999, Ashburn – who served as the company’s president, director and sole shareholder – diverted assets from the money purchase pension plan and used the assets for personal gain, including the purchase of personal items and to benefit several unrelated business interests.

Besides the restitution, the judgment removes Ashburn as a plan fiduciary, permanently bars him from service to plans governed by ERISA, and appoints an independent fiduciary to administer the company’s money purchase and defined benefit plans. The court action restores $125,000 in losses, including lost earnings, to participants of the money purchase plan. The action also clears the way for the independent fiduciary to release the plans’ assets to the other participants or their beneficiaries.

Hyacinth Corp. provided asset searches and investigative consulting services. The company is no longer in operation.

“The Labor Department is committed to protecting America’s workers by enforcing federal benefits law,” said Bradford P. Campbell, assistant secretary of labor for the department’s Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA). “Because of our efforts, Hyacinth’s workers will receive their hard-earned retirement benefits.”

The judgment, entered in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California in Los Angeles, resulted from an investigation conducted by EBSA’s Los Angeles Regional Office. Employers and workers with questions or concerns regarding their private sector pension and health plans can contact the regional office at 626.229.1000 or toll-free at 866.444.3272. Information is also available on the agency’s Web site at www.dol.gov/ebsa. In fiscal year 2007, EBSA achieved monetary results of $1.5 billion related to 401(k), health and other benefits for millions of American workers and their families.

Chao v. Richard Ashburn
Civil Action Number: CV 08-CV-04215-FMC-FFM

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