|
|
|
Release Date: 08/06/2002
Release Number: 307
Contact Name: Sharon Morrissey
Phone Number: 202.693.8664
|
Printer
Friendly Version
|
|
|
|
Cincinnati, Ohio - The U.S. Department of Labor obtained a consent judgment
August
1, 2002, ordering the sole trustee of the Prime Care Services, Inc. money
purchase pension plan of Bingham Falls, Michigan to buy back 43.5 shares of Su-Pra
Enterprise, Inc. stock currently held by the plan for the purchase price of
$504,699.96, including interest the plan would have earned. |
|
“By today’s action, the department is reaffirming its commitment to
protect the hard-earned benefits of American workers," said Joseph Menez,
director of the department’s Cincinnati Regional Office of the Pension and
Welfare Benefits Administration, which investigated the case. |
|
Elena Szilvagyi, sole trustee of the plan, was sued by the department along
with Prime Care Services, Inc. and Su-Pra Enterprises, Inc. for a $500,000 stock
purchase agreement on January 19, 1999, with Su-Pra Enterprises, a participating
employer in the plan. The department alleged that the stock purchase was a
prohibited transaction under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA)
because the stock did not constitute qualifying employer securities. At
the time of the purchase, Szilvagyi was president and chief executive officer of
both companies. |
|
According to the consent judgment, the stock will be released to Szilvagyi as
she repays the plan according to an installment arrangement established by the
court in the Eastern District of Michigan, Southern District, in Detroit. |
|
The plan was established in 1991 by Prime Care to provide benefits to its
employees upon retirement, death or disability. The plan had 335 participants
and assets totaling $5,044,468 as of April 30, 1999. Prior to the January
1999 purchase, all shares of Su-Pra Enterprises stock were held in a revocable
trust with Szilvagyi and her husband as trustees and beneficiaries being
Szilvagyi’s husband, parents and children. Prime Care provides home
health care services and Su-Pra is its parent company and essentially provides
management services. |
|
Employers and workers can contact the regional office at
1.859.578.4680 or
PWBA’s Toll-Free Employee & Employer Hotline number, 1.866.275.7922 for help with any problems relating to
private-sector pension and health plans. |
|
(Chao v. Prime Care Services, Inc.
Civil Action No. 02-73151) |
|
U.S. Department of Labor
news releases are accessible on the Internet. The information in this news
release will be made available in alternate format upon request (large
print, Braille, audio tape or disc) from the Central Office for Assistive
Services and Technology. Please specify which news release when placing
your request. Call 202.693.7773 or TTY 202.693.7775. |
| |
|
