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Release Date: October 5, 2006
Release Number: 06-1732-SAN (SF-134)
Contact Name: Deanne Amaden
Phone Number: 415.975.4741
San Francisco, California - A U.S. District
Court judge has approved a default judgment against the trustees of the
401(k) plan of Promatis Corp., a defunct San Ramon, California-based
company. The judgment clears the way for distribution of the plan’s
assets to four eligible participants.
The action, filed in federal district court in San
Francisco, orders appointment of an independent trustee to wind up the
company’s abandoned 401(k) plan. It also removes the plan’s
trustees, Thomas Kessler and Sebastian Graf, former company executives
who left the country without terminating the plan. The firm ceased doing
business in early 2002, was headquartered in Germany and had no other
U.S.-based operations.
“We are pleased that the court will make it
possible for us to return this money to the employees who invested in
this plan,” said Francis Clisham, regional director of the Labor
Department’s Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA) in San
Francisco, which investigated the case. “The former employees who
contributed to this 401(k) will now be free to reinvest their funds or
use them for their retirement as planned.”
As of April 2005, the plan had four participants and
$46,866 in assets under the custodianship of ING. In fiscal year 2005,
EBSA achieved record monetary results of $1.7 billion related to
pension, 401(k), health and other benefits for millions of American
workers and their families.
To assist workers, the Labor Department instituted
new rules last May to facilitate a voluntary, safe and efficient process
for winding up the affairs of abandoned plans. The new rules allow
financial institutions to take responsibility and distribute the assets
of 401(k) plans to affected workers and their families. The department
estimates that 1,650 such plans are abandoned each year.
The court action resolves a lawsuit that resulted
from an investigation conducted by EBSA’s San Francisco regional
office. Employers and workers with questions or concerns regarding their
private-sector pension and health plans can contact the EBSA regional
office in San Francisco at 415.975.4600 or EBSA’s toll free number,
1.866.444.EBSA (3272). Information is also available from the agency’s
Web site at www.dol.gov/ebsa.
(Chao v. Promatis Corporation 401(k) Plan)
Civil Action No. 3:06-cv-00633
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