401k theft

January 11, 2003


To whom it may concern,

In 1997-98 my husband and I took out a loan against our 401k. Thereafter, money was taken out of every check to pay back the loan. Recently we found out that the company was taking the payment that was meant to be put towards the loan and spending it to pay the company bills. They were also pulling out money for the 401k and not sending it to Payne Webber but spending it. My husbands paystub said that they were doing what they were supposed to so we had NO reason to worry until a former employee told us his situation and we then found out Payne Webber hadn't seen a payment to the account or the loan payment in over a year.

When they filed with the IRS they filed wrong paperwork. The IRS claims that we owe them because the company said it was an early withdrawl/taxable income and it wasn't at all. The company refused to comply with the IRS and the IRS says they won't get involved that we need to take care of it on our own, BUT that we owe the IRS $10,000. That's all the penalties, interest and principal.

Please help us! We have looked everywhere for help and this company will not help but doing the right thing and fixing it.

Kevin and Ellen Cooper
Vacaville CA
707-469-8513

1 answer  |  asked Jan 12, 2003 01:17 AM [EST]  |  applies to California

Answers (1)

Janet M. Koehn
the dreaded erisa

you need to talk to an attorney who is not only experienced in employment law, but has additional expertise in the "employees retirement income security act", erisa. this is a federal statute that governs situations like yours.

i recommend you contact ron dean, a sourthern california lawyer who has many, many years of specialized experience representing employees in erisa matters, at 310-459-1636, rdean@74erisa.com. he can refer you to a northern california attorney if necessary, but ron does work nationwide.
good luck
janet m. koehn

posted by Janet M. Koehn  |  Jan 12, 2003 3:11 PM [EST]

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