Fiduciary champion Hutcheson hit with more charges

The Labor Department filed suit Wednesday against well-known retirement plan fiduciary Matthew D. Hutcheson, alleging that he pilfered some $3.2 million from plan sponsors. The suit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Idaho, claims that near the end of 2010, Mr. Hutcheson broke the law governing retirement plans — the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 — when he allegedly transferred $3.27 million in plan dollars to accounts that he himself controlled. In the suit, the DOL said that Mr. Hutcheson already admitted to committing a prohibited transaction when his firm, Hutcheson Walker Advisors LLC, filed a mandatory-disclosure document with the DOL. That document, known as a Form 5500, said that this prohibited transaction was the 2010 transfer of $3.27 million in plan assets to Green Valley Holdings LLC — an entity that Mr. Hutcheson allegedly controlled to buy a golf and ski destination called the Tamarack Resort. Other defendants in the suit include Hutcheson Walker Advisors, Green Valley and the Retirement Security Plan & Trust — an entity that purportedly held the plan assets. The DOL's civil charges only compounds Mr. Hutcheson's problems. He is facing a slate of criminal charges filed by the U.S. Attorney. Those accusations are based on similar theft allegations related to the Tamarack Resort. The Labor Department is charging the fiduciary with prohibited transactions, including self-dealing and conflict of interest, as well as breaches of impartiality, loyalty and prudence. The agency also has filed an application for a temporary restraining order, and it seeks to remove and replace Mr. Hutcheson and other defendants as fiduciaries over the affected plans. An e-mail to Mr. Hutcheson's attorney was not immediately returned.