Fiduciary champion hit with more charges

The Labor Department filed suit last Wednesday against retirement plan fiduciary Matthew D. Hutcheson, alleging that he stole $3.2 million from plan sponsors. The suit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Idaho, charges that near the end of 2010, he 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 controlled. In the suit, the Labor Department said that Mr. Hutcheson had already admitted to committing a prohibited transaction when his firm, Hutcheson Walker Advisors LLC, filed a mandatory-disclosure document with the agency. That document said that this transaction was the 2010 transfer of $3.27 million in plan assets to Green Valley Holdings LLC, an entity that he allegedly controlled, to buy a golf and ski destination called the Tamarack Resort. Other defendants in the suit include Green Valley, Hutcheson Walker Advisors and the Retirement Security Plan & Trust, an entity that purportedly held the plan assets. Mr. Hutcheson also faces a slate of criminal charges filed by the U.S. Attorney's Office in Boise. 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 has filed an application for a temporary restraining order, and it seeks to remove and replace Mr. Hutcheson and other defendants as fiduciaries for the affected plans. Dennis Charney, Mr. Hutcheson's attorney, declined to comment. [email protected]