National Legal and Policy Center -- Organized Labor Accountability Project
 
UNION CORRUPTION UPDATE
 
April 1, 2002 -- Vol. 5, Issue 7

For Influential Leaders & Important Decision Makers:
Information on America's most corrupt & aggressive unions

 
LABORERS (LIUNA)
DOL Alleges ULLICO Imprudently Invested $10 Million
The Dep't of Labor sued Washington, D.C.-based Trust Fund Advisors, Inc.,  and its parent, ULLICO Mar. 22 for imprudently investing more than $10 million in assets of two Laborers' Int'l Union of N. Am. pension funds in a risky real estate project. LIUNA hired TFA as a union fund manager for the Local Union and District Council Pension Fund and Nat'l Indus. Pension Fund. TFA hired ULLICO to handle all real estate investments made on behalf of clients of TFA. ULLICO-TFA contracted with the pension funds in 1993-94 to handle their investment in real estate. Admitted criminal and ex-LIUNA boss Arthur A. Coia was elected to ULLICO's board in 1993 and was on the board as of Sept. 30, 2000, according to a State of N.Y. Ins. Dep't document.

The suit alleges that ULLICO-TFA violated the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 by imprudently investing more than $10 million of plan assets in a risky real estate project.  In 1995, TFA and ULLICO used plan assets to purchase and develop a 120-acre tract of raw land in N. Las Vegas into saleable building lots. ULLICO-TFA, incorporated as LF Las Vegas Realty Corp., paid close to $6 million for the property and spent more than $4 million to develop it. The suit also alleges that TFA and ULLICO failed to properly investigate the merits of the Sommerset Ridge project (failed to obtain an appraisal) and, ultimately, abandoned the project in 1997 without selling any lots. The funds suffered losses when the property was sold in June 1999 to Capital Pacific Holdings for less than the money invested by the funds.

DOL is seeking a court order that requires ULLICO-TFA to reimburse the funds for all losses, plus interest, resulting from the breaches; and permanently bars them from violating ERISA in the future. The suit was filed in federal court in Washington, D.C. [DOL 3/25/02; BNA 3/27/02]

Union Corruption Update is made possible by the generous contributions from readers like you. NLPC, PO Box 6821, Falls Church, VA 22040. Thank you.

In addition to the unions and organizations covered in this Union Corruption Update, readers can look forward to news and information on other corrupt and abusive unions in future editions.

All back issues of the Union Corruption Update can be viewed at NLPC's website (http://www.nlpc.org).  Also available is a union-by-union and state-by-state index of all Union Corruption Update articles.

If you have story ideas or suggestions for future editions of Union Corruption Update, please email NLPC at nlpc@nlpc.org.  Thank you.

Union Corruption Update is part of NLPC's Organized Labor Accountability Project which is investigating and exposing corruption in the Teamsters, LIUNA, AFL-CIO and many other union organizations. NLPC is a nonpartisan, nonprofit foundation promoting ethics and accountability in government through research, education and legal action.

Email NLPC

Union Corruption Update Article Index (by Union)

Union Corruption Update Article Index (by State)

Organized Labor Accountability Project

NLPC Home Page