Probation for Oakland plan trustee caught skimming funds

A trustee of a benefit plan for employees of an Oakland metalworking company must serve one year of probation and make restitution for violating the Employee Retirement Income Security Act.

According to investigators from the U.S. Department of Labor’s Employee Benefits Security Administration, the operating manager and trustee to E-D Coat Inc.’s profit-sharing plan illegally withdrew $66,049 from the plan’s accounts and used the funds for unlawful purposes.

She entered a guilty plea to a charge of theft from an employee benefit plan.

In addition to her year of probation, she must pay $234,271 in restitution to the plan and is barred from being a fiduciary on any ERISA-covered plan for 13 years.