C.S. Capital Management Inc. of Atlanta, Ga., formerly known as Chadwick, Saylor & Co., and owner Paul H. Saylor have been ordered to restore $1.09 million to the Plumbers and Pipefitters National Pension Plan as restitution for improperly investing $25 million in risky private placement bonds. The firm also was ordered to pay $109,990.91 in fines to the federal government.
The U.S. Department of Labor announced on Monday that it had obtained a consent order against the firm, which had been hired by the plan to evaluate and make a recommendation on the purchase of bonds. The plan covers more than 123,000 participants around the country; the bonds were to finance the Playa Vista development project in Los Angeles, Calif.
The Labor Department filed a lawsuit simultaneously with the order in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Virginia in Alexandria. The suit alleges that Saylor and the firm violated the Employee Retirement Income Security Act(ERISA)by the purchase of the bonds.