Teamsters pension fund returns $127M to Treasury after overpaying almost 3,500 dead participants

politics

by josh christenson

The Teamsters pension fund returned $127 million in overpayments to the U.S. Treasury this week — months after an internal investigation revealed nearly 3,500 dead members in its kitty.

Thomas Nyhan, executive director of the Central States Pension Fund, which handles retirement benefits for the International Teamsters Association, announced the repayment amounts Monday as part of a repayment plan. civil settlement Along with the Department of Justice.

Records related to the brouhaha were expected to be produced on Tuesday in response to a congressional subpoena.

In December 2022, the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation paid a total of $35.8 billion to the Teamsters pension system as part of special financial assistance funds provided through President Biden’s American Rescue Plan.

However, the PBGC’s Office of Inspector General revealed in November that approximately $127 million of these funds were leaked before the central state government investigated the number of deaths among the 360,000 participants ( According to the survey results, 3,479 people).

The revelations sparked an investigation by House and Senate Republicans into the erroneous payments, and House Education and Labor Committee Chairwoman Virginia Foxx (R-North Carolina) issued a subpoena to PBGC last month.

Sean O’Brien, president of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, also responded to the pursuit of Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-Louisiana) by saying at a November 2023 Congressional hearing that the central government should “refund” the overpayments. Stated.

Mr. Fox gave the agency an April 9 deadline to submit documents, but the Justice Department announced that the settlement had been reached after the PBGC and Central States cooperated in a joint investigation.

“The PBGC-OIG is committed to conducting investigations, audits, and other work to strengthen the public’s confidence in government operations,” said PBGC Inspector General Nicholas Novak. statement.

“Today’s settlement ensures that Central States will return approximately $126.5 million to the U.S. Treasury, and the partnership between PBGC-OIG and the Department of Justice provides an important mechanism to protect taxpayer funds. This has been proven.”

PBGC Director Gordon Hartogensis said in his statement that the agency is “also working on other plans to recover any funds.” [Special Financial Assistance] Funds paid for inaccurate census data. ”

“This settlement confirms that the state applied for and received SFA funds prior to November 1, 2023, when the PBGC updated the SFA application process to require participant census data. Updated, which allows PBGC to initiate an independent death audit using the Social Security Administration Complete Death Authority’s Master File (Full DMF),” Nyhan added.

“This settlement also confirms that Central America did not have access to the full DMF before, during, and after the submission of its SFA application,” he said.

fox swore On Tuesday, she said, “The committee’s investigation into the PBGC does not end here.”

“For months, the agency dragged its feet to address this mistake. And the same mistake affected special financial assistance sent to more than 60 other multiemployer pension plans. “It’s possible,” she said.

“It is important that the investigation continue to understand how this mistake occurred in the first place and why the PBGC took the position that the funds should not be recovered in the first place.”

cassidy Added “I’m glad to see Central America change course,” he said, adding, “We must continue to see that all bailout funds unfairly disbursed through Democrats’ irresponsible bailouts are returned to the American people. ” he said.

The PBGC initially denied that funds were “improperly disbursed” to the plan and blamed independent vendors for having “limitations” in providing accurate death audits.

Foxx and Cassidy, ranking member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, both said the PBGC’s inspector general in 2018 ordered the agency to look at the Social Security Administration’s master death file to prevent improper payments. He pointed out that he had requested.

Foxx and Rep. Bob Good (R-Va.), chairman of the House Health, Employment, Labor, and Pensions subcommittee, also said in a Jan. 16 letter that the overpayments “are not for personal use. “We’re preparing,” he accused Central States. A slush fund to “achieve the statutory target of leaving solvents free by 2051”.

“With respect to other programs that received SFA before PBGC expanded the scope of independent death audits, PBGC is in the process of completing a complete census data audit,” the agency said. stated in a statement on monday. “PBGC is committed to expediting the refund of SFA amounts made to these plans based on inaccurate census data.”

Mr. Biden, 81, who calls himself the most pro-union president in U.S. history, has authorized more than $80 billion to multiemployer pension plans through the American Rescue Plan to provide fiscal relief and boost funding.

The Justice Department did not respond to requests for comment.