U.S. Department of Labor Secures $6.5 Million Retirement Plan Payout at Defunct Chicago Law Firm: 40 Employees Paid, Four Partners Barred as ERISA Fiduciaries
The U.S. Department of Labor announced on October 26 that, following a complaint filed by the department, the retirement plan of defunct Chicago law firm McCullough, Campbell & Lane LLP has distributed $6,498,858 in retirement plan assets to 40 employees. The plan's fiduciaries had failed to properly terminate the plan and disburse those funds as required by law.
On August 18, 2026, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois entered a consent order resolving the department's claims against the firm and its capital partners David L. Joslyn, John W. McCullough, F. Dennis Nelson and Paul S. Turner. The department alleged the defendants violated the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) by failing to follow a 2019 partnership resolution requiring the firm's retirement plan to be terminated and its assets distributed to employees. The case was investigated by the department's Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA).
Under the consent order, about $13,861 remaining in employer-level plan accounts must be distributed to participants by the plan's recordkeeper, after which the plan will be terminated. The four partners are permanently barred from serving as fiduciaries or service providers to any ERISA plan, and unclaimed amounts will be transferred to the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation's Missing Participants Program.
Source: GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：位于华盛顿的美国劳工部总部 Frances Perkins 大楼。美国劳工部官方照片，CC BY 2.0，来源：Wikimedia Commons / Photo: The Frances Perkins Building, headquarters of the U.S. Department of Labor in Washington, D.C. U.S. Department of Labor official photo, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
