Former UPCI Pastor pleads guilty to embezzlement

[coadie]

Originally Posted by DAII

The theft is appalling considering he took from the members ...

Also ... he was NOT A UNION LEADER (in cased Coadie missed it)... according to the article:

Sims was hired in November 2007 by an administrator to manage pension, health and welfare, and vacation funds for Local 915 of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers
Actually you seem ignorant of business.

They Report to the Pension and Welfare Benefits Administration Of the U.S. Department of Labor. Employee Benefit Plans administrators and plan trustees must carry insurance for fraud and theft.
Most pension plans require that an audit be done. ERISA and DOL oversee this. My company started a 401 plan in the early 90's. I am very familiar with the laws. Even the IRS calls them as management for the plan.

Investment/Bonding Requirement

The investment/bonding requirement says at least 95 percent of plan assets must be invested in qualifying plan assets. If the 95 percent requirement is not met, then the assets that do not qualify must be covered under a bond that meets ERISA requirements and is at least in the amount of the nonqualifying assets. For example, if the 95 percent requirement is not met and nonqualifying assets equal $40,000 but there is already a $60,000 ERISA bond in place, then no additional bonding is required.

since this plan was over 100 members, all this is covered in the 5500 annual report.

The Department of Labor, Internal Revenue Service, and the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation jointly developed the Form 5500 Series so employee benefit plans could utilize the Form 5500 Series forms to satisfy annual reporting requirements under Title I and Title IV of ERISA and under the Internal Revenue Code.

I suspect the Union didn't use a good company to manage their pensions either.

[coadie]

Originally Posted by Charnock

In fact, I would say most pastors give their own income to support the church.

I have seen a pastor sell his house to cover church bills. I have also seen a church buy a mobile home for pastor to live in and the pastor took it for personal; property.

[DAII]

Originally Posted by coadie

Sims was hired in November 2007 by an administrator to manage pension, health and welfare, and vacation funds for Local 915 of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers
Actually you seem ignorant of business.

They Report to the Pension and Welfare Benefits Administration Of the U.S. Department of Labor. Employee Benefit Plans administrators and plan trustees must carry insurance for fraud and theft.
Most pension plans require that an audit be done. ERISA and DOL oversee this. My company started a 401 plan in the early 90's. I am very familiar with the laws. Even the IRS calls them as management for the plan.




since this plan was over 100 members, all this is covered in the 5500 annual report.



I suspect the Union didn't use a good company to manage their pensions either.

Note to reader: Coadie obfuscates with unrelated facts, which are not germane, without ever addressing his faux pas ... about lumping this pastor as a union leader ...

WHICH HE'S NOT.

[DAII]

Originally Posted by coadie

I have seen a pastor sell his house to cover church bills. I have also seen a church buy a mobile home for pastor to live in and the pastor took it for personal; property.

I've seen my own father take a salary of less then 36,000 in a church of close to 300-350 ... work a full-time and then part-time job while still pastoring ... and my mom worked full time for 30 plus years so we could live in a home ... in one of the most expensive cities in the world ... NYC.

BTW, Sims was not a union leader.

[coadie]

Originally Posted by DAII

no one said most ... Charny ...

And that would be like coadie's original unqualified statement ...
That union leaders abuse funds and that this non-union pastor acted like a union leader ... which he's not.

One of those stellar examples of Coadian logic

The Obama administration promised increased transparency in government but has rolled back rules proposed by the Bush administration that expanded the financial disclosure statements required of labor unions and their leaders.

Since President Obama took office, the Labor Department has rescinded or delayed three sets of rules proposed by the George W. Bush administration that would have required unions and their leaders to more specifically detail their finances, according to a review of records by The Washington Times.

LM-2 filings
In 2003, the Bush administration announced that the unions had to list on their LM-2 filings -annual reports disclosing union finances - any recipients of $5,000 or more in union funds. This included vendors, charities and political candidates, with specific amounts instead of lump-sum totals. These added disclosures, which took effect in 2004, were designed to shed light on where unions spent their money.

In the closing days of the Bush administration, the Labor Department sought to further increase the number of disclosures the unions had to make on the LM-2 forms. The new rules would have required unions to disclose the name of any party buying or selling union assets of $5,000 or more, making it easier for members to determine whether the transactions were at arm's length. Unions currently need to list only the item and the sale or purchase price.

This is the problem with union financial fraud. Union leaders chanel money to political campaings and do not give detailed reports to the government and members.

DAII rant

union leaders abuse funds and that this non-union pastor acted like a union leader

looks like the school teacher needs a little schooling.

A corporation has to meet and file a corporate resolution. This resoulution is in the minutes of a corporation that allows to have Sims act as an authorized officer of the corporation and sign bank accounts and checks. This is what CPA firms look at when they do audits.

School teachers don't have a clue how banks and business work,
Most of these embezzlements do not have jail time.

[DAII]

Coadie in his best Don Quixote pose chasing a windmill that never was posed.

Maybe your secretary can decode and translate for you.

Who gives a flying fajita about the other stuff that was never addressed in this thread.

Coadie you have foot in mouth disease.

Still not a leader.

[Charnock]

Love the "flyin' fajita" reference, grasshoppa.

[coadie]

Originally Posted by DAII

I've seen my own father take a salary of less then 36,000 in a church of close to 300-350 ... work a full-time and then part-time job while still pastoring ... and my mom worked full time for 30 plus years so we could live in a home ... in one of the most expensive cities in the world ... NYC.

BTW, Sims was not a union leader.

More idiocy. That is why you teach little kids and I have practiced in a CPA firm. I know you have no real business education. The day the union files a corporate resolution to allow any flunky to have signature authority on a bank account, he is officially an officer of the enterprise according to the Patriot act. We cover this in business law. At that time he acts as an agent. He has legal agency. Another legal concept. He can bind the union in agreements.

The reason Obama is pushing lax reports to the DOL by unions is so Union authorities can funnel more member dollars to political causes.

LM-30 filings

Last year, the Obama administration also backed off a rule requiring union officials and employees to file a more detailed version of the conflict-of-interest form known as the LM-30. The rule also would have forced more people - union shop stewards, in some cases - to file the forms.

The Labor Department requires the officials and employees to file the LM-30 statements if they receive any income or economic benefit from any entity that does business with the union or with an employer of union members.

This is why Obama backing off on union reports is so bad.

[coadie]

Originally Posted by Dedicated Mind

throw the book at him

Legally the members of the union can file claims against any and all officers of this union. On one side he was given authority and on the other side, they had a breech in "internal controls". He could both sign the checks according to the news and modify the records.

[DAII]

Man worked for a staffing agency Maestro ... WAS NOT A UNION LEADER

A Dade City pastor is accused of embezzling more than $800,000 from a union investment fund he managed and funneling at least some of the money to his church.

Gregory Sims, 38, pleaded guilty in federal court this week to theft or embezzlement of an employee benefit plan. The charge carries a possible five-year prison sentence, though Sims' plea agreement emphasizes repaying the money he took from the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 915, based in Tampa.

The plea agreement says Sims, who was pastor of Crossroads Church on Clinton Avenue, began working for a company called Antares Staffing in late 2007. Antares was a subsidiary of Medical Mutual Services LLC, which managed the IBEW's health, welfare, pension and vacation funds.

Sims' responsibilities included keeping financial records, reconciling accounts and issuing checks. He worked for Antares until January 2009, when he was fired. In June of that year, the plea deal says, an audit of IBEW funds turned up 11 checks from the union's accounts to Crossroads Church totaling $813,142.17.