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U.S. Department of Labor officials in the agency’s San Francisco office today explained the lawsuit the department filed against Dr. Robert Pamplin Jr. on Sept. 12 in U.S. District Court in Portland.
Related: Federal Regulators Sue Robert Pamplin Jr. Over Massive Pension Fund Abuses
The federal agency, which regulates pension funds, sued Pamplin and his company after a lengthy investigation into more than 100 real estate transactions Pamplin oversaw between R.B. Pamplin Corp. and its affiliates and the $100 million pension plan meant to benefit more than 2,000 retirees. Many of those transactions were disclosed by WW in stories over the past two years.
“Dr. Pamplin and R.B. Pamplin Corporation sold real estate to the company pension plan to raise cash for Pamplin’s struggling company, in direct violation of their fiduciary duty of loyalty to plan participants,” said the DOL’s Employee Benefits Security Administration regional director Klaus Placke. “These self-dealing activities have saddled the pension plan with low-performing and hard-to-sell real estate, causing tens of millions of dollars in losses to plan participants who will need that money in retirement.”
One example WW reported: In 2019, Pamplin sold a defunct Ross Island Sand & Gravel concrete plant on the east bank of the Willamette River to his company’s pension fund for $4.8 million in cash.
The property has been for sale on the open market for far less than that ever since. Although some buyers expressed interest, prospective buyers told WW that Pamplin refused to allow them do the kind of environmental testing and due diligence necessary for a property that was in industrial use for decades.
In effect, Pamplin dumped a very challenging piece of unused real estate on unwitting pensioners at an above-market price. The $4.8 million he took out of the pension fund could have otherwise been invested in blue chip stocks, which have appreciated significantly since 2019. Meanwhile, metal strippers, vandals and taggers have targeted the shuttered concrete plant, leaving it an eyesore.
Pamplin was able to execute the transaction because he served as both owner and CEO of R.B. Pamplin Corp. and its affiliates, including Ross Island Sand & Gravel, and he was sole trustee of his employees’ pension fund. That meant he acted as both seller and buyer, which pension experts say is a conflict of interest.
The DOL noted today that it removed Pamplin as trustee of the pension fund in September 2023 and is asking the court to permanently bar him from holding such a position again.
Related: After Signs Shame Pamplin, Ross Island Sand & Gravel Crew Visits Moribund Concrete Plant
“Dr. Pamplin must restore the pension plan to where it would be if not for his wrongdoing and make his employees’ pension plan whole,” said DOL regional solicitor Marc Pilotin. “The Solicitor’s Office has already been engaged actively with Dr. Pamplin to determine how he will do so and the department will not relent in fighting for participants’ rights until he does.”
Pamplin could not be reached for comment.