PORTLAND, OR – The U.S. Department of Labor has filed suit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Oregon against Dr. Robert B. Pamplin Jr. and R.B. Pamplin Corporation for jeopardizing millions of dollars in retirement funds for thousands of employees because of the unlawful acquisition of company-owned real estate by the R.B. Pamplin Corporation and Subsidiaries Pension Plan.
The department’s Employee Benefits Security Administration conducted an investigation and found that, beginning in 2019, the plan unlawfully acquired interests in more than 20 company-owned properties. These acquisitions exceeded the limit permitted by the Employee Retirement Income Security Act. The department alleges that Dr. Pamplin instructed the pension plan to acquire the properties without regard for the limit set by federal law.
The plan’s real estate holdings currently include rangeland, a vineyard, an island in a river once used for dredging, an office building and irrigated cropland. The department alleges some properties were not sold to the plan at fair market value or were unsuitable for multiple uses without significant improvements. Other properties had attached liens, unpaid leases, unpaid property taxes, environmental liabilities or were sold in fractional interests, diminishing their value.
The department’s enforcement efforts prior to the lawsuit resulted in Dr. Pamplin stepping down as plan trustee in September 2023 and the appointment in October 2023 of…
