[Nancy]

Eye opening news...

EXCLUSIVE: Feds Investigating SAG P&H Plan Embezzlements And Cover-Ups Allegations
By NIKKI FINKE | Thursday March 15, 2012 @ 4:32pm PDTTags: Craig Simmons, SAG AFTRA Merger, SAG P&HP, SAG Pension & Health Plan, Screen Actors Guild

http://www.deadline.com/hollywood/

[Nancy]

SAG Health & Pension Plan Fund Scandal: Hundreds Sign Petition For Impartial Probe

http://www.deadline.com/2011/12/sag-...partial-probe/

[Ace917]

The plot thickens....

[sabaue]

Bravo to Mr. Simmons!

[Ace917]

Originally Posted by Ace917

My younger brother is a retired financial auditor. I'm going to bounce this off of him and see what pops up.

Without more intimate insight into what's been happening, my brother has offered this observation:

When can the membership place in nomination anyone to run for a Board seat? Is the number of such seats fixed? When can the membership call for a special election either for the purpose of unseating an existing Board member or to add a Board member? Can the membership call for a special Board vote as it relates to amending the Constitution or Bylaws? Can a specific percentage of member votes override any Board vote? Can a specific percentage of membership votes institute any change to the Constitution or Bylaws without respect to any wishes of the Board? If any of this does not exist, then get it written for a vote (law firm required, quick), and get the vote taken. Absolute internal controls must be always in place ... unadulterable member ID mandatory ... all PROVABLE in a court of law or before the US Dept of Labor.

Criminal remedies:

Title II of U.S.C. sec 464 (and others?) defines criminal penalties for willful violation of this title. "Breach of Fiduciary Duties" is a listed willful violation of this title, and it appears that there can be little doubt that such a breach has occurred (numerous times?). Run this flag up. See who sweats. See who backs off. Replace them yesterday.

[Ace917]

And a suggestion from Brother:

Establish a "members only" clearinghouse, a web page FULLY controlled by the plaintiffs and their appointed representatives? Who has a close and trusted friend who is an IT geek, and webmaster? "The Independent Clearinghouse for SAG Members." I have a friend in Illinois that could get this up and running. Advertise in newspapers, radio, TV providing the clearinghouse site? Start with known contacts, address books, and networks, develop and expand, develop and expand? With only 6 degrees of separation, you could have 90 to 95% contact within a week or two.

[Nancy]

www.sagaftraminorityreport.com


http://www.youtube.com/user/NoSAGAFTRAMerger

[Marjorie]

I belong to AFTRA and quite honestly I see Nancy's points. I don't want to be specific here, let me just say: "I get it."

[Nancy]

THIS IS FABULOUS and explains why I feel the way I do. I hope you will take the time to listen to these actors.

Source: YouTube

[voice1]

One question I have is why is a pension plan not protected by the PBGC? Are they saying the new retirement plan after a merger will involve freezing the defined benefit plan and then forcing members into a defined contribution plan which has no protection from the PBGC? If that is the case, that is the number 1 reason to say "no".

[Nancy]

I don't have time to edit this so make of it what you will...

SAG Pension & Health Plan Rocked By New Lawsuit: Allegations Target CEO Bruce Dow

BY NIKKI FINKE | Thursday March 22, 2012 @ 9:31pm PDTEmail This

Feds Probing SAG P&H Embezzlements/Cover-Ups Allegations

BREAKING 7:30 PM… EXCLUSIVE… MORE DETAILS… Whistleblower Craig E Simmons today filed a wrongful termination lawsuit SAG Lawsuitagainst his former employer, the Screen Actors Guild Pension & Health Plan. And the fired high-ranking executive makes explosive allegations against CEO Bruce Dow who is still apparently employed there. These accusations have been informally leveled against Dow and the SAG P&HP for months now, but for the first time Simmons puts them into the record via his legal complaint. (Read the 19-page lawsuit here.) If true, they beg for a complete and independent investigation as well as housecleaning at SAG P&HP which governs more than $2 billion in assets on behalf of SAG members.

Simmons was executive director of SAGP&HP human resources and held other top titles, and is a lawyer. One of his attorneys on this lawsuit is the well-known Greg Smith, who is currently running for LA City Attorney. The complaint alleges that Simmons was wrongfully terminated after reporting illegal conduct by CEO Dow. Simmons repeatedly talked and wrote to SAG P&HP trustees and execs and claimed Dow was swindling the organization out of multi-millions. The lawsuit filed in LA Superior Court today alleges that:

– Dow underreported the amount of money embezzled by a former employee,

– Dow was sending insurance business to his wife and pocketing part of the premiums,

– Dow was paying his brother-in-law for doing no work

– Dow was using insider investment information to benefit the International Church Of The Foursquare Gospel where he was a practicing member

– Dow asked Simmons to lie to the trustees and to the Department Of Labor to coverup wrongdoing,

– Dow is guilty of “obstruction of justice”.

These claims are separate from Simmons’ already public allegations made in letters to the trustees about a former SAG P&H Plan employee who embezzled millions from the organization and apparently was never made to account for the missing money or his fraud.

SAG P&H bigwigs and their surrogates have been trying to move heaven and earth to discredit anyone making allegations against the organization, especially while the SAG-AFTRA merger is being voted up or down by the Screen Actors Guild membership right now. The merger plans right now contain no blueprint for how the two unions’ pension and health plans will be conducted because of no formal study by SAG and AFTRA leaders.

Present SAG Guild leadership likes to point out that the SAG P&H Plan is run separately from the union. But some of SAG Guild’s officers have been SAG P&HP trustees. For instance, at the time Simmons was fired, David White was President of the Board of Trustees of the SAG P&H Plans and the National Executive Director of the SAG Guild. Duncan Crabtree-Ireland is a Trustee of the SAG P&HP and the General Counsel of the SAG Guild. John McGuire is a Trustee of the SAG P&HP and the Senior Adviser of the SAG Guild.

UPDATE: In January, SAG P&HP said Dow had requested a leave of absence just as the scandal surrounding him was starting to become public. No investigation was ever announced. In my opinion, even the appearance of a coverup must stop immediately and an independent probe begun.]

In documents filed today by his attorneys asking for a jury trial, Simmons alleges that he was wrongfully terminated on March 25, 2011, because he wouldn’t cover up Dow’s alleged multi-million dollar embezzlement scheme of the SAG P&HP. The firing of Simmons, who had been at SAG-PPHP since summer 2008, came just over two months after he had been promoted to HR Executive Director on January 14, 2011. Under the complaint of Labor Code and Public Policy violations by SAG-PPHP, Simmons is seeking punitive damages “in a sum which is an amount appropriate to punish and set an example of said Defendants, to deter such conduct in the future and to set an example for others”.

The lawsuit says that, in the beginning of 2011, Dow was under investigation from the Department of Labor in regards to funneling “SAG-PPHP insurance business to his wife and pocketing a portion of the money on the insurance premiums” and providing a “phantom job” to his brother-in-law. This came, the complaint says, after Simmons had earlier reported to Board trustees Leah French and Duncan Crabtree-Ireland that Dow was “underreporting … fraud incidents by millions of dollars” in regards to another employee stealing from the fund.

In January 2011, Simmons says that, as various other SAG-PPHP employees were being interviewed about the matter by the Labor Department, Dow asked him to “lie to the Department Of Labor investigator by affirming that Dow’s brother-in-law was an employee of SAG-PPHP.” Simmons says he “refused” that request. Simmons says he also refused Dow’s request not to tell the Board about being interviewed by the DOL. Simmons alleges that Dow arranged for “another Plan Executive Amanda Bernard to be interviewed” instead. There is no indication in the suit what Bernard did or did not tell the DOL.

Simmons says that, nearly a month and a half later, he was called into “a previously unscheduled budget meeting” on March 9, 2011 to be confronted by Dow, COO Christopher Dowdell, and attorney Marc Allaira. (Simmons says in the lawsuit he was also investigating Dowdell “for misconduct” at the time.) The meeting went badly, according to the lawsuit, and “Dow attacked Plaintiff’s credibility and integrity by making false accusations of misconduct against him”. Afterwards, Simmons was suspended from his job and “escorted off the premises”.

The suit goes on, Simmons was never “disciplined” or had any complaints about his job performance the entire time he was at SAG, yet he was fired on March 25, 2011. That was the day after he says he spoke to an unnamed SAG-PPHP Board Trustee about “Dow’s illegal and unethical conduct” and arranged a meeting “the following week to further discuss these issues”. Simmons says he was “informed and believes that Dow was informed of Plaintiff’s complaints to the SAG-PPHP Trustee and terminated him in retaliation.”

I’ve previously reported exclusively that, since he was fired, whistleblower Craig Simmons has been telling federal authorities what he knows about the Screen Actors Guild Pension & Health Plan scandal. During October 2011, November 2011, and December 2011, he testified under oath during three sessions in Los Angeles with the FBI, IRS, Securities & Exchange Commission, Department Of Justice, and Department Of Labor inside the Federal Building in Westwood. My information is that the authorities were taking copious notes while Simmons spoke. Insiders also told me that federal investigations are now ongoing into not just one embezzlement and cover-up inside the SAG P&H Plan but also another fraud and cover-up there which makes two scandals altogether. I understand the FBI asked Simmons not to go public about the probes and he has not spoken publicly about his whistleblowing. [See Simmons' letter here to the SAG P&HP 36 Board Of Trustees, and Simmons’ letter here to the Department Of Labor, which led to the federal probes.]

[Susan]

It seems that many people belong to both unions. Why is that?

[Nancy]

When I started working my first jobs were in television and so AFTRA is my parent union. When I did my first movie I joined SAG. I have paid my dues to both unions as well as a few others ever since. My story is probably similar to others'.

[Susan]

Thanks, Nancy. When I watched the video, it portrayed AFTRA as the bad guys and SAG as the good guys but a lot of them were holding membership cards from both, I was confused. Now I understand.

Is there a benefit to belonging to both?

[Rhodalee]

I just read the merger was approved. Sorry Nancy.

[Nancy]

Is there a benefit to belonging to both?

In the beginning AFTRA was television and SAG film so film Actors were not lumped together with newscasters and the like. Now we are all in one and the SAG pension and health plans will pretty much go away and AFTRA's don't compare. Young people joining up will not have the opportunities old folks like me had.

To clarify, I have always been for this merger but not without transparency regarding the above issues. It's a shame it had to be pushed through without clarification, but so be it. We'll have to wait and see what they do now. Life is to short to worry about the past.

[sabaue]

I'm sorry Nancy.

[Nancy]

Yep, me too, Sally, but maybe they will be honorable. We'll see.

[Susan]

Originally Posted by Nancy

Yep, me too, Sally, but maybe they will be honorable. We'll see.

I hope so. Maybe they will be more careful in the future.

I'm sorry Nancy. It looks like only a little over 50% returned the ballots.

[Nancy]

I guess many of us were confused. It's a shame.

The glory years of The Screen Actors Guild are over. My dad would be crying with me. Notice the word "was."

The Screen Actors Guild (SAG) was an American labor union representing over 105,000 film and television principal and background performers worldwide.

According to SAG's Mission Statement, the Guild seeks to: negotiate and enforce collective bargaining agreements that establish equitable levels of compensation, benefits, and working conditions for its performers; collect compensation for exploitation of recorded performances by its members, and provide protection against unauthorized use of those performances; and preserve and expand work opportunities for its members.

The Guild was founded in 1933 in an effort to eliminate exploitation of actors in Hollywood who were being forced into oppressive multi-year contracts with the major movie studios that did not include restrictions on work hours or minimum rest periods, and often had clauses that automatically renewed at the studios' discretion. These contracts were notorious for allowing the studios to dictate the public and private lives of the performers who signed them, and most did not have provisions to allow the performer to end the deal.

Farewell to a wonderful union. It was a great ride.