Often the money has been diverted for the most venal purposes. Taxes remain deferred on the income and investment gains that accrue in the plans until the employees retire. Companies have 90 days from the time they withhold the funds from paychecks until they are supposed to hand the money over to investment managers. But some bosses apparently view the extended grace period as an invitation to dip into the accounts for their own purposes. But that leads to trouble when they can't pay it back.
Some theft is part of a wholesale pattern.
Convicted last March, he is serving a nine-year prison term for fraud and embezzlement. Executives have raided health-care programs too. But the previous owners had failed to pay the premiums that were due on Lindsay's medical policy for his last four paychecks, allowing the coverage to lapse. That forced the frantic father to hunt for insurance even as his son Justin was undergoing the four-hour operation. He's still not sure.