A retirement fund of the title insurance executive who and a separate insurance policy will cover the more than $100,000 that employees said was misappropriated from their own retirement accounts, court records show.
In a pending settlement agreement between the estate of Richard Talley, former CEO of American Title Services Co. in Greenwood Village, and the U.S. Department of Labor, money that employees said was deducted from paychecks but never made it to their retirement accounts will be repaid.
The settlement agreement, part of a separate lawsuit, was filed in American Title’s bankruptcy case because it needs approval there before it can be signed.
The bankruptcy trustee said he has filed a claim on a fidelity bond that insured the company’s retirement plan that Talley controlled, and that whatever amount is not covered will come from the former CEO’s personal retirement account, copies of the proposed settlement show.
The money includes about $69,000 directly withheld from employee paychecks that was to go into the American Title Services Retirement Trust, and the remainder in earnings the employees would have realized on those deposits.
in U.S. District Court on behalf of the employees after Talley’s suicide. The settlement is likely to be approved in the next few weeks.
Court records don’t indicate how many employees were impacted, although the government alleged the misappropriations date to 2008. What happened to the missing funds is also unclear.
Talley, 56, killed himself with a nail gun in the garage of his Aurora home on Feb. 4, 2014, the day he was to meet with officials from a Texas insurance company for which Talley’s title company sold policies.
He left a note that said he feared going to prison as a result of his embezzlements, which court records indicate exceeded at least $2 million.
American Title filed for bankruptcy protection March 12 and has since closed. The case has been embroiled in a number of lawsuits, should stand. The company was its previous beneficiary.
David Migoya: 303-954-1506, dmigoya@denverpost.com or twitter.com/davidmigoya
