Utah CEO accused of using $300K of employee retirement funds for business expenses

FARMINGTON — A federal court in Utah has ordered the removal of a Farmington construction company’s CEO from his role as trustee of the company’s employee stock ownership plan after he allegedly misused $300,000 in employee retirement funds.

The removal of Bradley L. Knowlton, CEO and co-owner of Ascent Construction LLC, as trustee was made public in a Tuesday news release from the U. S. Department of Labor. It says U.S. District Judge Ted Stewart granted the department’s motion for preliminary injunction on July 3.

“The removal of Bradley L. Knowlton is a necessary first step to make certain the retirement funds of Ascent Construction’s employees are managed in their best interests,” said Klaus Placke, Employee Benefits Security Administration regional director, in the release. “We will continue to work hard to ensure the retirement these employees have worked toward.”

Knowlton is accused of using more than $300,000 in the company stock ownership plan’s employee retirement funds to pay company business expenses.

The general investment account of the employee benefit plan held cash contributions made by Ascent to continue a retirement benefit program it had previously established for eligible employees.

“In addition to the two accounts for holding assets, the plan has always had at least one checking account into which it can transfer plan funds held in the general investment account to distribute via check to eligible participants,” according to the complaint filed against Ascent Construction and Knowlton.

The plan had one checking account at the Bank of Utah until February 2020, when the plan was forced to close that account. The complaint states that Knowlton deposited $11,250.95 into an Ascent Construction operating account at Sunwest Bank.

“Knowlton subsequently used the plan funds he had deposited into the Ascent Construction, Inc. operating account at Sunwest Bank for various Ascent business expenses, not for the plan participants’ or beneficiaries’ benefit,” the complaint alleges.

In September 2021, Knowlton requested that $300,000 in plan assets be transferred from the general investment account to the Sunwest Bank account and from Sept. 22, 2021, to March 8, 2022, Knowlton authorized 10 transactions totaling over $300,000 from the plan’s Sunwest Bank account to Ascent’s operating and payroll accounts at Sunwest Bank, and then used those funds to pay himself and various Ascent business expenses, according to the complaint.

During the Department of Labor’s investigation, the Employee Benefits Security Administration also discovered that Knowlton failed to pay over $30,000 to a former employee who had requested a distribution. Both instances violated the Employee Retirement Income Security Act, the department said.

In April 2023, when the department discovered that Knowlton was again attempting to withdraw retirement funds, the solicitor’s office of the department immediately sought and obtained a preliminary injunction.

“Workers should be able to trust that their retirement savings will be there for them when they need them,” said regional solicitor Marc Pilotin in a statement. “When those entrusted with handling workers’ savings decide to loot workers’ money for their own purposes, as was the case here, the U.S. Department of Labor will take swift action to remove them from their roles and work aggressively to ensure the stolen funds are restored.”

Ascent Construction Inc. was founded in 2000 and is a commercial construction contractor licensed in Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Utah and Wyoming. The company’s own LinkedIn page describes it as “one of Utah’s Top 10 commercial contractors.”

KSL.com placed a call to Ascent Construction seeking comment, but the number was disconnected.