You asked if (1) Connecticut statutes hold individual corporate officers criminally liable for fraud or other misrepresentation of financial information, especially as it applies to private employee pension funds, and (2) how this compared to statutes on corporate officer liability in workers' compensation law.

The Office of Legislative Research does not provide legal opinions and this report should not be construed as one.

Under the state penal code a person can be held criminally liable for any activity performed in the name of a corporation or limited liability corporation if that activity would be considered criminal if the person acted on his own behalf or in his own name (CGS § 53a-11).

If the person defrauds a private employee pension fund, the federal Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) supercedes state law. On the federal level, the Department of Labor, the Internal Revenue Service, and the Justice Department investigate possible violations of private pension plans. The Justice Department can prosecute criminal charges regarding abuse or theft of pension funds (see Labor Department guide "Protect Your Pension" at http: //www. dol. gov/pwba/pubs/protect/guidetoc. htm#intro).

For forms of fraud not involving pensions, state prosecutors could seek charges under the state penal code definition for larceny, which includes the following (CGS § 53a-119):

1. Obtaining property by false pretenses: A person, with the intent to defraud, obtains property by any false token, pretense or device.

2. Obtaining property by false promise: A person obtains property by means of a representation, expressed or implied, that he or a third person will in the future engage in particular conduct when he does not intend to engage in such conduct or does not believe that the third person intends to engage in such conduct.

3. Embezzlement: A person wrongfully appropriates to himself or to someone else property of another in his care or custody.

Furthermore, making a false statement in the second degree (class A misdemeanor) might be applied to a corporate officer who makes a false written statement in a statutorily authorized form to a public official in the performance of the official's duties. This could apply to various documents that must be filed with the state. (Other state fraud statutes apply to specific types of fraud, such as insurance fraud, and might not apply to a corporate officer. )

State workers' compensation law primarily provides civil penalties, including fines, if an employer does not comply with the law. But one subsection provides a criminal penalty if an employer "knowingly and willingly fails to comply" with statutory requirements that he prove to the Workers' Compensation Commission his solvency to provide proper compensation to eligible employees (CGS § 31-288(f)). Such failure is a class D felony and it applies to an employer who is:

1. the company owner, for a sole proprietorship;

2. a partner, for a partnership;

3. a principal, for a limited liability company; or

4. a corporate officer, for a corporation.

This differs greatly from laws that apply to private pensions because ERISA does not supercede in the area of workers' compensation. (State workers' compensation law also specifies criminal penalties for those guilty of fraudulent workers' compensation claims. )

JM: eh