The U.S. Department of Labor has obtained a preliminary injunction against two Lexington, Ky.-based pension plan fiduciaries for allegedly using nearly $40 million of retirement funds as their own personal bank account.

George Hofmeister and Bernard Tew of Bluegrass Investment Management LLC – former fiduciaries of the Hillsdale Salaried, Hillsdale Hourly, Revstone Casting Fairfield GMP Local 359 and Fourslides Inc. pension plans based in Lexington, Ky. – were accused of engaging in a series of prohibited transactions resulting in the misuse of $12.1 million form the Hillsdale Salaried pension plan, about $22.5 million for the Hillsdale Hourly pension plan, $4.4 million from the Revstone plan and $500,000 from the Fourslides Inc. pension plan.

"Those entrusted with managing these pension funds have shown an utter disregard for the workers, who are relying on the money for their retirement," said Phyllis Borzi, the assistant secretary of labor who heads the Employee Benefits Security Administration. "Our aim is to make this right for those workers."