Full opinion text
MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER NORDBERG, District Judge. I. INTRODUCTION This case concerns three of the most fecund sources of federal litigation: securities regulation, ERISA and RICO. The Court has determined that the securities and ERISA counts are stillborn; it orders further briefing of the RICO claims to see if they survive. The plaintiffs are Associates in Adolescent Psychiatry, S.C. (“AAP”); AAP’s owner, Marvin Schwarz, and his wife, Joanne, the trustees of AAP’s defined benefit and defined contribution pension plans and trusts; and all of the participants in the plans and their beneficiaries. In 1977, AAP established a defined benefit plan to complement its previously established defined contribution plan. The plans then purchased insurance contracts from Home Life Insurance Company of New York to fund their benefit guarantees. Complaining of various misrepresentations in the sale of these insurance products, plaintiffs brought a multi-count complaint against Home Life and several other defendants. The other defendants are two Home Life field underwriters, Robert Canapary and Ronald Aure, as well as Canapary’s business, Canapary Financial Corp. (“Canapary defendants”); Rhode Island Hospital Trust National Bank (“HTNB”); Eric Kranke and his wholly owned company, Pension Actuaries, Inc. (“Kranke defendants”); and AAP’s former lawyers, Levenfeld, Kanter, Baskes & Lippitz, and one of the firm’s attorneys at the time, Jerry Biederman (“Levenfeld defendants” or “group”). Plaintiffs allege that all of the defendants breached fiduciary duties and related-party rules under §§ 3(21)(A) and 3(14) of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act, 29 U.S.C. §§ 1002(21)(A) and 1002(14). With respect to the defendants other than the Levenfeld group, plaintiffs allege violations of §§ 5, 12 and 17 of the Securities Act of 1933, 15 U.S.C. §§ 77e, 771 and 77q, as well § 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, 15 U.S.C. § 78j(b), and related Rule 10b-5, 12 C.F.R. 240.10b-5. Similarly, with respect to the defendants other than the Levenfeld group, plaintiffs allege various violations of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, 18 U.S.C. §§ 1962(a)-(d), as well as conspiracy to violate RICO. The Levenfeld defendants are named in a separate count of professional malpractice. Each of the defendants has moved for summary judgment pursuant to Fed.R. Civ.P. 56. Plaintiffs have cross-moved for summary judgment, seeking a determination that one of the insurance contracts involved in the case is a security and that Home Life and HTNB are ERISA fiduciaries. For the reasons explained below, the Court concludes that the insurance contracts are not securities under the 1933 and 1934 acts. It also concludes that none of the defendants is an ERISA fiduciary. II. FACTS Under Rule 56, the Court may grant judgment as a matter of law provided that the material facts are not in genuine dispute. See generally Wolf v. City of Fitchburgh, 870 F.2d 1327, 1329-30 (7th Cir. 1989); Spring v. Sheboygan Area School District, 865 F.2d 883, 886 (7th Cir.1989). The rule requires that all reasonable inferences be drawn in favor of the nonmoving party; in the case of cross-motions for summary judgment, this means that the Court draws all reasonable inferences in favor of the party that is the nonmovant with respect to the particular motion being considered. Therefore, the facts (which will be supplemented as necessary in the Court’s analysis of the law) are as follows. Marvin Schwarz practiced psychiatry in the Chicago area through his wholly owned professional corporation, AAP. In April or May 1977, prompted by recent changes in the tax laws, Schwarz began to consider setting up a defined benefit pension plan to supplement AAP’s defined contribution and profit-sharing plans. In July of that year, after having received a written pension plan proposal from William M. Mercer, Inc., Schwarz ran into an acquaintance, David Cooper, a field underwriter for Home Life Insurance Co. of New York. This chance meeting led to a subsequent session later in the month with both Cooper and Robert Canapary, another field underwriter for Home Life (as well as a registered representative for the sale of securities). At this meeting, Schwarz showed Canapary a copy of the Mercer proposal. Canapary suggested that a different plan might allow AAP to make larger contributions than the Mercer plan permitted. With Schwarz’s agreement to look at any proposal he might put forward, Canapary arranged for Eric Kranke, president and sole shareholder of Pension Actuaries, Inc., to prepare cost-illustrations for a defined benefit pension plan that would allow the maximum tax-deductible contributions. After considering one of Kranke’s cost-illustrations later in the month, Schwarz gave the go-ahead to Canapary, leading to AAP’s adoption of the Home Life Prototype Defined Benefit Plan and Trust. Schwarz and his wife, Joanne, completed documents for the prototype plan and trust, as well as a participation agreement, on the last business day of July 1977 in the Chicago offices of Levenfeld, Kanter, Baskes & Lippitz, who had been AAP’s lawyers since 1968. The prototype plan named the Schwarzes as plan trustees, and AAP as plan administrator. The plan also provided for the appointment of an investment manager, but stated that if none were named in the participation agreement or trust agreement, this responsibility would shift to the named trustees. The first participation agreement listed the Sehwarzes (in their role as trustees) as the “Plan Investment Manager.” Final Pretrial Order, Agreed Statement of Uncontested Facts (“UF”) paras. 73-74. The participation agreement further indicated that AAP planned to fund the plan through the purchase of life insurance and flexible or variable annuities (or both types of annuities). Upon adoption of the defined benefit plan, AAP terminated the profit-sharing plan. Canapary and Cooper, along with Ronald Aure, another Home Life field underwriter and Cooper's supervisor, sold two Home Life contracts to fund the new AAP defined benefit plan. One was the Home Life Flexible Annuity (“FA”), a contract which allowed participants to accumulate retirement funds at guaranteed interest plus a variable rate to be set at the beginning of each year (the variable rate was later adjusted more frequently, as will be discussed below). The other was the Pension Series Whole Life (“PSWL”) contract, a policy providing for a $10,000 death benefit and accumulating cash value for use upon retirement or withdrawal from the plan. The FA was used to fund AAP’s defined contribution plan as well. Canapary and Aure received commissions on contributions made to the FA and premiums paid on the PSWL. Prior to July 1977, Schwarz, as trustee of the defined contribution and profit-sharing plans, had handled their investment portfolios, purchasing such investments as equity securities, bonds and real estate. Home Life is a mutual life insurance company incorporated under New York law. Its development of the FA in 1974-75 was an attempt to meet competition in the tax-sheltered annuity market and respond to the demand for tax-favored retirement programs created by the passage of ERISA in 1974. UF 115. AAP’s plans purchased the first version of the FA, offered in 1975. This version permitted two ways of making contributions under the contract. Under the “periodic contribution” form of the FA, contributions were made on a regular yearly basis; the minimum contribution was $240 and the maximum was 300% of the scheduled contribution stipulated in the contract. Each annual contribution bore an administration charge of 6.75% per year, $15 per year and $1 for each contribution payment. The alternate funding method permitted minimum lump-sum contributions of $2,000; there was a one-time charge of $25 per participant, plus 5% of the first $50,000 contributed, 2% of the next $50,000, 1% of the next $100,000, and lk% of any excess over $200,000. All contributions were held in Home Life’s general asset account, rather than in separate accounts. During this initial accumulation phase of the 1975 FA, Home Life guaranteed the principal amount of contributions (less sales and administration charges) made on behalf of pension plan participants and any interest credited upon these contributions. The FA provided a guaranteed minimum interest rate plus a variable excess rate. The guaranteed rate was set at 7% during the first year, 6% for the next two, 5% for the two years after that, and 4% for the remainder of the contract. UF 145; Joint Trial Exhibit (“JTX”) 489; Plaintiffs’ Exhibit (“PLX”) 29. The variable rate, designed to take advantage of fluctuating returns on investments made by Home Life, was set at the beginning of each year and was guaranteed for contributions made during the entire year. JTX 489; PLX 29; Allan Dep., at 271-72, Plaintiffs’ Summary Judgment Exhibit (“PSJX”) A. Although the excess interest rate was not altered during the year on the 1975 version of the FA, the excess interest rate on new and accumulated deposits could change from year to year, based upon Home Life’s predictions of investment return. Id. See also PLX 915 and 917-21. For example, a statement dated December 31, 1978, promised Schwarz interest of 7% on his FA during 1979; the following year, interest was to be credited in the amount of 8.45% on contributions made prior to January 1, 1980, and 9% on contributions made after December 31, 1979. PLX 915. Contributions to the FA totaling $683,-797.51 were made on behalf of AAP’s employees from August 5, 1977, to August 24, 1979. Premiums paid on the PSWL totaled $270,000 between August 1977 and July 1984. In 1980, Home Life discontinued the 1975 version of the FA, altering the sales and administration charges and reducing the guaranteed interest rates (7% in the first year; 4% thereafter). The 1980 version was subsequently discontinued in 1982, when yet another version of the FA was introduced. Sometime in 1980 or 1981, in response to volatile interest rates, Home Life reserved to itself the right to alter interest paid on new contributions as often as once per month, rather than annually. This current excess rate was declared in advance and was guaranteed to be paid on contributions made under that rate for the remainder of the year, regardless of subsequent changes in the current rate. Changes in the current rate, moreover, did not affect the rate paid on deposits that had already been made; rates on existing deposits were still declared in advance for the entire year. PLX 138; PLX 915; PLX 917-21; Smith Dep., at 53-58, PSJX M; Fabian Dep., at 105-05, PSJX G. Home Life marketed the FA as a group annuity contract (“GAC”) in order to avoid the delay and expense of submitting an individual contract to the insurance departments of all of the states. This also permitted Home Life to sell the contract without seeking approval from the New York Department of Insurance for a substantial modification of the company’s plan of operations to provide for the new method of interest rate declarations to be used on the FA. UF 162. The insurer originally wished to issue the FA through a trust established with a New York bank, which would hold the GAC. UF 163. Home Life had envisioned the GAC as a means of allowing individual employees whose employers or unions did not offer pension plans to obtain benefits similar to those offered in company- or union-sponsored plans. UF 166. The insurance department, however, by letter dated June 30, 1975, advised Home Life that the contract did not qualify under N.Y. Insurance Law § 223 (now § 4238), regulating issuance of group annuity contracts, because “the participants ... do not qualify as a group under ... Section 223.” UF 169. Thwarted in New York, Home Life turned to the Rhode Island Hospital Trust National Bank (“HTNB”), located in Providence. Home Life submitted copies of the GAC to the State of Rhode Island Department of Insurance. UF 171. Pursuant to negotiations between Home Life and HTNB, the bank declared the Home Life Qualified Corporate Plan Trust (as well as other group trusts not at issue here) and executed the trust document on October 1, 1975. PLX 35. Under the terms of the trust, a corporation adopting the Home Life prototype defined contribution plan or the trustees of the corporation’s pension trust could apply to participate in the Qualified Corporate Plan Trust. Such corporations or trustees were referred to under the Qualified Corporate Plan Trust as “applicants,” and in the case of AAP, the “applicants” were the Schwarzes. Qualified Corporate Plan Trust, Art. I; UF 205. The Applicants would make contributions to the trust on behalf of the participants in their pension plans; the participants would enroll in the trust by filing a “participation agreement” with the Qualified Corporate Plan Trust. UF 190-91. The Qualified Corporate Plan Trust provided that upon HTNB’s receipt of the contributions, “[t]he Trustee shall cause to be issued to it a group annuity contract or contracts from Home Life.” Qualified Corporate Plan Trust, Art. II. HTNB would then be the legal owner and holder of the FA on behalf of the applicants, participants and their beneficiaries. Id. Home Life would issue FA certificates, address them to the applicants, and then mail them to HTNB, which would forward them to the recipients. UF 196. Article VI of the Qualified Corporate Plan Trust permitted HTNB as trustee to contract with an agent to provide administrative services to the trust. Contemporaneous with the creation of the trust, HTNB appointed Home Life as the administrator of the Qualified Corporate Plan Trust. UF 210-11. The effect of this agreement was to turn over to Home Life all (or nearly all) of the administration of the trust, including the collection of contributions from applicants and participants. Under this arrangement, contributions on behalf of the AAP plan participants and other FA certificate holders were mailed to Home Life, which deposited them immediately to its general account. On the same day that Home Life received contributions it would wire an equal amount to HTNB, which would return-wire an equal amount the following Monday. HTNB thus had use of these funds from three and one-half to seven days without paying interest upon them; this float, of course, accrued to the benefit of the bank, though the funds were not set aside for any particular uses. UF 183-187; Butzier Tr., at 94-99, PSJX E; Frazier Dep., at 141-46, 148-51, PSJX I; Beattie Dep, at 25-30, 130-31, PSJX B. The float arrangement was not disclosed in the Qualified Corporate Plan Trust as one of the fees to which the bank was entitled, though a Home Life internal memorandum described it as “an additional operating margin for their trust services.” PLX 9. But though the bank did not pay interest upon the wired funds, Home Life credited interest upon the contributions from the day of their receipt, even before the checks it received from the FA contributors had cleared. UF 251. In January 1984, Home Life estimated the annual cost of this “negative float” to have been about $50,000. Upon retiring or otherwise withdrawing from the program, a participant had the option of annuitizing the contract or receiving a lump-sum distribution. To annuitize the FA, the participant would surrender his GAC certificate to Home Life, which in return would issue a supplemental annuity contract. UF 216. By far the more popular option was the receipt of lump-sum benefits. From November 1975 through January 1986, only ninety-one certificate holders of the 10,000 who surrendered their certificates elected the annuity. UF 219-20. Between April and June 1980, AAP hired new attorneys for advice on the company pension plans, among other matters. UF 270. Schwarz testified that he sought these lawyers’ advice because AAP employees had complained of confusing information from Home Life and because the company accountant had informed him that some of the Home Life tax forms “didn’t seem satisfactory.” Schwarz Dep., at 511— 12, Canapary MSJ Ex. A. During the course of the ensuing investigation, Schwarz concluded that various misrepresentations had induced his company to pay too much money to Home Life for too little benefit. Id. This lawsuit followed. III. SECURITIES CLAIMS Plaintiffs’ claims under the federal securities laws all fail for the same fundamental reason: Neither the FA nor the PSWL is a security. Because the closest question in this case is posed by the FA, the Court will explain first why that contract was not a security. The federal securities laws require the courts to give effect to two competing policies. The first policy is set out by the broad statutory definition given to the term “security,” which includes within its scope, among other instruments, “investment contract[s].” See § 2(1) of the 1933 Act, 15 U.S.C. § 77b(1); § 3(a)(10) of the 1934 Act, 15 U.S.C. § 78c(a)(10). The competing policy is codified in § 3(a)(8) of the 1933 Act, exempting from federal regulation “[a]ny insurance or endowment policy or annuity contract or optional annuity contract, issued by a corporation subject to [state regulation].” 15 U.S.C. § 77c(a)(8). As the Seventh Circuit has held, any instrument that qualifies as an insurance or annuity contract under § 3(a)(8) of the 1933 Act is insulated from private actions brought under the 1934 Act. Otto v. Variable Annuity Life Ins. Co., 814 F.2d 1127, 1130 (7th Cir.1986), cert. denied, 486 U.S. 1026, 108 S.Ct. 2004, 100 L.Ed.2d 235 (1988). The basic principles were set forth in a pair of Supreme Court decisions, see SEC v. Variable Annuity Life Ins. Co. (“VALIC”), 359 U.S. 65, 79 S.Ct. 618, 3 L.Ed.2d 640 (1959), and SEC v. United Benefit Life Ins. Co., 387 U.S. 202, 87 S.Ct. 1557, 18 L.Ed.2d 673 (1967), establishing that insurance products can be treated as securities under the federal laws if the contracts place too much of the investment risk on policyholders. See also SEC v. C.M. Joiner Leasing, Inc., 320 U.S. 344, 64 S.Ct. 120, 88 L.Ed. 88 (1943). (Although Professors Loss and Seligman have questioned whether Congress ever intended this result, see L. Loss & J. Seligman, Securities Regulation, at 1000-02 (3d ed. 1989), it of course is not this Court’s prerogative to ignore binding authority.) The SEC has wrestled with these questions as well; after extensive consideration, the agency promulgated Rule 151, 17 C.F.R. § 230.151, a safe-harbor provision that became effective on June 4, 1986 (and which the Court sets out in full later in this memorandum opinion). In putting forward Rule 151, the SEC promised that it would not treat as securities insurance products that met the rule’s requirements. The Seventh Circuit carefully analyzed Rule 151 and Supreme Court precedent in Otto. Because this Court concludes that the analysis in Otto and the terms of Rule 151 control the result here, the Court will discuss that case at length. The first point to observe about Otto is that it is really two opinions, decided upon different assumed facts concerning the insurance contract at issue. Initially, the court of appeals held that the contract was not a security, and thus affirmed the district court’s entry of summary judgment in favor of the insurer. 814 F.2d at 1130-34. Upon rehearing, after the insurer disclosed further information concerning the contractual terms, the court of appeals reversed its previous decision to hold that the contract was indeed a security. Id. at 1140-42. When Otto was first decided, the facts were understood as follows. Variable Annuity Life Insurance Co. (“VALIC”) had issued a contract which it termed a fixed annuity. It guaranteed the principal paid into the annuity, as well as interest at a minimum rate of 4% per year for the first ten years, and 2Jh% thereafter. The insurer held funds paid by annuitants in its general account and invested them in a variety of long-term instruments, generally in the form of debt, such as mortgages and bonds. Upon retirement, the beneficiary could either withdraw the amount accumulated in a lump sum or use it to buy an annuity. Id. at 1129. The distinguishing characteristic of the fixed annuity was its excess interest provision, allowing the insurer, at its discretion, to pay interest on top of the guaranteed rate. Id. The plaintiff class alleged that the insurer had failed to disclose the manner in which it calculated the excess interest. This method, known as “banding” or “new money,” paid the current rate of interest on current contributions only; previous contributions (so the court of appeals had been led to believe) would continue to earn interest at the excess rates declared at the time the previous contributions had been made. Id. at 1130. The current excess rate, however, could be changed at any time. The court of appeals analyzed the question in two stages. First, the court considered the matter under the law developed in the Supreme Court’s decisions, as well as the Seventh Circuit’s own decision in Peoria Union Stock Yards Co. v. Penn Mutual Life Ins. Co., 698 F.2d 320 (7th Cir.1983). The court noted that the fixed annuity had been promoted as a method of saving for retirement, rather than as an investment device. Funds paid into it were held in the insurer’s general account, and were invested in safe securities, largely debt. Principal was guaranteed, as was the base amount of interest, which though low, “was not so low that ... it placed the investment risk on the policyholder in a way substantial enough to make the fixed annuity a security.” Otto, 814 F.2d at 1132. The court further contrasted the fixed annuity with the insurer’s variable annuity, which all agreed was a security. The variable annuity guaranteed neither principal nor interest, id. at 1129, and the amounts invested were kept in a special account, id. at 1133. The contractholder’s investment was directly tied to the success of the investment portfolio, which consisted of equity securities. Id. In the second stage of its analysis, the court of appeals examined the fixed annuity under the test set out in SEC Rule 151, and concluded that Rule 151 “supported” the court’s holding that the contract was not a security (though the court noted that the rule did not literally apply because it was adopted after the sale of the fixed annuity). Id. Rule 151 provides: (a) Any annuity contract or optional annuity contract (a “contract”) shall be deemed to be within the provisions of section 3(a)(8) of the Securities Act of 1933 [citation], Provided, That (1) The annuity or optional annuity contract is issued by a corporation (the “insurer”) subject to the supervision of the insurance commissioner, bank commissioner, or any agency or officer performing like functions, of any State or Territory of the United States or the District of Columbia; (2) The insurer assumes the investment risk under the contract as prescribed in paragraph (b) of this section; and (3) The contract is not marketed primarily as an investment. (b) The insurer shall be deemed to assume the investment risk under the contract if: (1) The value of the contract does not vary according to the investment experience of a separate account; (2) The insurer for the life of the contract (i) Guarantees the principal amount of purchase payments and interest credited thereto, less any deduction (without regard to its timing) for sales, administrative or other expenses or charges; and (ii) Credits a specified rate of interest (as defined in paragraph (c) of this section) to net purchase payments and interest credited thereto; and (3) The insurer guarantees that the rate of any interest to be credited in excess of that described in paragraph (b)(2)(h) of this section will not be modified more frequently than once per year. (c) The term “specified rate of interest,” as used in paragraph (b)(2)(h) of this section, means a rate of interest under the contract that is at least equal to the minimum rate required to be credited by the relevant nonforfeiture law in the jurisdiction in which the contract is issued. If that jurisdiction does not have any applicable nonforfeiture law at the time the contract is issued (or if the minimum rate applicable to an existing contract is not longer mandated in that jurisdiction), the specified rate under the contract must at least be equal to the minimum rate then required for the individual annuity contracts by the NAIC Standard Nonforfeiture Law. 17 C.F.R. § 230.151. The rule is a safe harbor only; failure to meet its requirements thus would not necessarily cause an insurance product to be treated as a security, but merely would open it to analysis under the law interpreting §§ 2(1) and 3(a)(10). See Definition of Annuity Contract or Optional Annuity Contract, Exchange Act Release No. 6645 [1986-87 Transfer Binder] Fed.Sec.L.Rep. (CCH) ¶ 84,004 (May 29, 1986). The fixed annuity in Otto met all of the requirements of Rule 151 except for the yearlong guarantee of excess interest. 814 F.2d at 1134. It therefore failed the express terms of 151(b)(3), and thus would not have qualified for Rule 151’s safe harbor. The court of appeals, however, determined the lack of a yearlong guarantee to be of no consequence. In reaching this conclusion, the court examined the SEC’s explanation of the rule in Release No. 6645, which promised a flexible approach to the one-year requirement. The court of appeals concluded: Although VALIC does not guarantee that it will leave the excess interest unchanged for a year, it does use the “banding” method of computing interest. Under this method, VALIC in effect guarantees the excess interest rate on every deposit for the life of the annuity contract. In its discussion of Rule 151 that was released with the rule’s enactment, the SEC made clear that it considered the banding method, or in the SEC’s words, the “payment basis” of computing interest, as satisfying this second requirement of Rule 151. Id. (footnote omitted). But the court of appeals had been misinformed as to the nature of the fixed annuity. Upon rehearing, VALIC informed the court that it retained the “unfettered discretion” to alter (or even eliminate) the amount of excess interest on past contributions at any time. Id. at 1140-41. In its brief on rehearing, the insurer told the court: “ ‘Excess interest is wholly discretionary; with its unfettered discretion, VALIC can calculate excess interest by any method it chooses, it can elect to change the current interest rate paid on deposits, it can change the rates on past contributions, and (although competition makes it unlikely) it can stop paying excess interest altogether — at any time.’ ” Id. at 1141. VAL-IC argued that despite the uncertainty of the excess interest, the “substantiality” of the guaranteed rates sufficed to make the fixed annuity an exempt insurance product. Id. VALIC’s argument failed to persuade the court of appeals, which concluded that the fixed annuity placed too much investment risk on the contract buyer to escape classification as a security. The excess interest rates of 4% and 3 ¥2%, though slightly above the 3% required under Rule 151, could not by themselves insulate the fixed annuity from the federal securities laws. Payment of some excess interest was necessary, and the fixed annuity’s promise was too contingent. Id. at 1142. In reaching this decision, the court dwelled on VALIC’s right to change the rate of excess interest at will: “A claimed right to change established excess interest rates and to eliminate excess interest payments entirely at any time surely tends to shift the investment risk from VALIC to the plan participant.” Id. at 1141. The emphasis in the quoted passage was the court of appeals’ own. A number of points are fairly derived from Otto. The most important here is the propriety of referring to Rule 151 in considering whether any insurance contract is a security, including the contracts at issue in this case. In this Court’s view, it is of no consequence that the SEC adopted Rule 151 after the plaintiffs began investing in Home Life’s FA (the FA was first offered in 1975 and the plaintiffs paid into it from 1977 to 1979). The requirements set forth in Rule 151 for a guaranteed exemption from federal securities regulation represent the carefully considered views, developed in the course of notice and comment rulemaking, of the federal agency with the greatest expertise in this matter; the principles established are timeless, and ought to be followed by the courts even though not binding upon them. To conclude otherwise would lead to untenable results. Identical insurance products could be classified differently depending on whether they were sold before or after Rule 151’s adoption, even though the time of sale should not be pertinent to the question whether an insurance contract is a security. Furthermore, while the courts might not be constrained to follow the SEC’s rule, their failure to do so could allow a private securities litigant to recover damages based upon the sale of an instrument that the SEC would not have considered subject to its own regulatory authority. The Court therefore believes that if the insurance contracts at issue here meet the requirements of Rule 151, they are entitled to exemption from attack under the federal securities laws. The next point that must be considered is how to tell a security from a non-security under the rule of Otto. The distinction appears to rest on the frequency with which the insurer can alter the rate of excess interest on existing contributions under the contract. It seems clear that an annuity contract which allows the insurer to alter the rate of excess interest on past contributions at any time will be deemed a security under Otto. On the other hand, a contract that allows the excess rate to be periodically readjusted for new contributions, but which guarantees that for the life of the contract each contribution will continue to receive the rate prevailing at the time it was made, will not be deemed a security. As will be seen below, Home Life’s FA does not clearly fall into either category of instrument. But though Otto does not absolutely dictate this Court’s conclusions one way or the other, the Court believes that the case, properly understood, supports the conclusion that the FA is not a security. The Court now considers the requirements of Rule 151 as applied to the FA. Initially, the Court observes that the FA qualifies under the preliminary requirement that it be “[a]n annuity contract or optional annuity contract.” Rule 151(a). The FA began with an accumulation phase in which participants contributed toward their retirement income; upon withdrawal, the participants could either purchase an annuity from Home Life or receive a lump-sum payment of their accumulated contributions. Though relatively few participants may have chosen the annuity option (according to UF 219-20, only ninety-one of the ten thousand FA certificate holders who surrendered their certificates between .1975 and 1986 chose the annuity option), this fact alone does not affect the FA’s status as an annuity or optional annuity contract under Rule 151. It is similar in this regard to the fixed annuity in Otto, and there was no question that the contract in that case was an annuity. This point aside, the Court turns to the three substantive requirements stated in subsection (a) of Rule 151. First, Home Life’s regulation by the States of New York and Rhode Island satisfies the requirement of Rule 151(a)(1), which dictates that the corporation issuing the annuity or optional annuity be subject to state regulation. Plaintiffs have suggested that Home Life sold the FA as a group annuity contract through HTNB (as trustee) in Rhode Island, because at the time, Rhode Island, unlike New York, had no statute regulating the issuance of group annuities and no written standards of approval specifically applicable to annuities. See generally UF 162-172. Home Life itself has stipulated that it designed the FA as a group annuity contract to avoid the delay and expense of submitting individual contracts to the insurance departments of all of the states, and so that it would not have to seek the New York Department of Insurance’s approval for a substantial modification in its plan of operations. UF 162. On the other hand, plaintiffs do not contest that Home Life submitted copies of the group annuity contracts related to the FA to the State of Rhode Island Department of Insurance in 1975. Id. 171. Before adopting its safe harbor rule, the SEC noted that one commentator had proposed an alteration in the wording of Rule 151(a)(1), suggesting that “ ‘the contract itself be subject to state regulation as an annuity or insurance contract.’ ” Fed.Sec.L.Rep. H 84,004, at 88,129. The Commission, however, rejected this proposal, believing that regulation of the company itself was sufficient, provided that the insurance product involved was a “bona fide annuity contradi ]•” Id. As the Court has already found, the FA is an annuity contract. There is no question that Home Life is an insurance company subject to state regulation in New York and Rhode Island (and wherever else it is licensed to do business, for that matter) and thus it complies with the literal language of the rule. According to the statement of uncontested facts presented to this Court, the documents related to the FA were submitted to the Rhode Island insurance department for approval. The Court thus concludes that the FA satisfies the requirements of Rule 151(a)(1). The Court also finds that the FA satisfies the requirements of Rule 151(a)(3) because it was “not marketed primarily as an investment.” Plaintiffs’ argument to the contrary takes two forms. First, they point to Home Life’s sales literature for the FA (see JTX 489), cull isolated passages referring to the investment aspects of the FA (including the desirability of the excess interest as a way of taking advantage of fluctuating interest rates), and argue that these show that it was marketed primarily as an investment. Similarly, Schwarz claims that the sales pitch for the FA emphasized Home Life’s abilities in the management and investment of money. PSJX L. The Court, however, concludes that JTX 489 does not, when read as a whole, promote the FA primarily as an investment. The document repeatedly stresses that the FA is a method of saving for retirement, with guaranteed principal, guaranteed interest, and a guaranteed life income (through purchase of a annuity with the accumulated funds). The last part of the document is a section entitled “Financial Security Assured.” Undoubtedly the document refers to the investment aspects and tax-favored features of the plan, and the Court does not question that Home Life and its representatives promoted the company’s investment abilities in hawking the FA. But that is simply a consequence of the FA’s nature as a retirement funding vehicle; shrewd investment is necessary in order to save enough for comfortable retirement. As the Seventh Circuit noted in Otto, “[Ijnvestment management is the ‘life blood’ of life insurance companies ... and thus it was not inappropriate for [the defendant insurer] to tout its investment experience even in relation to an insurance product.” 814 F.2d at 1132 (quoting Peoria Union, 698 F.2d at 322). The SEC’s view is the same: “[A] marketing approach that fairly and accurately describes both the insurance and investment features of a particular contract, and that emphasizes the product’s usefulness as a long-term insurance device for retirement or income security purposes, would undoubtedly ‘pass’ the rule’s marketing test.” Fed.Sec. L.Rep. ¶ 84,004, at 88,137 (footnote omitted). Similarly: “[T]he Commission is not saying, nor has it ever said, that an insurer in marketing its product cannot describe the investment nature of the contract, including its interest rate sensitivity and tax-favored status.” Id. (footnote omitted). Plaintiffs’ second line of argument is that the public perceived the FA as an investment vehicle, a fact recognized by Home Life and its employees and reflected in its internal documents. For example, one memorandum written in June 1979 after a Home Life employee had attended a seminar on flexible annuities stated that “[t]he public perceives the Flexible Annuity as an investment as opposed to an annuity.” PLX 62. The Home Life legal department advised in a November 1978 memorandum that the importance of the annuity aspects of the contracts had diminished as purchasers “focused greater attention on the investment return of contracts during the accumulation period.” JTX 115. Plaintiffs point out that Home Life later amended its literature describing the FA to delete discussion of the FA’s investment aspect and to emphasize its value as a retirement savings vehicle. PLX 63. As further evidence, plaintiffs cite the low rate of participants who chose to purchase annuities upon terminating their FAs (ninety-one of the ten thousand FA certificate holders who surrendered their certificates between 1975 and 1986, UF 219-20). They also cite an internal publication giving agents tips on how to sell the FA by informing prospects of the company’s investment record. PLX 61. In the Court’s view, the public perception of the FA does not control the question whether it was marketed primarily as an investment. Rule 151 does not ask how the public perceives the insurance product; it merely asks how the insurer promoted it. Plaintiffs imply that the FA must have been marketed as a security if the public saw it as an investment. But even assuming that the public considered the FA an investment, the inference does not reasonably follow that the FA was promoted primarily as an investment, rather than as an insurance device for the accumulation of retirement savings. The tax law and other statutes have created incentives for the use of retirement plans; whether participants use them for investment purposes, rather than for retirement, is beyond the control of an insurer’s marketing efforts. As for Home Life’s revision of its marketing materials, this display of caution is hardly a confession of previous error. Regarding the internal publication with the sales tips (PLX 61), plaintiffs neglect to point out that the publication stated Home Life’s primary competitors in the pension-funding market were banks and savings and loans, not securities-trading firms. This hardly supports the inference that Home Life was marketing the FA as a securities investment substitute. Having examined Home Life’s promotional material, the Court is satisfied that the company did not primarily market the FA as an investment, and that no rational jury could find to the contrary. This leaves the third and final requirement, the assumption of investment risk by the insurer. This requirement is found in Rule 151(a)(2), which in turn relies upon a test stated in Rule 151(b). Rule 151(b) sets forth three conditions for the insurer to be considered as having assumed the investment risk. First, 151(b)(1) mandates that the value of the contract “not vary according to the investment experience of a separate account." Both sides agree that contributions to the FA were placed in Home Life’s general account. See UF 185. Plaintiffs, however, argue that Home Life’s use of the “investment generation method” (“IGM”) for allocating interest to particular contributions effectively created a separate account for the FA. Roughly stated, the IGM permits Home Life to track investment income to specific- “generations” of assets purchased by Home Life and consider this information in setting the interest rates to be paid to contributions made during time periods when a particular asset generation had been in effect. See, e.g., UF 256-59; Allan Dep., at 25-31, PSJX A; Brophy Dep., at 56-58, 86-7, PSJX D. The SEC’s explanation of Rule 151 in no way indicates that using the IGM has the same effect as segregating assets in a separate account, per Rule 151(b)(1). To the contrary, the reason for the general account rule is to ensure “that the assets of the insurer’s general account will be available to meet the guarantees provided under the contract without resulting in additional investment risk.” Fed.Sec.L.Rep. ¶ 84,004, at 88,131. All evidence before this Court indicates that Home Life’s general assets stood behind its guarantees with respect to the FA. The Court therefore considers the general account requirement met. Second, 151(b)(2)(i) requires the insurer, for the life of the contract, to guarantee the principal of purchase payments and interest credited thereto (less deductions for sales and other expenses). Again, it is uncontested that Home Life guarantees the principal amount of contributions under the FA and any interest actually credited to these deposits. UF 221; JTX 489. In addition, Rule 151(b)(2)(h) requires an insurer to pay a minimum rate of guaranteed interest upon principal and interest previously credited thereto. Rule 151(c) sets this minimum rate no lower than “the minimum rate required to be credited by the relevant nonforfeiture law in the jurisdiction in which the contract is issued.” If there is no such nonforfeiture law in the jurisdiction, the minimum rate must be no lower than the minimum required at the time under the National Association of Insurance Commissioners Standard Nonforfeiture Law. The NAIC standard rate was 3%, as were the standard rates for individual annuity contracts in Illinois and New York (Rhode Island does not appear to have a nonforfeiture law). See Otto, 814 F.2d at 1134; Ill.Rev.Stat. ch. 73, para. 841.4; N.Y. Insurance Law § 4223. The FA guaranteed annual interest of 7% in the first year, 6% for the next two years, 5% for the two years after that, and 4% for the remainder of the contract. The FA thus complies with both subrequirements of Rule 151(b)(2). The third and last requirement of Rule 151(b) is that if the insurer agrees to pay excess interest, it must guarantee “that the rate ... will not be modified more frequently than once per year.” Rule 151(b)(3). This rule does not prevent an insurer from changing the rates on accumulated deposits, but merely requires that any rates set on existing deposits not be changed more frequently than once annually. See generally Fed.Sec.L.Rep. ¶ 84,004, 88,133-36; see id. at 88,136 (“Once determined, the rate of excess interest credited to a particular purchase payment or to the value accumulated under the contract must remain in effect for at least the one-year time period established by the rule.”) (emphasis supplied). The plaintiffs made their deposits from 1977 to 1979, and during this time period, excess interest rates were declared at the beginning of the year for the entire year. The rates on past contributions, however, could change from year to year. Although plaintiffs assert that Home Life occasionally altered the rates on past contributions more than once per year, all of the evidence submitted to the Court belies this assertion. Home Life’s description of its FA promised that rates would be declared at the start of the year and would remain unchanged for the whole year. JTX 489. See also PLX 29 (copy of group annuity contract) and PLX 33 (group annuity certificate). The deposit summaries issued to the plan participants indicate that the rates declared annually on past contributions remained in effect for an entire year. PLX 915 and 917-21. This conclusion is further supported by the testimony of Home Life officers and employees. See, e.g., Allan Dep., at 271-72, PSJX A. Plaintiffs confuse this issue by referring to Home Life’s use of the IGM for allocating interest to particular contributions. See, e.g., UF 256-59; Brophy Dep., at 56-58, 86-7, PSJX D. While it may be true, as plaintiffs assert, that Home Life could “re-band” assets into new investment generations at any time, this is not the same thing as changing the rate of interest on past contributions under the FA. Plaintiffs have failed to produce any evidence that the interest paid on past contributions was ever altered more than once per year. In light of the overwhelming evidence to the contrary, this contention of plaintiffs cannot prevail. One thing that did change, however, was the frequency with which the current excess rate could change. Beginning in 1980 or 1981 (the date is uncertain, but it is after the plaintiffs ceased putting money into the FA), Home Life began altering the excess rate of interest on new contributions more often than once a year, reserving the right to do so each month. This was in response to volatile interest rates. See PLX 138; PLX 915; PLX 917-21; Smith Dep., at 53-58, PSJX M; Fabian Dep., at 104-05, PSJX G. The current rate declared on a new deposit was guaranteed for that deposit through the remainder of the calendar year; subsequent changes in the current rate, however, did not affect deposits that had already been made. Smith Dep., at 53, 57, PSJX M. The SEC specifically signed off on this variation as permissible under Rule 151. See Fed.Sec.L.Rep. ¶ 84,004, at 88,134-35 (note particularly id. at 88,134 n. 27 and 88,135 n. 29). Thus, the FA satisfies the requirements of Rule 151(b)(3), as well as all the other requirements of the rule. The sole remaining question is whether there is anything in Otto to prevent this Court from concluding that the FA is not a security. Plaintiffs argue that the Seventh Circuit’s change of position on rehearing resulted from “the disclosure by VALIC ... that the issuer claimed the right to alter, at its unfettered discretion, the interest rates paid on past fixed annuity plan contributions.” Reply Brief, at 43. This Court, however, believes that the significant difference was not the right to alter the rates paid on past contributions, but, in the words of the Seventh Circuit, the “claimed right to change established excess interest rates and to eliminate excess interest payments at any time." 814 F.2d at 1141 (emphasis in original). It is true that in initially finding that the fixed annuity in Otto was not a security, the court of appeals believed that a declared rate on a contribution could never be altered. See id. at 1134. But given the Seventh Circuit’s reliance on Rule 151 and the SEC’s explanation of that rule, this Court cannot believe that the court of appeals would have found the fixed annuity in Otto to have been a security if it had been identical to Home Life’s FA. Under the rule, it is not the possibility of altering the interest rate on past contributions that deprives an insurance contract of the safe harbor; it is the frequency with which the rate on past contributions can be altered. Having thus explained at great length why the FA is not a security, the Court can far more briefly conclude that the PSWL is an exempt insurance contract. The Court has been provided with a specimen of the policy issued. PLX 96. The policy on its face appears to be nothing more than a policy of whole life insurance with an option to annuitize, setting a premium of $223.60 for $10,000 of coverage. Nevertheless, citing Grainger v. State Security Life Ins. Co., 547 F.2d 303, 307 (5th Cir.1977), cert. denied sub nom. Nimmo v. Grainger, 436 U.S. 932, 98 S.Ct. 2832, 56 L.Ed.2d 777 (1978), plaintiffs argue that the premiums on the PSWL were “disproportionately high ... in relation to the amount of the death benefit,” and therefore assert that there is a genuine issue of material fact concerning whether the PSWL is a security. Grainger is of little help to plaintiffs because it was decided on a motion to dismiss and involved an entirely different sort of policy (it was denominated a “Variable Investment Plan” and contained an incidental death benefit). Moreover, plaintiffs have completely failed to put forward evidence establishing that the PSWL required disproportionately high premiums or was otherwise anything other than what it purports to be on its face. Instead, they point to the allegations that they made in their Third Amended Complaint. A party confronted with a properly supported summary judgment cannot rest upon his pleadings; he must come forward with evidence of his own sufficient to establish a genuine dispute of material fact. Posey v. Skyline Corp., 702 F.2d 102, 105 (7th Cir.), cert. denied, 464 U.S. 960, 104 S.Ct. 392, 78 L.Ed.2d 336 (1983). The only evidence that plaintiffs have pointed to is Schwarz’s testimony that the PSWL, like the FA, was promoted on the basis of Home Life’s investment skill. Schwarz Dep., at 230, PSJX L. But Schwarz further described the sales pitch for the PSWL as promising a way to provide a current death benefit with accumulation for retirement. This, of course, accurately describes a whole life policy. R. Keeton & A. Widiss, Insurance Law § 1.5(c) (1988). Plaintiffs have failed to establish a genuine dispute of fact concerning the character of the PSWL. The Court therefore holds that the PSWL is an insurance contract and not a security. Since neither of the insurance contracts involved in this case are securities, all of the defendants are entitled to summary judgment in their favor on the plaintiffs’ federal securities law claims. IV. ERISA CLAIMS Plaintiffs’ claims under ERISA fail because (1) HTNB is not an ERISA fiduciary, and even if it were, it breached no fiduciary duty; and (2) neither Home Life nor any of the other defendants are ERISA fiduciaries. A. Claims Against HTNB 1. The Erisa Plans Before an entity may be liable as an ERISA fiduciary there must first be an ERISA plan. See ERISA § 4, 29 U.S.C. § 1003. Because the parties do not agree about the identification of the ERISA plans at issue here, the Court must resolve this preliminary dispute. There is no question that AAP had established two ERISA pension plans for the benefit of its employees. See ERISA § 3(2), 29 U.S.C. § 1002(2). The corporation’s first program was a defined contribution plan. AAP’s subsequent decision to set up a second plan, a defined benefit program, led to this litigation. Schwarz and his wife are named trustees of both plans, and AAP is the plans’ administrator. See ERISA § 402(a)(2), 29 U.S.C. § 1102(a)(2). Plaintiffs argued, however, that the Qualified Corporate Plan Trust declared by HTNB for the purchase of the Home Life FA was also an ERISA “plan.” Or at least this was the Court’s understanding of plaintiffs’ argument based upon their opening Memorandum in Support of their cross-motion for summary judgment. But plaintiffs pulled back from this theory in their Reply and their Response to HTNB’s Surreply. Citing Donovan v. Dillingham, 688 F.2d 1367 (11th Cir.1982), they state: “Plaintiffs here do not argue that the Trust, standing alone, constitutes an ERISA plan. Rather, consistent with the reasoning in Dillingham, it is the establishment and operation of the Trust coupled with the Participation Agreement (PLX 85) that constitutes the HTNB trust as an ERISA Plan.” Response to HTNB Surreply, at 7 (emphasis in original). Plaintiffs then assert that by entering into the float arrangement with Home Life, HTNB breached its fiduciary duties to this ERISA trust by using trust funds to its own benefit. However plaintiffs’ argument be understood, the Court does not believe the Qualified Corporate Plan Trust to be an ERISA plan. ERISA § 3(3) provides that “[t]he term ‘employee benefit plan’ or ‘plan’ ” includes “an employee pension benefit plan.” 29 U.S.C. § 1002(3). “Pension benefit plan” means “any plan, fund, or program which was heretofore or is hereafter established or maintained by an employer or by an employee organization, or by both.” ERISA § 3(2), 29 U.S.C. § 1002(2). “Employer” is defined as “any person acting directly as an employer, or indirectly in the interest of an employer, in relation to an employee benefit plan; and includes a group or association of employers acting for an employer in such capacity.” ERISA § 3(5), 29 U.S.C. § 1002(5). As the juxtaposition of ERISA’s definitional sections indicates, an entity cannot be an ERISA plan unless it is maintained by an employer, or someone acting “indirectly in the interest of an employer.” Plaintiff first argues that HTNB acted indirectly in the interest of AAP and other employers by setting up the Qualified Corporate Plan Trust. Memorandum in Support, at 30. But this argument is without factual basis; while AAP and other employers could purchase the FA through the trust, the trust itself was set up by Home Life and HTNB to facilitate Home Life’s marketing of the FA without seeking separate approval of the contract form from the insurance departments of all the states. UF 162. It thus was nothing more than a device for the sale of Home Life’s insurance product. To say that in setting up and overseeing the trust, HTNB was a “person acting ... indirectly in the interest of an employer, in relation to an employee benefit plan,” bends the statutory phrase past the breaking point. In declaring the Qualified Corporate Plan Trust, HTNB was really acting in the interest of Home Life, which needed the trust for selling the FA. See generally the Court’s recitation of the facts, Section II. Perhaps because plaintiffs perceived the weakness of this assertion, they later shifted their argument to claim that the Qualified Corporate Plan Trust became an ERISA plan because of the participation agreements entered into by the participants in the AAP pension plans. Reply, at 26-29; Response to HTNB Surreply, at 7. The Court cannot understand how the added detail of the participation agreements somehow makes the declaration of trust a pension plan maintained by an employer or someone acting on an employer’s behalf. The fact remains that the Qualified Corporate Plan Trust was a device for the sale of the FA. Plaintiffs’ invocation of Donovan v. Dillingham, supra, is fruitless, for as HTNB points out, that case, if anything, militates against holding the Qualified Corporate Plan Trust to be an ERISA plan. Donovan involved a multiple-employer trust (“MET”). A MET allows employers of relatively small numbers of employees to secure more favorable insurance rates by pooling their contributions. In carrying out this function, the MET in Donovan had acquired a group health insurance policy; employers and employee organizations could then “subscribe” to the MET in order to obtain health coverage for their employees or members. Id. at 1370. The similarities of the MET to the Qualified Corporate Plan Trust are apparent. Thus, the Eleventh Circuit’s conclusion regarding the MET is equally applicable to the qualified plan trust, and merits quotation in full: “An issue in other cases has been whether a multiple employer trust — the enterprise— is itself an employee welfare benefit plan. The courts, congressional committees, and the Secretary uniformly have held they are not.” Id. at 1372. Cf. Ed Miniat, Inc. v. Globe Life Ins. Group, Inc., 805 F.2d 732, 738 (7th Cir.1986) (“The [plaintiff’s] Plan is distinct from the [Retirement Life Reserve policy] trust [set up to accept premiums and purchase life insurance for plaintiff’s plan], even though the [plaintiff’s] Plan funds the benefits that it provides by the mechanism of the RLR trust.”) (footnote omitted), cert. denied, 482 U.S. 915, 107 S.Ct. 3188, 96 L.Ed.2d 676 (1987). The Court therefore concludes that the Qualified Corporate Plan Trust is not an ERISA plan. HTNB thus is not a named fiduciary under ERISA § 402(a)(2), 29 U.S.C. § 1102(a)(2). 2. Functional Fiduciary Status A person may be a fiduciary, however, even if not named a fiduciary by an ERISA plan. The Department of Labor has taken the view — endorsed by the Seventh Circuit — that a person might become an ERISA fiduciary to the extent that he performs any functions enumerated in ERISA § 3(21). See 29 U.S.C. § 2509.75-8; Forys v. United Food & Commercial Workers Int’l Union, 829 F.2d 603, 606-07 (7th Cir. 1987). But it must be emphasized that this sort of functional fiduciary status does not make a person a fiduciary for all purposes; the person is a fiduciary only with respect to those functions enumerated in ERISA § 3(21) which he actually performs. See Chicago Board Options Exchange, Inc. v. Connecticut General Life, Ins. Co., 713 F.2d 254, 259 (7th Cir.1983); Brandt v. Grounds, 687 F.2d 895, 896-98 (7th Cir. 1982). Plaintiffs’ theories of how HTNB assumed fiduciary status have tended to fluctuate throughout the many memorandums submitted to the Court. Having rejected plaintiffs’ primary theory that the Qualified Corporate Plan Trust was an ERISA plan, the Court turns to what it views as their alternative arguments. In their Response to defendants’ motions for summary judgment, plaintiffs assert that HTNB is a fiduciary because (1) it exercised control of the plan contributions; (2) it held the GAC, which is a plan asset; (3) it possessed the power to amend the GAC; and (4) by managing and administering the Qualified Corporate Plan Trust, it effectively managed and administered the AAP plans. Response, at 5-7. Plaintiffs thus allege that HTNB performed (1) the fiduciary functions detailed in ERISA § 3(21)(A)(i), i.e., the exercise of authority or control over management of the plan or its assets; and (2) the functions detailed in ERISA § 3(21)(A)(iii), i.e., the exercise of discretionary authority or responsibility in plan administration. The § 3(21)(A)(iii) claim is disposed of most easily. To begin with, there is no evidence that HTNB performed the sort of functions typically encompassed by § 3(21)(A)(iii), such as granting or denying claims for benefits. See Forys, 829 F.2d at 605-07. Furthermore, to be a fiduciary under § 3(21)(A)(iii), the exercise of authority or responsibility in plan administration must be discretionary. HTNB’s actions with respect to these plans, however, were circumscribed by the terms of the Qualified Corporate Plan Trust. The trust required HTNB to collect benefits and purchase group annuity contracts on behalf of subscribing applicants. There is no evidence that HTNB possessed or exercised any discretion with respect to these functions. Thus, even assuming (counterfactually) that HTNB had some sort of authority or control over the administration of the AAP plans within the meaning of § 3(21)(A)(iii), the authority or control was not discretionary. And whatever the case, there is no evidence that HTNB failed or refused to do anything it was required or expected to do with respect to the administration of the AAP plans. Accordingly, the Court concludes that HTNB is not a fiduciary under the terms of § 3(21)(A)(iii), and even if it were, there is no evidence that it breached any fiduciary duty that could be imposed under that section of ERISA. The Court turns to the requirements of § 3(21)(A)(i). That section sets up two potential grounds for liability: (1) the exercise of discretionary authority or control respecting plan management; and (2) the exercise of authority or control — without the qualification that this exercise be discretionary — over management or disposition of plan assets. The first of these grounds cannot support plaintiffs’ case against HTNB. As the Court concluded above, the only ERISA plans involved in this case are the two plans that AAP established for its employees. The record before the Court gives no indication that HTNB had any authority or control over the management of these plans, let alone discretionary power over them. Section 3(21)(A)(i)’s second ground of liability, however, cannot be dispatched with such ease. This part of the statute does not, by its terms, require discretionary authority of control respecting management or disposition of plan assets — the statute indicates that any sort of author