Suppose an officer of a company that maintains a defined benefit plan is a member of a fiduciary committee responsible for investing plan assets in company stock. What happens if/when the officer has material nonpublic information? Is the officer prohibited by securities laws from acting on the insider information when making investments on behalf of the plan? If so, is the fiduciary committee violating its fiduciary duty owed to the plan under ERISA if it does not act on material nonpublic information possessed by its members?

This dilemma was addressed in the ENRON case. I believe that the court ruled that the restrictions imposed by the securities laws did not excuse a fiduiciary from taking appropriate action, and discussed options for appropriate action.