Matthew Hutcheson, an Idaho independent fiduciary who advisescompanies on retirement plans and has testified before Congress,pleaded not guilty to charges that he took more than $2 millionfrom a fund he oversaw and spent it on himself and his family.

Hutcheson, 41, used the money to remodel his house in Eagle,Idaho, build a 4,100-square-foot barn, a swimming pool, a hot tuband a dog house, according to an indictment filed in federal courtin Boise on April 10. He also bought a BMW convertible and a LandRover.

Hutcheson, indicted on 31 counts of wire fraud and theft,entered a not guilty plea Thursday. Before his arrest, he was acritic of 401(k) managers and trustees who don't act in the bestinterests of their clients.

“The fiduciary duty is the highest duty known to the law,”Hutcheson said in testimony before the House Ways and MeansCommittee in October 2009. As an independent fiduciary, Hutchesonhelped manage company retirement plans, picking investments andmonitoring their operations.

Hutcheson was arrested at about 7 a.m. on April 11, said hislawyer, Dennis Charney. He spent one night in jail and was releasedwithout bail.

“He was treated very differently than other people in similarcases,” said Charney. “We deny that any investor funds were usedfor personal gain.”

In addition to the $2 million he allegedly took for personaluse, Hutcheson also used $3 million from another 401(k) fund to buya mortgage note on the golf course at Tamarack Resort, near McCall,Idaho, according to the indictment.

Hutcheson had founded a company, Green Valley Holdings, to tryto purchase all of struggling Tamarack. The resort defaulted on a$250 million loan in December 2007, and the founders soughtbankruptcy protection.

Hutcheson misrepresented the purchase, telling the retirementplan's administrator that the golf course note was a one-monthtransaction, and that it would be done in the name of the planparticipants, according to the indictment.

Instead, he bought the note in the name of Green ValleyHoldings. Later, he used the note as collateral to borrow $425,000from a private lender in Virginia. That lender then held first lienon the property, according to the indictment.

Hutcheson's bid for all of Tamarack collapsed.

Hutcheson didn't violate any laws by using investors' 401(k)funds to buy the mortgage note on the golf course at TamarackResort, Charney said.

“He saw a golden opportunity to buy a note at a fraction of itsvalue, backed by an asset that was worth ten times what he paid,”Charney said.

The case is U.S. v. Hutcheson, 12-00093, U.S. District Court,District of Idaho (Boise).

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