Vacated and remanded by published opinion. Chief Judge ERVIN wrote the opinion, in which Senior Judge SPROUSE joined. Judge WILLIAMS wrote a dissenting opinion. .
OPINION
ERVIN, Chief Judge:
On September 24, 1992, a federal grand jury indicted Dr. Charles Smith on six counts [682]*682of mail and wire fraud stemming from his nine year campaign to solicit investments from numerous friends and acquaintances for fraudulent real estate schemes. Smith’s fraud caused losses of over $200,000. On March 25, 1993, pursuant to a plea agreement, Smith pled guilty to count one of the indictment charging him with wire fraud in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1343. The plea agreement called for a 21-month sentence and a recommendation that the sentencing court order restitution based on Smith’s financial means. The district court ordered Smith to turn over upon receipt each month the entire amount of his pension benefits payable under an ERISA plan. Smith appeals the restitution order on the basis of ERISA’s anti-alienability provisions. For the reasons set forth below, we vacate the restitution order and remand for its redeter-mination.
I.
The parties stipulated to the facts in the plea agreement. Smith is a former public school principal, Johnson Administration official, and employee of the Rockefeller Foundation, with extensive personal contacts in government and education. At the time of these events, he was an independent educational consultant engaged in producing educational videos.
Beginning in 1983, Smith solicited at least fifty friends and acquaintances for investments in fraudulent business schemes, including investments in land deals in the “Caribbean Group.” Smith implied that the investments were supported by his former employer, the Rockefeller Foundation. The fraud victims made checks payable to Smith or wired money directly to accounts controlled by Smith. In one instance, a check was made out to Smith’s landlord who credited the amount to Smith’s rent bill. Smith converted the majority of the money collected to his personal use. He lied and made excuses when pressed by the investors, concealing his fraud. The amount of the loss was at least $200,000 and probably greater than $350,000.
Upon arrest, Smith expressed remorse for his crime and a desire to pay restitution upon his release from prison. The revised Presen-tence Report (“PSR”) indicated that Smith receives $1,188 per month in pension benefits from two separate ERISA plans, that he would become eligible on May 6, 1993 for social security benefits probably amounting to $602 per month, and that his wife receives a net monthly salary of $1900 from her employment as a third grade school teacher. The PSR recommended restitution that would require Smith to relinquish upon receipt his entire $1188 monthly pension benefits over a period of five years after his release from prison, with slightly lower payments while he is in jail. The district court accepted the recommendation and ordered Smith to turn over his pension benefits each month as he received them upon his release from prison.
II.
The Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) provides that “each pension plan shall provide that benefits provided under the plan may not be assigned or alienated.” 29 U.S.C. § 1056(d)(1). Binding Treasury Department Regulations further prohibit involuntary transfers of benefits from qualified plans by requiring that “benefits provided under the plan may not be anticipated, assigned (either at law or in equity), alienated or subject to attachment, garnishment, levy, execution or other legal or equitable process.” 26 C.F.R. § 1.401(a)-13(b)(l).
This court has long recognized a “strong public policy against the alienability of an ERISA plan participant’s benefits.” Smith v. Mirman, 749 F.2d 181, 183 (4th Cir.1984). The Supreme Court, as well, has found that it is not “appropriate to approve any generalized equitable exception — either for employee malfeasance or for criminal misconduct— to ERISA’s prohibition on the assignment or alienation of pension benefits.” Guidry v. Sheet Metal Workers Nat’l Pension Fund, 493 U.S. 365, 376, 110 S.Ct. 680, 687, 107 L.Ed.2d 782 (1990) (“Guidry ”). In Guidry, the Court was faced with the competing policies of ERISA and the Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act of 1959 (LMRDA), which was designed to prevent the corruption of union officials. The Court [683]*683refused to allow ERISA pension benefits to be used to effectuate the remedial goals of LMRDA because such use would imply that “ERISA’s anti-alienation provision would be inapplicable whenever a judgment creditor relied on the remedial provisions of a federal statute. Such an approach would eviscerate the protections of [ERISA].” Id. at 375, 110 S.Ct. at 687.
The government urges that Guidry is inapplicable because that case prohibited alienation of funds that had not yet been disbursed to the beneficiary. The government’s position is that once pension funds have been distributed, the anti-alienability statute no longer applies. It finds support for that argument in this court’s decision in Tenneco Inc. v. First Virginio, Bank, 698 F.2d 688 (4th Cir.1983).
We believe there is a distinction between funds disbursed from an ERISA plan before an employee has retired and such funds paid as an annuity for retirement purposes. The Supreme Court has noted that the purpose of ERISA is to safeguard a stream of income for pensioners. Guidry, 493 U.S. at 376, 110 S.Ct. at 687. Where an employee elects to draw on her ERISA plan prior to her retirement, she forfeits the protection provided by the Act. Where, however, the funds are paid pursuant to the terms of the plan as income during retirement years, ERISA prohibits their alienation. In fact, we found in Tenneco that “the funds here had been accumulated under a general plan for retirement, and the statutory scheme clearly contemplates that they should remain available for that purpose.... ” 698 F.2d at 690.
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Vacated and remanded by published opinion. Chief Judge ERVIN wrote the opinion, in which Senior Judge SPROUSE joined. Judge WILLIAMS wrote a dissenting opinion. .
OPINION
ERVIN, Chief Judge:
On September 24, 1992, a federal grand jury indicted Dr. Charles Smith on six counts [682]*682of mail and wire fraud stemming from his nine year campaign to solicit investments from numerous friends and acquaintances for fraudulent real estate schemes. Smith’s fraud caused losses of over $200,000. On March 25, 1993, pursuant to a plea agreement, Smith pled guilty to count one of the indictment charging him with wire fraud in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1343. The plea agreement called for a 21-month sentence and a recommendation that the sentencing court order restitution based on Smith’s financial means. The district court ordered Smith to turn over upon receipt each month the entire amount of his pension benefits payable under an ERISA plan. Smith appeals the restitution order on the basis of ERISA’s anti-alienability provisions. For the reasons set forth below, we vacate the restitution order and remand for its redeter-mination.
I.
The parties stipulated to the facts in the plea agreement. Smith is a former public school principal, Johnson Administration official, and employee of the Rockefeller Foundation, with extensive personal contacts in government and education. At the time of these events, he was an independent educational consultant engaged in producing educational videos.
Beginning in 1983, Smith solicited at least fifty friends and acquaintances for investments in fraudulent business schemes, including investments in land deals in the “Caribbean Group.” Smith implied that the investments were supported by his former employer, the Rockefeller Foundation. The fraud victims made checks payable to Smith or wired money directly to accounts controlled by Smith. In one instance, a check was made out to Smith’s landlord who credited the amount to Smith’s rent bill. Smith converted the majority of the money collected to his personal use. He lied and made excuses when pressed by the investors, concealing his fraud. The amount of the loss was at least $200,000 and probably greater than $350,000.
Upon arrest, Smith expressed remorse for his crime and a desire to pay restitution upon his release from prison. The revised Presen-tence Report (“PSR”) indicated that Smith receives $1,188 per month in pension benefits from two separate ERISA plans, that he would become eligible on May 6, 1993 for social security benefits probably amounting to $602 per month, and that his wife receives a net monthly salary of $1900 from her employment as a third grade school teacher. The PSR recommended restitution that would require Smith to relinquish upon receipt his entire $1188 monthly pension benefits over a period of five years after his release from prison, with slightly lower payments while he is in jail. The district court accepted the recommendation and ordered Smith to turn over his pension benefits each month as he received them upon his release from prison.
II.
The Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) provides that “each pension plan shall provide that benefits provided under the plan may not be assigned or alienated.” 29 U.S.C. § 1056(d)(1). Binding Treasury Department Regulations further prohibit involuntary transfers of benefits from qualified plans by requiring that “benefits provided under the plan may not be anticipated, assigned (either at law or in equity), alienated or subject to attachment, garnishment, levy, execution or other legal or equitable process.” 26 C.F.R. § 1.401(a)-13(b)(l).
This court has long recognized a “strong public policy against the alienability of an ERISA plan participant’s benefits.” Smith v. Mirman, 749 F.2d 181, 183 (4th Cir.1984). The Supreme Court, as well, has found that it is not “appropriate to approve any generalized equitable exception — either for employee malfeasance or for criminal misconduct— to ERISA’s prohibition on the assignment or alienation of pension benefits.” Guidry v. Sheet Metal Workers Nat’l Pension Fund, 493 U.S. 365, 376, 110 S.Ct. 680, 687, 107 L.Ed.2d 782 (1990) (“Guidry ”). In Guidry, the Court was faced with the competing policies of ERISA and the Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act of 1959 (LMRDA), which was designed to prevent the corruption of union officials. The Court [683]*683refused to allow ERISA pension benefits to be used to effectuate the remedial goals of LMRDA because such use would imply that “ERISA’s anti-alienation provision would be inapplicable whenever a judgment creditor relied on the remedial provisions of a federal statute. Such an approach would eviscerate the protections of [ERISA].” Id. at 375, 110 S.Ct. at 687.
The government urges that Guidry is inapplicable because that case prohibited alienation of funds that had not yet been disbursed to the beneficiary. The government’s position is that once pension funds have been distributed, the anti-alienability statute no longer applies. It finds support for that argument in this court’s decision in Tenneco Inc. v. First Virginio, Bank, 698 F.2d 688 (4th Cir.1983).
We believe there is a distinction between funds disbursed from an ERISA plan before an employee has retired and such funds paid as an annuity for retirement purposes. The Supreme Court has noted that the purpose of ERISA is to safeguard a stream of income for pensioners. Guidry, 493 U.S. at 376, 110 S.Ct. at 687. Where an employee elects to draw on her ERISA plan prior to her retirement, she forfeits the protection provided by the Act. Where, however, the funds are paid pursuant to the terms of the plan as income during retirement years, ERISA prohibits their alienation. In fact, we found in Tenneco that “the funds here had been accumulated under a general plan for retirement, and the statutory scheme clearly contemplates that they should remain available for that purpose.... ” 698 F.2d at 690.
This distinction is supported by the Supreme Court’s decision in Hisquierdo v. Hisquierdo, 439 U.S. 572, 99 S.Ct. 802, 59 L.Ed.2d 1 (1979). There, the Court found that pension annuities cannot be alienated even once disbursed to the beneficiary. In that divorce case, a spouse attempted to gain an interest in her husband’s pension benefits due under the Railroad Retirement Act (RRA). The RRA contains anti-alienation provisions substantially similar to those in ERISA, prohibiting annuity funds from being subject to assignment, anticipation, garnishment, attachment or other legal process, with statutory exceptions for child support and alimony. Id. at 576, 99 S.Ct. at 805. In ruling that the district court could not retain jurisdiction over the husband and order him to pay an appropriate portion of his benefits as he received them, the Court found that such a “course ... runs contrary to the language and purpose of [the statute] and would mechanically deprive petitioner of a portion of the benefit Congress ... indicated [684]*684was designed for him alone.” Id. at 583, 99 S.Ct. at 809.
In the case at hand, the government attempted to require Smith to draw down his benefits due under the plans as a lump sum and turn it over intact as restitution. J.A. 30. Upon discovering that Smith was not eligible for lump sum distribution, the government agreed to the recovery of his benefits as they are paid to him. It is clear that the government would not have been successful in requiring Smith to request a lump sum distribution. As this court held in Tenneco, benefits in the hands of the fiduciary are beyond the reach of garnishment. 698 F.2d at 690. The government should not be allowed to do indirectly what it cannot do directly; it cannot require Smith to turn over his pension benefits in a lump sum, nor can it require him to turn over his benefits as they are paid to him. “Understandably, there may be a natural distaste for the result we reach here. The statute, however, is clear.” Guidry, 493 U.S. at 377, 110 S.Ct. at 688. Congress has made a policy decision to protect the ERISA income of retirees, “even if that decision prevents others from securing relief for the wrongs done them.” Id. at 376, 110 S.Ct. at 687.
The Court further noted “as a general matter, courts should be loath to announce equitable exceptions to legislative requirements or prohibitions that are unqualified by the statutory text.” Id. This court, too, has noted
the danger in eroding through exception the anti-alienation policy of ERISA. That entire legislation was aimed at guaranteeing the security of retirement income for American workers.... We decline to participate in the diminution of these safeguards in circumstances which might seem harmless enough in particular instances but which, in the aggregate, might invite creditors to believe that ERISA funds are not, after all, inviolate.
Smith, 749 F.2d at 184.
The Government claims that the policy governing restitution under the Victim and Witness Protection Act obligates the defendant to make restitution payments regardless of the source of his income. This policy does not alter the Supreme Court’s findings that ERISA funds are inviolate with exceptions only as announced by Congress. Guidry, 493 U.S. at 377, 110 S.Ct. at 687. It is not for the courts to determine when exceptions to ERISA are appropriate.
III.
The restitution order in this case clearly required Smith to relinquish his pension benefits. The district court stated, “Well, he will be paying amounts, or pension [sic], and, once those sums are in his hands, it seems to me that they are subject to the existing order of this court announced today.” J.A. 60. That approach is impermissible. Smith cannot be forced to relinquish his ERISA pension benefits for restitution.
On remand the court must determine an appropriate amount of restitution that Smith must pay based on his financial resources. Although the court cannot mechanically deprive Smith of his pension benefits, it can determine restitution based on a balance of the victims’ interest in compensation and Smith’s other financial resources. United States v. Bruchey, 810 F.2d 456, 458 (4th Cir.1987). Although the district court may determine an appropriate amount of restitution based on its findings as required by Bruchey, it must make that determination while leaving Smith’s ERISA-protected benefits in his possession. Congress requires that ERISA beneficiaries retain their pension benefits for retirement purposes.
rv.
The district court’s restitution order is vacated and remanded for redetermination.
VACATED AND REMANDED.
The Tenth Circuit, upon remand of Guidry, likewise found that pension funds, once distributed, are no longer protected. Guidry v. Sheet Metal Wkrs. Intern. Ass'n, Local 9, 10 F.3d 700 (10th Cir.1993) ("Guidry II"). The court found that although the Supreme Court had invalidated a constructive trust placed on pension funds due but not yet paid to Guidry, the Court's mandate did not prohibit garnishment of the funds once distributed to Guidry. The Third Circuit has followed this reasoning. Trucking Employees of North Jersey Welfare Fund Inc. v. Colville, 16 F.3d 52 (3d Cir.1994). We decline to adopt this approach. We believe that the reasoning in Gui-dry II circumvents the logic of Guidty and Hisquierdo v. Hisquierdo, 439 U.S. 572, 99 S.Ct. 802, 59 L.Ed.2d 1 (1979), as discussed infra.