Funds

JPMorgan Sued for Self-Dealing in Its 401(k) Plan

JPMorgan Chase & Co. has been sued by a participant in its 401(k) plan for allegedly causing employees to pay millions of dollars in excessive fees through a scheme motivated by “self-interest.” The plaintiff claims JPMorgan, as well as various board and committee members with oversight of the $21 billion retirement plan , breached their fiduciary duties by, among other things, retaining …


UWO Lawsuit Documents $11M in Illegal Transfers

Former University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh Chancellor Richard Wells is accused of overseeing the illegal transfer of more than $11 million in university funds to support five Oshkosh-area building projects. A lawsuit filed Wednesday in Dane County by the UW System claims Wells and Tom Sonnleitner, retired UWO vice chancellor of administrative services, made illegal financial guarantees between 2010 and 2014 to secure backing for high-profile building projects on and around the Oshkosh campus, and later spent more than $11 million in university funds on …


Wells Fargo Hit With Class Action Over Target-Date Funds

Wells Fargo & Co. enriched itself at its employees’ expense by including costly, in-house target date funds in its 401(k) plan, a new class action complaint alleges ( Meiners v. Wells Fargo & Co. , D. Minn., No. 0:16-cv-03981, complaint filed 11/22/16 ). In the past year, several proposed class actions have targeted financial companies that include in-house investment products in …


Wells Fargo Sued for 401k Self-Dealing

Wells Fargo faces a new lawsuit claiming 401k self-dealing on the part of $3 billion of employee retirement savings. Plaintiffs allege the company funneled 401k plan assets into “expensive, under-performing” proprietary target date funds to enrich itself. Reuters reports the proposed class-action lawsuit, filed on Tuesday in federal court in Minnesota, accused the third-largest U.S. bank of steering 401(k) contributions to its Wells Fargo Dow Jones Target Date funds. The lawsuit, filed by employees, seeks to “recoup excess fees and unrealized profits stemming from Wells Fargo’s alleged breach of fiduciary duties to all 401(k) participants over the last six years,” according to the complaint. It added that Wells Fargo’s target date funds cost 2.5 times more than similar funds from …


“Courts Should Stop Approving Unfair Class Action Settlements”

A “claims-made” class action settlement allows the defendant to make a large amount of money “available” to class members, but in order for the members to collect, they must jump through the hoops of correctly filing claims. Because of the low response rate in such settlements, the defendants will end up paying much less than the funds made available. Indeed, of the $8.5 million made available …


Cryptsy Class Action Lawyers Launch New Claims Site

The legal team behind the class action lawsuit against defunct digital currency exchange Cryptsy has launched a new site in a bid to locate potential claimants. The site, CryptsySettlement.com, details the process by which affected customers of the exchange can submit a claim or to request an exclusion – an option potentially preferred by those hoping to launch their own litigation related …


Opinion: Courts Should Stop Approving Unfair Class Action Settlements

Class actions play a vital role in our legal system. These lawsuits are often the only vehicle for injured plaintiffs to receive compensation when a defendant’s wrongs are widely disbursed and it would be impractical for a single individual to sue. Yet the process of settling these suits is subject to perverse incentives on the part of the lawyers representing the injured parties.


U.S. Judge Throws Out Madoff $3 Billion Feeder Fund Lawsuit

Jonathan Stempel| NEW YORK NEW YORK A U.S. judge has again thrown out a $3 billion lawsuit by investors in two “feeder funds” that sent money to Bernard Madoff, one of the largest lawsuits tied to his Ponzi scheme, after her original dismissal had been overturned. In a 145-page decision released on Thursday, U.S. District Judge Deborah Batts in Manhattan said the investors lacked standing to …


IMET Fallout Continues With Lawsuit Against USDA –

The Illinois Metropolitan Investment Fund ran into trouble a couple years ago when one of the funds they invested in fraudulently squandered the public funds. Initially, the estimate of recovery of funds was believed to be somewhere above 80%, but was later downgraded to 47.6% of the original value of the FFF …