New York Life Insurance Co. has agreed to settle an ERISA lawsuit against two company 401(k) plans that alleged self-dealing by plan executives in the management of the plans.
An agreement in principle was filed Jan. 22 in a federal court in New York by lawyers representing the plaintiff and defendants in Stuart Krohnengold vs. New York Life Insurance Co. et al. Terms were not disclosed. The lawyers set Feb. 19 for providing details to the court, which must approve the settlement.
Krohnengold is a participant in the New York Life Insurance Co. Employee Progress-Sharing Investment Plan, and he also is suing, as part of a class-action claim, to represent the New York Life Agents Progress-Sharing Investment Plan.
The former had $4.1 billion in assets and the latter had $930 million in assets, both as of Dec. 31, 2022, and both according to the latest Form 5500s.
Krohnengold sued in March 2021, accusing plan executives of, among other things, filling the plans with proprietary investment products that provided "windfall profits" to New York Life and its affiliates at the expense of participants.