On September 3, 2019, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California denied BlackRock’s motion to dismiss a case claiming that BlackRock improperly packed its workers’ retirement plan with poorly performing company-affiliated funds and grossly overcharged plans invested in BlackRock collective trust investments (including the BlackRock 401(k) plan) for securities lending services. Plaintiffs allege that this conduct constituted a breach of BlackRock’s fiduciary duties and prohibited transactions under ERISA. BlackRock is one of the largest investment managers in the world and it has collected hundreds of millions of dollars in allegedly unlawful profits. Feinberg, Jackson, Worthman & Wasow LLP represents the plaintiffs and the proposed class, along with Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll PLLC.
Coverage of the case is available here. For more information, please contact Todd Jackson or Nina Wasow.