UnitedHealth Group CFO John Rex has been added to a class-action lawsuit alleging he put the company's business relationship with Wells Fargo ahead of information the company's 401(k) plan was filled with low-performing target-date funds, The Wall Street Journal reported Aug. 24.
The lawsuit alleges Mr. Rex overruled a plan to remove Wells Fargo target funds, despite receiving recommendations to do so from the UnitedHealth Group's investment committee as well as an independent investment consultant, according to the report.
A nurse working for UnitedHealth Group originally filed the lawsuit in April 2021 against the company, its board of directors and members of the company’s investment committee, according to the report. She alleged they breached their fiduciary duties under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act by continuing to offer the target-date funds managed by Wells Fargo Asset Management.
Plan participants lost more than $100 million in retirement savings between 2011 and 2015, the lawsuit alleges.
UnitedHealth Group said in a statement to the Journal that there is "no basis for adding our CFO as an individual defendant, and the allegations against him are completely without merit."