Wal-Mart and Merrill Lynch are in the middle of a class action lawsuit that claims they charged unreasonable fees to Wal-Mart employees in relation to their 401k plans. The lawsuit also claims that Merrill Lynch received undisclosed kickback payments from outside mutual fund companies “simply for allowing them to be in the plan,”… wow! Talk about corruption, maybe those Wall Street Protestors have a point. The case is entitled Jeremy Braden v. Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., et al., and as part of the settlement Wal-Mart employees will receive a reduced 401(k) fee going forward. The lead plaintiff will collect 20k under the settlement terms. The Wal-Mart 401k program is one of the largest in the world and it is estimated that 2,000,000 workers participate in it. Both Wal-Mart and Merrill Lynch have denied all wrong doing in the case.
