BlackRock Cleared for $9.7 Million 401(k) Fund Class Settlement

BlackRock Institutional Trust Co. got early approval from a California federal judge for a $9.65 million class settlement in a lawsuit challenging the in-house funds in its employees’ 401(k) plan.

The deal, which represents nearly one-third of the class’s potential damages, provides relief to about 17,000 people covered by BlackRock’s $1.8 billion retirement plan. Judge Haywood S. Gilliam Jr. of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California signed the preliminary approval order on Monday.

The lawsuit accuses BlackRock—the world’s largest asset management company—of taking unreasonable profits from the collective investment trusts it offers to retirement plans, including ...