Wells Fargo’s $84 Million 401(k) Stock Settlement Moves Forward

An $84 million class settlement benefiting Wells Fargo & Co. employees received preliminary court approval, paving the way for resolution of a lawsuit challenging how the bank handled stock dividends in its 401(k) plan.

The deal—which is among the largest ERISA class settlements to be announced over the past few years—covers about 425,000 participants in Wells Fargo’s 401(k) plan who held company stock in their accounts between September 2016 and December 2022. Judge Laura M. Provinzino of the US District Court for the District of Minnesota granted preliminary approval to the deal Monday; she also scheduled a March 17, 2026, fairness hearing in the case.

The 2022 lawsuit accused the banking giant of mishandling hundreds of millions of dollars worth of dividend income earned by the Wells Fargo preferred stock held in its employees’ retirement accounts. With the help of defendant GreatBanc Trust Co., Wells Fargo used this income to make its mandatory employer contributions to the plan, even though it already qualified as plan assets belonging to the workers, according to the Employee Retirement Income Security Act lawsuit.

The case, which was allowed to advance last year, followed a Labor Department investigation into Wells Fargo’s stock plan. That investigation resulted in a settlement requiring the bank to pay more than $131.8 million to plan participants, along with a penalty of about $13 million and limits placed on GreatBanc’s future business activities.

The defendants are variously represented by Proskauer Rose LLP; Faegre Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP; and Barack Ferrazzano Kirschbaum & Nagelberg LLP. The employees are represented by Nichols Kaster PLLP; Bailey & Glasser LLP; and Feinberg, Jackson, Worthman & Wasow LLP.

The case is Randall v. GreatBanc Tr. Co., 2025 BL 439023, D. Minn., No. 0:22-cv-02354, 12/8/25.