Wells Fargo reaches settlement with Dept. of Labor over 401(k) plan stock purchases

Wells Fargo & Co. and the U.S. Dept. of Labor said Monday the bank agreed to pay $145 million in connection with an investigation into whether the bank's 401(k) plan overpaid for shares of Wells Fargo preferred stock. The bank agreed to pay $131.8 million to retirement plan participants, plus a penalty of about $13.2 million to the Dept. of Labor. Wells Fargo did not admit or deny allegations made by the department, as part of the settlement. Wells Fargo said it "strongly disagrees" with the Dept. of Labor's allegations and believes it followed applicable laws. It also said it hasn't conducted transactions of the type in the probe since 2018. "Wells Fargo believes resolving this legacy matter is in the best interest of the company," the bank said. Shares of Wells Fargo rose 1% on Monday. The stock is down 4.5% for the year, outperforming the 14% year-to-date drop by the S&P 500 .

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