ING Sued Over Accepting Kickbacks

ING has been sued for allegedly accepting kickbacks from mutual fund companies in its retirement plans, thereby boosting fees, The Wall Street Journal reports.

The Orange County, Fla., sherriff’s office filed the suit in the U.S. District Court in Connecticut.

Known as revenue sharing in the industry, funds remit a portion of the fees they collect from investors to the retirement plan administrator, many of whom have said they need the funds to pay for such customer services as maintaining records.

But ING disagrees with the charges, company spokesman Dana Ripley said. “We are in the process of carefully reviewing the complaint and our legal options,” he said.

The Orange County sherriff’s office filed a similar lawsuit against Nationwide Insurance late last year. Other parties have sued Principal Financial Group and Hartford Financial Services Group.

ING settled with former New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer in October for not disclosing to investors that funds in a New York teachers’ union retirement plan shared revenue with the company.

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