By Sarah Morgan
Retirement savers have already learned how much damage the markets can do to a nest egg. But for anyone with a 401(k) plan, stock market performance may be overshadowed by other worries: fraud and theft.
In the last three months, the Labor Department has launched 191 investigations into 401(k) fraud and theft, and secured 20 indictments — a whopping 43% more than the department has secured annually, on average, since 1995. The millions at stake in recent cases may seem small in the context of the $3 trillion 401(k) market, but observers say the indictments point to larger issues in the 401(k) marketplace, from lack of oversight and an understaffed enforcement agency to the larger risks that have shifted over time to individual participants. The cases, says Brandon Reese, deputy director of the office of investment at the AFL-CIO, “expose a more systemic problem in the defined contribution retirement system.”
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