A contravention of the US Employee
Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) by MetLife, the US’ largest
life insurer, has been resolved by a non-prosecution agreement
reached between it and the US attorney for the southern district of
California, Karen Hewitt. Under the agreement, MetLife will pay
$13.5m to the federal government.
According to Hewitt, MetLife madems
of dollars in improper payments to obtain the business of a San
Diego insurance brokerage firm’s clients.
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Contravening ERISA requirements,
MetLife failed to disclose the payments to customers and typically
concealed them as communication fees, request-for-proposal fees, or
enrollment fees. These hidden fees were generally included in the
rates charged by MetLife to insureds.
