A recent development in a class-action lawsuit against UnitedHealth Group (UHG) uses emails from the company's CFO as evidence that the insurance giant favored Wells Fargo in its retirement portfolio, against the best interest of UHG's stockholders.

The lawsuit involves the fiduciary duties of UHG to its retirement plan members, which include approximately 200,000 current and former employees and beneficiaries. The case, Kim Snyder v. UnitedHealth Group is being heard in the U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota, the state where UHG has its headquarters.

The law firm Sanford Heisler Sharp filed the suit in April 2021 on behalf of Snyder and enrollees of the company's 401(k) plan. The claim was filed under the Employment Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) and said that "United had breached its duty of loyalty and prudence in retaining the Wells Fargo Target Date Suite, one of the worst-performing target date options in the entire market," according to a statement from Sanford Heisler Sharp.