Minnetonka-based health insurance giant UnitedHealth Group has agreed to pay $69 million to settle a class action suit alleging the company violated its fiduciary duties to its employees’ retirement plans.

National law firm Sanford Heisler Sharp McKnight, which represented over 300,000 current and former participants in UnitedHealth’s 401(k) savings plan, announced the news on Friday morning.

Plaintiffs allege that UnitedHealth Group violated its fiduciary duties under the federal Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, or ERISA, which regulates pensions and retirement plans. In particular, they claim that the company ran afoul of the law by “imprudently and disloyally selecting, retaining, and monitoring a suite of poorly performing target date funds—the Wells Fargo Target Fund Suite—for the Plan’s investment menu.”

“Wells Fargo was a critical customer and financier for UnitedHealth and, UnitedHealth’s executive leadership personally intervened to keep the poorly performing Wells Fargo Target Fund Suite on UnitedHealth’s 401(k) Plan to garner favor with, and benefit, Wells Fargo,” the law firm said in a news release issued Friday.

The law firm said the settlement amount is “believed to be the largest ever of an ERISA case stemming from poorly performing investment options in a 401(k) plan.”

Earlier this year, the Star Tribune reported that UnitedHealth Group CFO John Rex told a Wells Fargo employee that he “stepped in front of a freight train” to preserve the investment business for the bank.

The settlement still requires approval from John Tunheim, judge in the District Court for the District of Minnesota. If approved, the settlement would close a lawsuit that’s been underway for around three and a half years.

Charles Field, chair of Sanford Heisler Sharp McKnight’s financial mismanagement and ERISA litigation practice group, said that the parties first reached an agreement in principle in September.

Notably, UnitedHealth Group has denied any wrongdoing in the case. In a statement, the insurer said that “our 401(k) plan fiduciaries have always acted in the best interests of plan participants, and we strongly deny any allegations to the contrary.”

“If approved by the Court this settlement will enable all parties to put this matter behind them and move forward,” UnitedHealth Group said.