The employees accused Athene of violating ERISA and of “investing in lower-quality, higher-risk assets without the traditional mix of quality assets to support future benefit obligations,” in the case of Bueno et al. vs. General Electric Co. et al. filed June 28 in a U.S. District Court in Syracuse, N.Y.

The lawsuit seeks class-action status, saying approximately 70,000 people could be affected by the pension risk transfer that was announced in December 2020.

Athene is not a defendant, and neither is Athene Annuity and Life Co. or Athene Annuity & Life Insurance Co. of New York, the two units receiving pension risk transfers.

“These are baseless complaints instigated by class-action attorneys who are attempting to enrich themselves at the expense of retirees,” an Athene spokesman wrote in an email.

“Athene is a safe and secure provider of annuity benefits, with outstanding financial strength, proper reserves, excellent capitalization, and strong credit ratings,” he wrote. “Insurers like Athene have deep expertise in managing annuity obligations, are subject to robust regulation, and hold regulatory capital to protect policyholders.”

A GE Aerospace spokeswoman wrote in an email that the company doesn’t comment on pending litigation.

GE Aerospace, which retains the GE stock symbol, is one of three companies created by a split from General Electric, along with GE Healthcare and GE Vernova.

The former GE Pension Plan was split into three pension plans, according to the lawsuit. The plan in the lawsuit is the GE Aerospace Plan.

“Defendants acted in their own self-interest by transferring GE’s pension obligations to Athene through the PRT (pension risk transfer) transaction,” the plaintiffs alleged.

“The PRT transaction diminished the value of GE retirees’ pension benefits,” they added. “GE retirees’ pension benefits transferred to Athene are worth far less than they would be worth if issued by a traditional insurer of high credit quality.”

General Electric is the fourth company sued for alleged violations of ERISA relating to pension risk transfers. The others are Alcoa Corp., Lockheed Martin and AT&T. Plaintiffs in all four are represented by Schlichter Bogard of St. Louis. State Street Global Advisors

Another law firm with other plaintiffs also is suing AT&T for alleged ERISA violations linked to pension risk transfers to Athene.