Aetna sued over disclosure of political contributions
Tuesday, December 10, 2013
Washington -- A nonprofit watchdog group, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, filed a lawsuit Tuesday accusing Aetna of sending “false and misleading” proxy statements in 2012 and 2013 that hid millions of dollars of political donations.
“Aetna pretends to be a model of corporate transparency, but in truth, shareholders have almost no idea which dark money groups the company is funding or how much it is contributing,” said Melanie Sloan, CREW's executive director. “Aetna tried to hide its nearly $8 million in contributions to the American Action Network and the Chamber of Commerce to influence the 2012 elections. Who knows where else Aetna has been funneling money?”
Aetna denies the allegations.
Filed on behalf of shareholder Stephen W. Silberstein, the CREW lawsuit says Aetna violated the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, which prohibits companies from providing inaccurate information in proxy statements to procure votes for or against shareholder proposals.
CREW says Aetna’s proxy statements included inaccurate information and omitted information about the company’s political activities to persuade shareholders to oppose proposals offered by the Service Employees International Union Master Trust (SEIU) in 2012 and by the Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations (UUAC) in 2013.
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http://www.ctmirror.org/story/2013/12/10/aetna-sued-over-disclosure-political-contributions
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