(RNS) — A federal judge gave preliminary approval to a settlement that could restore tens of millions more in retirement funds to African Methodist Episcopal Church clergy and staffers who lost their money through the denomination’s allegedly mishandled plan.

The development on Friday (April 17) comes after the same judge last August approved $60 million in partial settlements, not including interest, for the thousands of clergy and staff who learned in 2021 that much of their expected retirement money was missing. However, legal fees totaled more than a third of the settlement. 

The plaintiffs and Symetra Life Insurance Co., a defendant in the case, accepted a mediator’s proposal that would allow the affected retirement plan participants to recover an additional $44.4 million, if the judge approves it in a hearing set for Aug. 19 in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Tennessee.

According to court documents, the plaintiffs alleged that Symetra was a co-conspirator with the Rev. Jerome Harris, then the director of the AME Church’s Department of Retirement Services, in misappropriation of the retirement funds.

“Taking the Symetra settlement with the other settlements already obtained to date, Plaintiffs will have recovered a total of approximately $106.2 million,” Judge S. Thomas Anderson said in his April 17 order. “In light of the risks of going to trial and the additional delay involved in trying the case and concluding all appeals, the settlement represents adequate and immediate relief to the class.”

Early in the litigation, the plaintiffs — some 4,500 people whose single case was consolidated from six — said around $88.4 million was lost from the retirement funds. They have since argued that the balance of the plan should have been $227 million higher than it was in June 2021.

RELATED: AME Church clergy, staff near retirement fund payout as appeal window closes

The AME Church, a historically Black denomination, and Newport Group Inc., a third-party administrator involved with the church’s retirement services, reached the earlier partial settlements with the plaintiffs. The AME Church is not directly involved in the current juncture of the litigation.

“The Church is not a party to the settlement with Symetra and we will not comment on a private settlement that we are not party to,” the Rev. Tyronda Howse Burgess, general secretary of the AME Church, said in a statement.

In the past, the denomination has said that Harris, who retired in 2021 and died in 2024 of a heart attack, provided “deceptive, false and grossly inflated financial statements” about the retirement plan.

Attorneys for the affected AME clergy and staffers viewed the preliminary approval of the $44.4 million as a positive sign in a case that has lasted almost half a decade.

“We are pleased with the settlement with Symetra and proud of what we’ve been able to accomplish after over four years of hard-fought litigation,” said plaintiffs’ lawyers from seven firms and the AARP Foundation, in a statement. “This settlement, if approved, would bring the total recovery to almost $106 million, which should return most of the money that the AME Church pastors were told that they had in their accounts in June 2021. We still have defendants who are fighting, and we have more work to do, but this is a major step forward in this litigation.” 

The Rev. J. Edgar Boyd. (Courtesy photo)

The Rev. J. Edgar Boyd, a leader of the AMEs for Justice and Accountability group, added in an interview: “There have been promises from the church that all of the retirement participants will be made whole in the end, and the road of the path now seems to be headed to that direction.”

Boyd said he hopes the litigation involving Harris’ estate as well as other parties will continue to bring greater restoration of funds to the clergy and staffers whose retirement accounts were depleted. Some, he said, wound up having to live with friends or family members because they could no longer afford their own homes.

“The pain, suffering, disappointment and anxiety and anguish that retirees had to go through to get to this point, I don’t know how you put a price tag on that,” Boyd said.

In February, the church released an update on the Department of Retirement Services, saying that 306 retirement distributions had been made as a result of the first settlements. The Rev. Brian K. Blackwell, director of the department, told Religion News Service on Tuesday that there now have been 339 distributions to participants who have retired from the AME Church.

“All participants included in the settlement have had their account balances (the combination of the Legacy Fund and the Settlement Fund) restored to approximately 61.5% of the June 30, 2021, statement balance,” he said. “Those funds can be disbursed upon request for persons with a distributable event (retirement, death of the participant, termination or hardship).”

Symetra representatives did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

RELATED: Federal judge approves partial settlement for lost AME Church retirement funds