The administrator of a bankruptcy plan for the genetics-testing company once kn
own as 23andMe agreed to dole out a total of $46.75 million to victims in a deal to end litigation stemming from a 2023 data breach.
According to records from U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of Missouri, the plan administrator will pay $32.5 million to resolve consolidated class-action lawsuits.
Nearly $14.3 million has already been distributed to the settlement administrator, Kroll.
Of that amount, about $13 million was funded by cyber insurance policies, according to court do
cuments. Allied World Specialty Insurance Company, Tokio Marine HCC’s Houston Casualty Compa
ny, Berkshire Hathaway’s Landmark American Insurance Company, and various underwriters at Ll
oyds issued cyber insurance policies to 23andMe, the filing showed.
The total is a $3.25 million reduction from the maximum amount of a January 2026 settlement of b
ehalf of the class of claimants. The latest court filing said $48 million in damages was sought by the cla
ss, but the court ruled that this wo
sting months, if not years,” which would cost millions of dollars. Resources, the court continued, “would be far better preserved for the benefit of stakeholders.”
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The plan administrator has resolved more than 255,860 claims, according to the June 10 f
iling, but “thousands of claims r
emain unresolved,” including a determination of the size of the claims. The settlement did not award a flat amount. Payouts range from $50 to $10,000 for extraordinary claims.
Disclosed by 23andMe in an October 2023 blog post, the breach began around April 2023 and lasted about five months, and affected nearly half of the 14.1 milli
on customers in 23andMe’s database at the time. The company said the hacker accessed 5.5 million
DNA Relatives profiles, which let customers share information with each other, and accesse
d information for another 1.4 million customers who used a feature called Family Tree.
23andMe is now known as Chrome Holding Co. 23andMe filed for bankruptcy in March 202
5, sold its much of its assets, and was sold back to co-founder Anne Wojcicki. California tried to block the sale but failed.
Late in May, California sued Chrome Holding Co. for failing to protect its customers’ personal information and genetic data.
