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Opinion of the Court
nally, § 406 of ERISA prohibits fiduciaries from involving the plan and its assets in certain kinds of business deals. See § 1106. It is this last feature of ERISA that is at issue today.
Congress enacted § 406 "to bar categorically a transaction that [is] likely to injure the pension plan." Commissioner v. Keystone Consol. Industries, Inc., 508 U. S. 152, 160 (1993). That section mandates, in relevant part, that "[a] fiduciary with respect to a plan shall not cause the plan to engage in a transaction, if he knows or should know that such transaction constitutes a direct or indirect . . . transfer to, or use by or for the benefit of a party in interest, of any assets of the plan." 29 U. S. C. § 1106(a)(1)(D).1 The question here is whether this provision of ERISA prevents an employer from conditioning the receipt of early retirement benefits upon the participants' waiver of employment claims. For the following reasons, we hold that it does not.
III
Section 406(a)(1) regulates the conduct of plan fiduciaries, placing certain transactions outside the scope of their lawful authority. When a fiduciary violates the rules set forth in § 406(a)(1), § 409 of ERISA renders him personally liable for any losses incurred by the plan, any ill-gotten profits, and other equitable and remedial relief deemed appropriate by the court. See 29 U. S. C. § 1109(a). But in order to sustain an alleged transgression of § 406(a), a plaintiff must show that a fiduciary caused the plan to engage in the allegedly unlawful transaction.2 Unless a plaintiff can make that
1 Section 408 enumerates specific exceptions to the prohibitions in § 406. See 29 U. S. C. § 1108(b). Lockheed does not argue that any of these exceptions pertain to this case.
2 ERISA § 3(21)(A) provides: "[A] person is a fiduciary with respect to a plan to the extent (i) he exercises any discretionary authority or discretionary control respecting management of such plan or exercises any authority or control respecting management or disposition of its assets, (ii) he renders investment advice for a fee or other compensation, direct or
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