Former Wells Fargo senior executives under criminal investigation: Report
Enlarge

Former senior executives of Wells Fargo & Co. are under federal criminal investigation over the bank's fake-accounts scandal, American Banker reported.

By Mark Calvey – Senior Reporter, San Francisco Business Times

Several former Wells Fargo & Co. senior executives are under criminal investigation resulting from the bank’s fake-accounts scandal, trade publication American Banker reported, citing unnamed sources.

According to the report, federal prosecutors are considering charges against individuals who were in the San Francisco bank’s upper management, sources familiar with the situation told American Banker, with possible indictments coming down as soon as this month. These sources cautioned that the situation remains fluid and could change.

American Banker said a federal criminal investigation has been conducted by the U.S. Justice Department in California and North Carolina, with help from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Asked to comment Monday on the American Banker report, a Wells Fargo (NYSE: WFC) spokesman said Monday: “We are declining comment on behalf of the bank.”

In February 2019, Wells said in a securities filing that it had started talks with federal regulators about a potential resolution to matters under investigation by the Justice Department and SEC. The bank said in a November 2019 filing that those talks were ongoing.

Wells Fargo has been embroiled in a series of scandals that began with an announcement in September 2016 that the bank had agreed to pay regulatory fines totaling $185 million over opening deposit and credit accounts without customer authorization.

Wells Fargo CEO John Stumpf was ousted in October 2016. His successor, Tim Sloan, stepped down as CEO in June 2019. Former Visa CEO Charlie Scharf took the top job at Wells in October. The fake-accounts scandal also led to the firing of thousands of low-level employees.