Wells Fargo

Trump Purchases Over $100 Million in Bonds from Companies He Regulates

| Importance: 8/10

Ethics disclosures revealed Trump purchased at least $103 million in corporate and municipal bonds since January 20, making over 600 transactions including bonds from Wells Fargo, Citigroup, Morgan Stanley, Meta, UnitedHealth, T-Mobile, and Home Depot—all companies subject to federal regulation and …

Donald Trump Wells Fargo Citigroup Morgan Stanley Meta +1 more conflicts-of-interest systematic-corruption
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Wells Fargo Scandal Scorecard: 5,300 Workers Fired, Zero Execs Prosecuted

| Importance: 10/10

After nearly a decade of systematic fraud, multiple investigations, Congressional hearings, and billions in penalties, the Wells Fargo fake accounts scandal concludes with a stark scorecard that defines two-tiered justice in American finance: 3.5 million fraudulent accounts affecting millions of …

Wells Fargo John Stumpf Carrie Tolstedt Department of Justice corporate-fraud wells-fargo two-tiered-justice corporate-accountability systemic-analysis
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Wells Fargo Fires 125 Employees for COVID Relief Fraud, Culture Unchanged

| Importance: 7/10

Wells Fargo terminates between 100 and 125 employees for fraudulently obtaining COVID-19 relief funds through the SBA’s Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) program. Employees created fake profiles and made false representations to receive advances of up to $10,000 from the pandemic relief …

Wells Fargo corporate-fraud wells-fargo covid-19 corporate-culture
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Wells Fargo Pays $3 Billion, Admits Fraud, No Executives Charged

| Importance: 9/10

Wells Fargo agrees to pay $3 billion to resolve criminal and civil investigations by the Department of Justice and Securities and Exchange Commission into sales practices that created millions of unauthorized accounts between 2002 and 2016. In a deferred prosecution agreement, Wells Fargo formally …

Wells Fargo Department of Justice Securities and Exchange Commission corporate-fraud wells-fargo doj deferred-prosecution
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DOJ Declines Criminal Prosecution of Wells Fargo Executives

| Importance: 10/10

The Department of Justice announces it will not bring criminal charges against any Wells Fargo executives for their roles in the fake accounts scandal, instead accepting a deferred prosecution agreement with the corporation. Despite Wells Fargo’s admission that “top Community Bank …

Department of Justice William Barr Wells Fargo corporate-fraud wells-fargo doj prosecutorial-discretion two-tiered-justice
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Wells Fargo Revises Fake Account Count to 3.5 Million, Up 67%

| Importance: 9/10

Wells Fargo announces that its fake accounts scandal affected approximately 3.5 million accounts—a 67% increase from the initial estimate of 2.1 million accounts disclosed during the 2016 settlement. The revised analysis covers January 2009 to September 2016, nearly twice the timeframe of the …

Wells Fargo Timothy Sloan corporate-fraud wells-fargo banking-regulation
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Wells Fargo Fined $185 Million for Creating 2 Million Fake Accounts

| Importance: 9/10

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, and Los Angeles City Attorney announce a combined $185 million settlement with Wells Fargo for the systematic creation of more than two million unauthorized deposit and credit card accounts. The CFPB assesses a $100 …

Wells Fargo John Stumpf Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Richard Cordray corporate-fraud banking-regulation wells-fargo regulatory-capture cfpb
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Wells Fargo Fires 5,300 Low-Level Workers While Executives Keep Jobs

| Importance: 8/10

Wells Fargo begins systematically firing approximately 5,300 low-level employees between 2011 and 2016 for creating unauthorized customer accounts, while the senior executives who designed the sales incentive systems and set impossible quotas face no disciplinary action. The firings demonstrate a …

Wells Fargo John Stumpf Carrie Tolstedt corporate-fraud wells-fargo economic-inequality corporate-accountability
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25 Billion Mortgage Settlement Provides Banks Immunity for Minimal Payments

| Importance: 8/10

$25 billion settlement with five major banks over foreclosure abuses provides limited relief to homeowners. The agreement settled widespread ‘robosigning’ practices where banks mass-signed foreclosure documents without proper review. While nominally $25 billion, only $1.5 billion went …

Eric Holder Bank of America JPMorgan Chase Wells Fargo Citigroup +2 more prosecutorial-capture settlement-abuse foreclosure-fraud immunity-deal financial-corruption +1 more
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Wells Fargo Employees Begin Creating 3.5 Million Fake Accounts

| Importance: 9/10

Wells Fargo employees begin a systematic scheme to create unauthorized bank and credit card accounts, ultimately affecting 3.5 million customer accounts over five years. Driven by aggressive sales targets and compensation incentives, employees open accounts without customer consent, forge …

Wells Fargo John Stumpf Carrie Tolstedt corporate-fraud banking-regulation wells-fargo financial-crime
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Wells Fargo Hires SEC Enforcement Chief: Investigation Needed

| Importance: 3/10

Unverified claim about Wells Fargo hiring a former SEC enforcement official requires comprehensive investigation. No credible sources could confirm the specific details of this alleged hiring in 2010.

Wells Fargo unverified needs-research wells-fargo regulatory-capture
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Robo-Signing Scandal Exposed Systematic Foreclosure Document Fraud

| Importance: 8/10

Investigation reveals major banks systematically falsified foreclosure documents through ‘robo-signing’, affecting 3.8 million homes. Employees at major lenders signed thousands of foreclosure affidavits without verifying information, creating a massive documentation fraud that …

Bank of America JPMorgan Chase Wells Fargo Citigroup GMAC financial-crisis fraud foreclosure-abuse perjury
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Congress Passes $700 Billion TARP Bailout Without Criminal Accountability Provisions

| Importance: 9/10

Congress passes the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act, creating the $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) to bail out major financial institutions. Despite extensive evidence of widespread mortgage fraud, predatory lending, and securities violations that precipitated the crisis, the …

Henry Paulson Goldman Sachs JPMorgan Chase Bank of America Citigroup +3 more institutional-capture corruption financial-crisis bailout regulatory-capture +2 more
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OCC Federal Preemption Blocks State Anti-Predatory Lending Protections

| Importance: 8/10

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) under John Hawke Jr. issues sweeping federal preemption rules that override state consumer protection laws targeting predatory lending practices. This regulatory capture systematically dismantles state-level safeguards that attorneys general like …

OCC John Hawke Jr Julie Williams Eliot Spitzer National City Bank +2 more occ-preemption state-law-override predatory-lending regulatory-race-to-bottom consumer-protection +1 more
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