Wells Fargo rocked by scandal again
Listen to this articleThe latest scandal involving Wells Fargo Bank effectively stealing from thousands of its customers by opening unrequested and thus bogus accounts and then charging customers fees for those accounts is not the first nor the only time Wells Fargo has been caught wrongfully taking from its customers. This isn’t even the worst of their many scandals. Yet through it all its CEO John G. Stumpf remains aloof, arrogant and extremely well compensated.
On April 19th 2015 Grant Rodgers of the Des Moines Register wrote an article about several lawsuits that had been filed against Wells Fargo Bank for wrongful termination of seven of its former employees. Each of these former employees had four things in common. Once upon a time each of them had committed a minor crime. Yet they all had worked for Wells Fargo Bank for several years without one negative event reported. The third item in common was that each of them had been fired by Wells Fargo Bank. And the final piece of unlikely coincidence, all them just happen to be African-American.
Oops! There is a federal lawsuit pending against the bank but its CEO John G. Stumpf remains untouched and continues to receive multi-million dollar bonuses.
In 2013 after a yearlong investigation Wells Fargo Bank agreed to settle allegations that it had routinely neglected the maintenance and marketing of foreclosed homes in Latino and black communities. For that Wells Fargo, without admitting any wrong doing, of course, agreed to pay $24 million to settle the allegations, another $27 million to non-profit organizations that promote home ownership and pay another $11.5 million to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Yet CEO John G. Stumpf continued to receive multi-million dollar bonuses.
In summary since John G. Stumpf took office as Chief Executive Officer of Wells Fargo Bank in 2007 it has shelled out $38 billion in various fines and settlements — while John G. Stumpf received in excess of $160 million in compensation. If you want the full story read my book, Hell’s Bank. It is available at lulu.com.
And then after you read the book please explain to me how it is that John G. Stumpf remains the CEO of Wells Fargo? How is it that John G. Stumpf has never been charged with any criminal behavior? And how is it that Wells Fargo Bank continues to flourish as one our world’s most prominent banks?
Copyright © 2016 Ron Irwin
Top photo: YouTube screen shot
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Editor’s Note: In addition, according to his testimony before the U.S. Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee, John G. Stumpf is not an expert in any facet of banking.
Ron Irwin was born in Chicago, Illinois a long time ago. He served in the Marine Corps in Vietnam, became a trial lawyer, TV and radio host, CEO of a public company and once held an Emmy. He never won an Emmy he just held one. Ron has written and published twelve books. His most important book to date is “Live, Die, Live Again” in which Ron tells of his early life and his unexpected and very temporary death in 2012. That experience dramatically refocused his life and within the pages of that book Ron reveals how he achieved a much healthier life, ridding himself of Diabetes, Cancer and Heart Failure. Now Ron enjoys writing about many things including health topics, travel [he has circled the globe several times], adventure, culinary experiences and the world of performing art. Ron’s motto is “Live better, live longer and live stronger because it feels great and annoys others.” Contact the author.