DOJ Catch of the Week -- Goldman Sachs and Wells Fargo Bank

By the C|C Whistleblower Lawyer Team This week's Department of Justice "Catch of the Week" goes to latest members of the Billion Dollar Mortgage Fraud Club -- Goldman Sachs and Wells Fargo Bank.  In separate ten-figure settlements they entered into this past Monday and last Friday respectively, each agreed to settle charges of various mortgage fraud machinations.  Goldman Sachs agreed to pay $5.06 billion for misconduct in its sale of...

Catch of the Week: Wells Fargo Pays $3 Billion, and another $35 Million, in Latest in Long Line of Government Enforcement Actions against the Bank

On February 21, 2020 the Department of Justice announced that Wells Fargo & Co. agreed to pay $3 billion to resolve civil and criminal allegations that Wells Fargo’s “cross-selling” practices led to millions of accounts being opened for customers under false pretenses and without consent. These practices allegedly led to Wells Fargo collecting millions of dollars in fees. Less than one week later, two of bank’s brokerage divisions, including the...

Catch of the Week: In hot water again, now for fleecing customers in foreign currency transactions, Wells Fargo pays $72m in fines and restitution

Earlier this week, the Department of Justice settled an important case in which Wells Fargo Bank agreed to pay over $70 million in penalties and restitution to defrauded bank customers. Wells Fargo admitted that it defrauded 771 customers, mostly small businesses, who used the bank’s foreign exchange services when they needed to send money overseas or receive money from abroad. Rather than charging standard fees for customers to buy and...

The Former Khmer Rouge Slave Who Became a Whistleblower Against Wells Fargo

The New York Times reports on former Wells Fargo employee Duke Tran who blew the whistle on the company for allegedly being ordered to lie to customers who were facing foreclosure in 2014. Mr. Tran was fired from his job at Wells Fargo and since then has been locked in a four-year legal battle with the company alleging he was fired as retaliation for blowing the whistle on the bank’s...

Wells Fargo to Claw Back $75 Million From Former Executives

By the C|C Whistleblower Lawyer Team Wells Fargo’s board announced that it would recover an addition $75 million in compensation from former CEO John Stumpf and former head of community banking Carrie Tolstedt. Wells Fargo released a 113 page report in conjunction with the announcement that called the warning signs of the problem involving fake accounts “glaring” and demonstrated a decentralized culture that pressured employees to create the fake accounts...

Wells Fargo to Fight OSHA Order to Pay and Reinstate Whistleblower

By the C|C Whistleblower Lawyer Team Wells Fargo will appeal an OSHA order issued earlier this week in which the agency ordered Wells Fargo to pay a former manager-turned-whistleblower a $5.4 million reward and reinstate him at the company. Wells Fargo terminated the whistleblower in 2010 after he reported problems to both his superiors and a banking ethics hotline, was given 90 days to find a new job in the...

Wells Fargo Whistleblower Wins $5.4 Million and His Job Back

A federal regulator on Monday ordered Wells Fargo to pay $5.4 million to a former manager who said he was fired in 2010 after reporting to his supervisors and to a bank ethics hotline what he suspected was fraudulent behavior. The bank must also rehire him, the Labor Department’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration said. OSHA concluded that the manager was "abruptly" forced to leave a Los Angeles branch of...

Sen. Warren Accuses Dept. of Labor of Taking Down Wells Fargo Complaint Website

By the C|C Whistleblower Lawyer Team A special website created as a resource for current and former Wells Fargo employees on workplace issues, including whistleblower retaliation complaints, has been removed by the Dept. of Labor, according to Sen. Elizabeth Warren. The website was set up by former Labor Secretary Tom Perez last September after Wells Fargo was ordered to pay $190 million to settle regulators’ claims that it created as...

2016 Whistleblower of the Year Candidate – Wells Fargo Whistleblowers Yesenia Guitron and Judi Klosek

By Leah Judge This “Whistleblower Spotlight” features another of our 2016 Whistleblower of the Year candidates, Wells Fargo whistleblowers Yesenia Guitron and Judi Klosek.  These two women attempted to blow the whistle on Wells Fargo’s deceptive sales practices, including the unauthorized opening and closing of customer accounts, in 2010—three years before CEO John Stumpf conceded the company’s knowledge of the misconduct. Ms. Guitron, a single mother, began working as a...

Banks Put Up Over $20 Billion in One Day to Settle Charges of Mortgage and Foreclosure Abuses, But is it Enough?

By Jason Enzler Last week, the Federal Reserve and the Comptroller of the Currency announced that ten banks have agreed to an $8.5 billion settlement to resolve allegations of foreclosure abuses.  The banks, which include Bank of America, JP Morgan Chase, Wells Fargo, and Citigroup, agreed to pay $3.3 billion directly to eligible borrowers and an additional $5.2 billion in other relief, such as loan modifications.  That same day, Bank...