Hopefully, the DOJ now has the courage to go after the mack daddy of all charity frauds. We shall see. Fake Bank Wells Fargo may have opened as many as 3.5 million bogus bank accounts without its customers’ permission, attorneys for customers suing the bank have alleged in a court filing, suggesting the bank may have created far more fake accounts than previously indicated. The plaintiffs’ new estimate of bogus bank accounts is about 1.4 million, or 67 percent, higher than the original estimate disclosed last year as part of a settlement with regulators that up — — to 2.1 million accounts were opened without customers’ permission. In estimating the higher number of fake accounts, the plaintiffs’ attorneys examined a much longer time period than regulators and the bank had previously addressed, they said in court documents. The attorneys covered a period from 2002 to 2017, rather than the previously scrutinized five-year stretch from 2011 to some time in 2016 in which the bank acknowledged setting up unauthorized accounts. Scrutiny of bank employees’ activity during that five-year period led to the settlement last September, which required the bank to pay $185 million in fines. The plaintiffs’ attorneys described how they developed the new, higher estimate of the bank’s number of bogus accounts: information, negotiations and confirmatory discovery” were “Public the primary sources used to arrive at the new estimate, the court documents stated. important to note that these are estimates from the attorneys for the plaintiffs,” said Ruben “It’s Pulido, a spokesman for San Francisco-based Wells Fargo. The 3.5 million figure is based on a scenario” and remains unverified, Pulido “hypothetical stated. number of unauthorized accounts estimated in the filing do not reflect actual unauthorized “The accounts,” Pulido said. number is the plaintiffs’ estimate and only an estimate.” “The — The plaintiffs also acknowledged the estimate of 3.5 million accounts turn out to be greater than the actual number of bogus accounts created, saying in court records, number may “This well be over-inclusive.” Wells Fargo’s Chief Executive Officer Timothy Sloan told investors during a meeting Thursday in San Francisco that 2016, the year when the bogus-accounts scandal surfaced, was challenging for the bank. is no question that 2016 was among the toughest in our 165-year history,” he said. Sloan acknowledged that the bank had lost its way.
Hopefully, the DOJ now has the courage to go after the mack daddy of all charity frauds. We shall see. Fake Bank Wells Fargo may have opened as many as 3.5 million bogus bank accounts without its customers’ permission, attorneys for customers suing the bank have alleged in a court filing, suggesting the bank may have created far more fake accounts than previously indicated. The plaintiffs’ new estimate of bogus bank accounts is about 1.4 million, or 67 percent, higher than the original estimate — disclosed last year as part of a settlement with regulators — that up to 2.1 million accounts were opened without customers’ permission. In estimating the higher number of fake accounts, the plaintiffs’ attorneys examined a much longer time period than regulators and the bank had previously addressed, they said in court documents. The attorneys covered a period from 2002 to 2017, rather than the previously scrutinized five-year stretch from 2011 to some time in 2016 in which the bank acknowledged setting up unauthorized accounts. Scrutiny of bank employees’ activity during that five-year period led to the settlement last September, which required the bank to pay $185 million in fines. The plaintiffs’ attorneys described how they developed the new, higher estimate of the bank’s number of bogus accounts: “Public information, negotiations and confirmatory discovery” were the primary sources used to arrive at the new estimate, the court documents stated. “It’s important to note that these are estimates from the attorneys for the plaintiffs,” said Ruben Pulido, a spokesman for San Francisco-based Wells Fargo. The 3.5 million figure is based on a “hypothetical scenario” and remains unverified, Pulido stated. “The number of unauthorized accounts estimated in the filing do not reflect actual unauthorized accounts,” Pulido said. “The number is the plaintiffs’ estimate — and only an estimate.” The plaintiffs also acknowledged the estimate of 3.5 million accounts turn out to be greater than the actual number of bogus accounts created, saying in court records, “This number may well be over-inclusive.” Wells Fargo’s Chief Executive Officer Timothy Sloan told investors during a meeting Thursday in San Francisco that 2016, the year when the bogus-accounts scandal surfaced, was challenging for the bank. is no question that 2016 was among the toughest in our 165-year history,” he said. Sloan acknowledged that the bank had lost its way.
X2-Radio_2017-5-14.docx