Federal regulators ban former Wells Fargo CEO from banking industry

CBS News - 1/23/20

Federal regulators are fining former Wells Fargo CEO John Stumpf $17.5 million and banning him from the banking industry for life for his role in a scandal in which company employees opened millions of fake accounts without customers' consent. 

Along with the penalty for Stumpf, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency said Thursday it was suing five other former Wells Fargo executives for a combined $37.5 million in connection with the scandal. Two other executives also settled with regulators, paying million-dollar fines.

This is the first time regulators have punished individual executives for Wells Fargo's wrongdoing. The bank has paid hundreds of millions of dollars in fines and penalties for encouraging employees to fraudulently create accounts in order to meet unrealistic sales goals. Executives like Stumpf did give up tens of millions of dollars in bonuses and pay, but those actions were taken by Wells Fargo itself.

Patrick Creaven, a Wells Fargo employee in California, said in a statement provided to CBS News by the Committee for Better Banks, an advocacy group representing bank workers, that the fine for Stumpf "is a step toward accountability at the company."

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