\t\t\t\tThe U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is investigating whether Wells Fargo (WFC) violated whistleblower protections, in the wake of allegations of aggressive and illegal sales tactics, and misled investors over these allegations.\u00a0 The probe comes after Senators Jeff Merkeley (D-Ore), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass), and Robert Menendez (D-NJ) sent the Commission a letter asking the regulator to examine whether the bank misled investigators over cross-selling claims.<\/p>\n
In the letter, the US senators asked the SEC to look into whether Wells Fargo violated \u00a0Sarbanes-Oxley\u2019s internal control provisions and whistleblower protection laws by firing employees who attempted to report alleged misconduct involving fake accounts. The three senators also asked the Commission to look at whether the bank failed to properly disclose bogus accounts while marketing high figures related to the creation of accounts.<\/p>\n
Wells Fargo recently came under fire for setting up some two million bogus accounts. It settled the case, which was brought by California prosecutors and federal regulators\u2014including the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau\u2014\u00a0for $185M in penalties and $5M in customer restitution. Questions have since arisen over why the bank did not notify investors about these cross-selling allegations until it settled with regulators, even though Ex-CEO John Stumpf admitted that he knew about the problems going as far back as 2013.<\/p>\n