Wells Fargo Sued Over Firings for Missed Account Quotas
- Bankers say company knew quotas fueled ‘unethical behaviors’
- CEO Stumpf accused by employees of orchestrating sales scheme
This article is for subscribers only.
Wells Fargo & Co. managers were accused of fueling the creation of bogus accounts in what may be the first lawsuit by fired or demoted employees since the bank was called out by regulators.
The lawsuit offers details of how low-level bankers were allegedly pushed to create at least 10 new accounts a day in a sales initiative that has blown up into a scandal and prompted U.S. lawmakers to call for Chief Executive Officer John Stumpf’s resignation. Bankers were “coached” to secretly open fee-generating accounts and often resorted to using false customer contact information like NoName@WellsFargo.com on accounts so they couldn’t be traced back, according to the complaint.