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Wells Fargo to Pay $2.09 Billion to End U.S. Mortgage Probe

  • Securities containing the bank’s loans lost billions, DOJ says
  • Case focuses on home loans in which borrowers stated income
Signage is displayed outside a Wells Fargo & Co. bank branch in Palatine, Illinois.

Signage is displayed outside a Wells Fargo & Co. bank branch in Palatine, Illinois.

Photographer: Christopher Dilts/Bloomberg
Updated on

Ten years after faulty mortgages upended the global financial system, Wells Fargo & Co. agreed to pay $2.09 billion to settle a U.S. probe into its creation and sale of loans that contributed to the disaster.

The long-anticipated penalty, announced Wednesday, is in line with what some analysts had predicted and smaller than sanctions borne by some of the bank’s competitors. But the case offers a new look behind the scenes at decisions made inside one of the nation’s largest home lenders before the crisis -- and the evidence executives once saw of mounting trouble.