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Re: ernie44 post# 1517

Monday, 02/24/2020 10:43:57 AM

Monday, February 24, 2020 10:43:57 AM

Post# of 1522
Not quite....

Wells Fargo to Pay $500 Million for Misleading Investors About the Success of Its Largest Business Unit
Newsfile4:36 PM (UTC-05:00) Eastern Time (US & Canada) Feb 21, 2020
Washington, D.C.--(Newsfile Corp. - February 21, 2020) - The Securities and
Exchange Commission today charged California-based Wells Fargo & Co. for
misleading investors about the success of its core business strategy at a time
when it was opening fake accounts for unknowing customers and selling
unnecessary products that went unused. Wells Fargo has agreed to pay $500
million to settle the charges, which will be returned to investors. The $500
million payment is part of a combined $3 billion settlement with the SEC and
the Department of Justice.

According to the SEC’s order, between 2012 and 2016, Wells Fargo publicly
touted to investors the success of its Community Bank’s “cross-sell”
strategy – selling additional financial products to its existing customers
– which it characterized as a key component of its financial success. The
order finds that Wells Fargo sought to induce investors’ continued reliance
on the cross-sell metric even though it was inflated by accounts and services
that were unused, unneeded, or unauthorized. According to the order, from 2002
to 2016, Wells Fargo opened millions of accounts of financial products that
were unauthorized or fraudulent. Wells Fargo’s Community Bank also pressured
customers to buy products they did not need and would not use. The order finds
that these accounts were opened through sales practices inconsistent with
Wells Fargo’s investor disclosures regarding its purported needs-based
selling model.

“Wells Fargo repeatedly misled investors, including through a misleading
performance metric, about what it claimed to be the cornerstone of its
Community Bank business model and its ability to grow revenue and earnings,”
said Stephanie Avakian, Co-Director of the SEC’s Division of Enforcement.
“This settlement holds Wells Fargo responsible for its fraud and furthers
the SEC’s goal of returning funds to harmed investors.”

The SEC’s order finds that Wells Fargo violated the antifraud provisions of
the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Wells Fargo has agreed to cease and
desist from committing or causing any future violations of these provisions
and to pay a civil penalty of $500 million. The SEC will distribute this
money to harmed investors.

The SEC’s investigation was conducted by Victor Hong, John Roscigno, Jason
H. Lee, and Erin E. Wilk, with assistance from Suzy LaMarca and John Han,
under the supervision of Monique C. Winkler of the San Francisco Regional
Office. Polly Hayes, Dustin Ruta, and Karen Klotz of the Philadelphia Regional
Office also assisted the investigation. The SEC's investigation is continuing.

The SEC appreciates the assistance of the U.S. Attorney’s Offices for the
Central District of California and the Western District of North Carolina, the
Civil Division of the Department of Justice, the Federal Bureau of
Investigation, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation - Office of Inspector
General, the Federal Housing Finance Agency - Office of Inspector General, the
Office of Inspector General for the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve
System, and the U.S.Postal Inspection Service.




Just my opinion, of course.

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