Wells Fargo claims $75 million from former executives after sales scandal

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published 10 April 2017

Wells Fargo announced Monday that it will reclaim $75 million from two executives at the center of the bank's massive fraudulent account and sales scandal, The New York Times reports.

The report, which took six months for the law firm Shearman & Sterling to compile, blames former chief executive John G. Stumpf for ignoring "numerous" complaints about the company's overly aggressive sales goals.

Wells Fargo's former head of community banking, Carrie L. Tolstedt, is blamed for running her department as "a sales organization, like department or retail stores, rather than a service-oriented financial institution." Tolstedt also "understated problems at the community bank," the report says, leading the board to believe only 230 employees had been fired for unethical practices, rather than the true 5,300 over five years.

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Jeva Lange was the executive editor at TheWeek.com. She formerly served as The Week's deputy editor and culture critic. She is also a contributor to Screen Slate, and her writing has appeared in The New York Daily News, The Awl, Vice, and Gothamist, among other publications. Jeva lives in New York City. Follow her on Twitter.