It was the norm to just open sales unethically. It was just what we were taught, and we just did it. More than six months after the fake account scandal damaged Wells Fargo's reputation, there's been very little accountability at the top.
Attorney Michael Cade represents former Wells Fargo employees. I can understand if one district manager is putting pressure on the people below him or her. But if this is going on nationwide, you would think that there is somebody above.
The district manager that is putting pressure on the DM to get something done. When news of the scandal spread, CEO John Stumpf left the bank following a fiery congressional grilling. It's gutless leadership. And so did the head of the retail bank, Carrie Tolstead.
The bank is now holding back some executive compensation. But both Stumpf and Tolstead walked away with millions tied to a rising stock price boosted by aggressive sales tactics. Stump said the bank never told employees to commit fraud, but many former workers say the pressure led to that. We had a lot of pressure.
I remember just as a teller, you know, we had the bankers just on our backs. To get the client. To get the client that I had as a teller standing up to get them sitting down with the banker. We would look at a phone number and maybe misconstrue one of the numbers. Oh, is your home number still at 1234, even though on the screen it said 1234. four or five.
And so it was just anything to get them to our desk. In fact, she claims almost everyone at the branch, herself included, was either lying to customers or complicit in it. Another former employee explained how simple it was to open a fake account. So it's pretty much like you signing a blank paper and then the rest of the information is filled in saying, oh, this is just to reopen your savings account or reactivate your savings account.
But. you know, when the customer leaves, they could put 10 accounts on there and then open it and the signature is there. And even if the customer calls to complain, well, Mr. Customer, your signature is there. At best, customers with unauthorized or unnecessary accounts were confused and hassled. At worst, they were hit with overdraft fees and some saw their credit scores suffer.
How did you get the idea in your head that if I don't do this unethical thing, I'm going to lose my job? What made you think that? I mean, they would just tell us that.
that it was verbalized. We just, again, always had pressure from management, upper management. They were witness to what we were doing. I mean, they coached us because they had to sign off on everything. Regulators found similar activity across the country.
According to a new Wells Fargo investigation, runaway sales practices had been an issue since at least 2002. And John Stumpf admitted he was aware of the problem since 2013. I remember being at least making an impression upon me in 2013. So for six years, regular meetings with one of your most important managers, those discussions, you have no recall that that ever came up. Not in the way I had in 2013. But the bank waited until 2016 before doing away with the aggressive sales goals. Wells Fargo says this is in the past now.
The Its number one priority is rebuilding trust, and the bank has made fundamental changes to reduce the pressure on workers and ensure customers are aware of new accounts opened. The bank's paid $185 million so far in fines, although it still faces more than a dozen investigations and lawsuits. But just like the financial crisis, jail time for senior executives is unlikely.
Has Wells Fargo suffered enough? No, absolutely not. As soon as I see five or six people go to jail for a very long time, federal prison, I would say that our system of government is doing something about this.
Who should carry the weight of what happened? You know, there was always some, you know, obviously some guilt. You know, I'm human, but it was just the stress of losing your job every day.
I mean, the company, it was very sales-driven. And they didn't care how they got it, at what cost.