Ex-Wells Fargo exec to plead guilty for role in bank scandal
LOS ANGELES –
A former Wells Fargo Bank government accused of overseeing a ruse that created hundreds of thousands of bogus buyer accounts has agreed to plead responsible to felony costs prone to ship her jail for her position within the scandal.
The settlement filed Wednesday in a Los Angeles federal courtroom requires the previous Wells Fargo government, Carrie Tolstedt, to serve a 16-month jail sentence for obstructing regulators’ investigation into abusive gross sales practices that culminated within the financial institution paying billions of {dollars} in fines. Tolstedt, 63, additionally agreed to pay a $17 million wonderful in a separate civil settlement with the federal government that additionally bans her from working once more within the banking trade.
Prosecutors are requesting an April 7 courtroom listening to to evaluation the plea settlement.
Tolstedt was the longtime head of the Wells Fargo’s division chargeable for its sprawling community of retail branches, earlier than leaving in 2016 simply earlier than proof of the financial institution’s abusive gross sales techniques surfaced. After beforehand denying any wrongdoing, Tolstedt turns into the primary Wells Fargo government to be held criminally culpable for a scandal that resulted within the firing of 5,300 staff for falsifying financial institution information and different ethics violations.
San Francisco-based Wells Fargo had beforehand admitted that its bold gross sales targets had fostered a tradition that prodded its department staff to open hundreds of thousands of unauthorized and fraudulent accounts from 2002 to 2016. The U.S. Justice Department alleged Tolstedt – now a resident of Scottsdale, Arizona – knew concerning the abuses relationship again to 2004 and subsequently tried to cowl up the misconduct in a memo ready for regulators wanting into the practices in 2015.
“Obstructing an investigation compromises the mission of those seeking the truth, and we will hold accountable any individual who attempts to conceal wrongdoing.” stated Acting United States Attorney Joseph T. McNally.
