Wells Fargo fraud

On Sept. 8, the CFPB and other regulators announced combined fines against Wells Fargo of $185 million, alleging that the bank’s employees opened millions of unauthorized accounts in the name of unsuspecting consumers to meet aggressive sales goals.

Wells Fargo employees opened about 1.5 million deposit accounts and transferred money without authorization. They applied for about 565,000 credit-card accounts without authorization. They issued and activated debit cards without authorization. And they created phony email addresses to enroll consumers in online-banking services, according to the CFPB.

Wells Fargo, based in San Francisco, must pay $100 million to the CFPB, $35 million to the federal Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and $50 million to the city and county of Los Angeles. It was also ordered to pay restitution to customers. Wells Fargo said it has refunded $2.6 million in fees associated with any product that was opened without authorization.

During a hearing on the fraud Tuesday, Republicans and Democrats on the Senate Banking Committee lambasted John Stumpf, the chairman and chief executive of Wells Fargo.