The national bank regulator on Tuesday ordered three former Wells Fargo, N.A., executives to pay a combined $18.5 million in civil money penalties (CMPs) for sales practices misconduct, concluding action initiated in 2020 against 11 individuals in a case stemming from what it termed “one of the largest scandals” in banking history.
In one order, Claudia Russ Anderson, Wells’ former community bank group risk officer, was prohibited Tuesday by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) from participating in the affairs of any federally insured financial institution and ordered to pay a $10 million CMP. David Julian, former chief auditor for Wells, and Paul McLinko, former executive audit director, were ordered to comply with the law and assessed CMPs of $7 million and $1.5 million, respectively.
The orders pertain to sales practices misconduct at Wells from 2013 to 2016. In its order for Anderson, the OCC said Anderson “failed to credibly challenge the bank’s incentive compensation program, failed to institute effective controls to manage risks posed by sales practices misconduct, failed to escalate known or obvious risks, and repeatedly and consistently downplayed the sales practices misconduct.” It also said she violated the law by “failing to provide information or providing false, incomplete, or misleading information to the OCC during its 2015 examinations.”
In a combined order, the OCC said Julian and McLinko, during the same period, “failed to plan and manage audit activity that would detect and document sales practices misconduct and failed to adequately escalate the sales practices misconduct.” It added that McLinko also “failed to maintain professional independence from the Community Bank, the Bank’s largest business line that housed the retail branches.”
The OCC said Tuesday’s decisions and orders were the last three remaining outstanding enforcement actions among those that the OCC pursued against 11 individuals related to the bank’s sales practices misconduct.
OCC Imposes Civil Money Penalties Against Three Former Executives of Wells Fargo
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