Elizabeth Warren on Wells Fargo CEO’s resignation: ‘He’s one for three’
"If Mr. Stumpf is leaving with all of his ill-gotten millions, that's still not real accountability."
Elizabeth Warren is still not satisfied.
Following Wells Fargo CEO John Stumpf’s resignation Wednesday evening, Warren renewed her calls for him to face “real accountability” for the bank’s fake account scandal.
“As I said at the hearing last month, Mr. Stumpf should resign, return every nickel he made while this scam was going on, and face an investigation by the Justice Department and SEC,” the Massachusetts senator said in a statement.
“So far, he’s one for three,” she said.
Continuing the screed on Twitter, Warren juxtaposed Stumpf’s fate with that of a bank teller who had stolen from a cash drawer.
If @WellsFargo’s John Stumpf is leaving with all of his ill-gotten millions, that’s still not real accountability.
— Elizabeth Warren (@SenWarren) October 12, 2016
A bank teller would face criminal charges & a prison sentence for stealing a handful of 20s from the cash drawer.
— Elizabeth Warren (@SenWarren) October 12, 2016
A bank CEO should not be able to oversee a massive fraud & simply walk away to enjoy his millions in retirement.
— Elizabeth Warren (@SenWarren) October 12, 2016
The Los Angeles Times reports that Stumpf is set to receive no severance, but will retire with more than $100 million in vested stock and retirement benefits totaling more than $24 million.
Warren has consistently called for Stumpf to be federally prosecuted and give back all the money he earned during the scandal, in which Wells Fargo employees, pressured to meet aggressive sales quotas, secretly created more than 2 million customer accounts. Since 2011, more than 5,300 low-level employees were fired for the scandal, according to the bank. The fraudulent accounts often resulted in unauthorized fees and lowered credit scores for customers.
In a Senate hearing last month, Stumpf faced bipartisan calls to resign for the scandal. In a series of questions that went viral after the hearing, Warren accused the Wells Fargo CEO of “gutless leadership” for pushing “the blame to low-level employees who don’t have the money for a fancy PR firm to defend themselves.”
Wells Fargo agreed to pay a $185 million in government fines for the scandal, including $100 million to Warren’s brainchild agency, the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau.
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