Wells Fargo Rehires Workers Fired In Fake Account Scandal

Wells Fargo, the embattled bank still reeling in the wake of a fake account scandal, has reportedly brought back more than 1,000 former employees, Reuters reported Monday (Oct. 2). Citing prepared congressional testimony by Wells Fargo, chief executive Tim Sloan said more than 1,780 employees who were let go — but should not have been — or who left the bank were recently rehired. The executive also acknowledged more fraud may be found at the national bank.

“We expected to find more shortcomings … and we did,” Sloan said in the remarks for a hearing slated for Tuesday (Oct. 3). He added that roughly 3.5 million fake accounts may have been crafted and approximately 190,000 of those accounts getting hit with fees and charges.

Ahead of Sloan’s testimony, U.S. Senators have begun pressing Wells Fargo to explore whether the fake account scandal impacted small businesses as well as individual consumers, according to a recent report in Small Biz Trends. The publication reported that Senator Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) had sent a letter to Sloan on behalf of the Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship. The letter raised concerns over how Wells Fargo’s opening of fake accounts may have negatively affected its small business customers.

“Given the significant number of small business customers using Wells Fargo products, I am concerned about your recent statement that your review of Wells Fargo’s operations could yield additional problems with the bank’s practices,” the Senator wrote in the letter, sent last week.

Additionally, the letter referenced revelations from Sloan that the scandal could be more widespread than previously believed, with up to 1.4 million more fake accounts possibly created. Sloan added he will continue to investigate and determine the breadth and scope of the scandal. Senator Shaheen noted in the letter that Wells Fargo is “the largest provider of loans under $1 million to small businesses.”