The eight senators requesting the Labor Department investigation noted several civil lawsuits, including one filed in Los Angeles by nine former Wells Fargo employees, and other complaints by bank workers alleging failure to pay overtime.
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The senators – including Wall Street reform crusaders Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and Bernie Sanders, I-Vt.
Chief executive John Stumpf resigned his position on the advisory council of the San Francisco Fed, which consists of banking chiefs and is created to guide policymakers just one day after chairwoman Janet Yellen expressed her own concern at the latest revelations in the saga. Wells Fargo subsequently laid off 5,300 employees related to the deceptive sales practices. Jack Reed, New Jersey Sen.
Wells Fargo and JPMorgan declined to comment when contacted by CNBC.
The move was a “personal decision” by Stumpf, Wells Fargo spokeswoman Jennifer Dunn said.
Stumpf, who is up for a third one-year term on the council in January, according to the letter, has come under fire in recent weeks in the aftermath of a high-profile consumer fraud case at the bank.
Labor Department spokesman Jason Surbey confirmed receipt of the letter, but the department hasn’t committed to a probe.
DOL spokesman Jason Surbey acknowledged that the agency had received the letter, and said: “While we can not discuss details of potential law enforcement decision-making, we do take the concerns raised in the letter very seriously”.
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Wells Fargo is embroiled in a scandal over assertions that bank employees opened accounts without customers’ authorization. The CEO said on Tuesday he is “deeply sorry” for conduct that “failed to fulfill our responsibilities to our customers, our team members and the American public”. Specifically, employees were fired “in retaliation for shining light” on various illegal schemes. Tolstedt, who government filings say is in her mid-50s, was the head of Wells Fargo’s division – which oversees the banks most consumers are familiar with – until her retirement was announced in July.
