<p>Federal regulators raised fresh claims against two former top Wells Fargo executives for their role in the bank’s misdeeds, accusing them of misleading investors about financial results in the unit that caters to individual customers.</p>.<p>The Securities and Exchange Commission on Friday said John G. Stumpf, the bank’s former chief executive, agreed to pay a $2.5 million penalty to settle the fraud claims against him. The regulator also filed a lawsuit against Carrie L. Tolstedt, the former head of Wells Fargo’s community bank, in federal court in San Francisco.</p>.<p>Both executives made false certifications about the bank’s finances, the SEC said, because they knew or should have known that Wells Fargo’s sales metrics were inflated by the opening of customer accounts that were unauthorized or unnecessary.</p>.<p>“If executives speak about a key performance metric to promote their business, they must do so fully and accurately,” said Stephanie Avakian, the agency’s enforcement director.</p>.<p>Tolstedt “was an honest and conscientious executive,” Enu Mainigi, her lawyer, said in response to the suit. “It is unfair and unfounded for the SEC to point the finger at Tolstedt when her statements were not only true but also thoroughly vetted by others as part of Wells Fargo’s policies, procedures and systems of controls.”</p>.<p>Stumpf’s lawyer declined to comment on the SEC settlement.</p>.<p>Wells Fargo’s problems burst into public view in 2016 when the bank acknowledged that its employees opened what may have been millions of fraudulent accounts in customers’ names to meet the bank’s aggressive sales goals. The fallout has been extensive and brought to light other deceptive acts in Wells Fargo’s mortgage and auto lending operations. The bank has paid a succession of regulatory penalties, including a $1 billion fine, and has purged much of its top leadership.</p>.<p>The bank paid $500 million in February to settle charges the SEC brought against the bank for misleading investors. The accusations Friday are the first the agency has brought against individual Wells Fargo executives, although another regulator, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, has charged multiple executives, including Stumpf and Tolstedt. As part of his settlement with the OCC, Stumpf had agreed to a lifetime ban from the banking industry.</p>.<p>Wells Fargo is still operating under a restriction from the Federal Reserve that limits its growth until regulators are convinced that its conduct and internal controls have improved. “The amount of time and resources that the senior team is spending on this is extraordinary,” Charles W. Scharf, the bank’s current chief executive, told investors last month.</p>.<p>It is also facing a new claim that it is still failing to fulfill its regulatory requirements.</p>.<p>Kelly Halvorson, an employee in Minnesota who was responsible for monitoring Wells Fargo’s business banking group’s activities for signs that criminals were trying to use the bank for illicit purposes, said in a lawsuit filed this week that her bosses put her on administrative leave after she presented evidence to them that Wells Fargo was not keeping track of the owners of some of its business banking accounts. The bank also failed to report certain activities to regulators, she said.</p>.<p>A Wells Fargo spokesman declined to comment on Halvorson’s claims.</p>
<p>Federal regulators raised fresh claims against two former top Wells Fargo executives for their role in the bank’s misdeeds, accusing them of misleading investors about financial results in the unit that caters to individual customers.</p>.<p>The Securities and Exchange Commission on Friday said John G. Stumpf, the bank’s former chief executive, agreed to pay a $2.5 million penalty to settle the fraud claims against him. The regulator also filed a lawsuit against Carrie L. Tolstedt, the former head of Wells Fargo’s community bank, in federal court in San Francisco.</p>.<p>Both executives made false certifications about the bank’s finances, the SEC said, because they knew or should have known that Wells Fargo’s sales metrics were inflated by the opening of customer accounts that were unauthorized or unnecessary.</p>.<p>“If executives speak about a key performance metric to promote their business, they must do so fully and accurately,” said Stephanie Avakian, the agency’s enforcement director.</p>.<p>Tolstedt “was an honest and conscientious executive,” Enu Mainigi, her lawyer, said in response to the suit. “It is unfair and unfounded for the SEC to point the finger at Tolstedt when her statements were not only true but also thoroughly vetted by others as part of Wells Fargo’s policies, procedures and systems of controls.”</p>.<p>Stumpf’s lawyer declined to comment on the SEC settlement.</p>.<p>Wells Fargo’s problems burst into public view in 2016 when the bank acknowledged that its employees opened what may have been millions of fraudulent accounts in customers’ names to meet the bank’s aggressive sales goals. The fallout has been extensive and brought to light other deceptive acts in Wells Fargo’s mortgage and auto lending operations. The bank has paid a succession of regulatory penalties, including a $1 billion fine, and has purged much of its top leadership.</p>.<p>The bank paid $500 million in February to settle charges the SEC brought against the bank for misleading investors. The accusations Friday are the first the agency has brought against individual Wells Fargo executives, although another regulator, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, has charged multiple executives, including Stumpf and Tolstedt. As part of his settlement with the OCC, Stumpf had agreed to a lifetime ban from the banking industry.</p>.<p>Wells Fargo is still operating under a restriction from the Federal Reserve that limits its growth until regulators are convinced that its conduct and internal controls have improved. “The amount of time and resources that the senior team is spending on this is extraordinary,” Charles W. Scharf, the bank’s current chief executive, told investors last month.</p>.<p>It is also facing a new claim that it is still failing to fulfill its regulatory requirements.</p>.<p>Kelly Halvorson, an employee in Minnesota who was responsible for monitoring Wells Fargo’s business banking group’s activities for signs that criminals were trying to use the bank for illicit purposes, said in a lawsuit filed this week that her bosses put her on administrative leave after she presented evidence to them that Wells Fargo was not keeping track of the owners of some of its business banking accounts. The bank also failed to report certain activities to regulators, she said.</p>.<p>A Wells Fargo spokesman declined to comment on Halvorson’s claims.</p>