Six members of the Senate Banking Committee are asking Wells Fargo CEO Tim Sloan about reports that the bank may have shred and even forged documents tied to its fake accounts scandal.
"These latest allegations by Wells Fargo employees raise yet another red flag indicating that top management and the board of directors of Wells Fargo knew or should have known about the extensive fraud occurring throughout the bank," wrote Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., and five of his colleagues, including Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass.
"We are troubled by the possibility that Wells Fargo's retail bank branch managers engaged in activities that made it easier to conceal fraudulent practices that hurt both customers and employees," they explained.
Sloan is asked to give his answers to 15 questions by Feb. 17.
This news comes less than a week after Warren asked the Department of Labor for an update on its investigation into Wells Fargo & Co.'s sales practices; she and others were unable to access a website the DOL had set up to track complaints from the bank's employees.
In their letter to Sloan, the senators refer to a Wall Street Journal report that branch employees were allegedly asked to work late in order to shred and doctor documents after managers received word that their branches would be visited by internal compliance officers.
"We are also concerned that Wells Fargo's internal review system was allowed to operate with serious flaws for years, remains flawed, and lacks appropriate controls to prevent future harm to the bank's customers," the senators said in the letter. "It is also not clear precisely when senior management or the board became aware of these issues."
