According to a memo obtained by The Hill, somewhere around 100 to 125 employees were fired from Wells Fargo for falsifying information to receive coronavirus relief funds. “At Wells Fargo, we expect all employees to act with integrity and honesty, and we see great examples of that on a regular basis” the Wells Fargo memo began.
“However, when employees do not uphold our standards as defined in our Code of Ethics and Business Conduct, we take action” stated the memo. A source familiar with the matter confirmed the misconduct with The Hill on Wednesday and asserted investigations into the employees are ongoing.
In an attempt to receive money from the government’s Economic Injury Disaster Loan Program, the Wells Fargo employees made “false representations in applying for coronavirus relief funds for themselves” which results in defrauding the U.S. Small Business Administration.
The memo stated the employees “requested funds outside of their roles at Wells Fargo, adding that the bank planned to fully cooperate with law enforcement” reported the Hill. “We have zero tolerance for fraudulent behavior and will continue to look into these matters…if we identify additional wrongdoing by employees, we will take appropriate action” said head of Human Resources at Wells Fargo, David Galloreese.
Only a month ago, reports were released that JPMorgan Chase had fired employees for allegedly taking funds from the loan program as well. In July, the Office of the Inspector General published a report of serious concerns of fraud resulting from the Economic Injury Disaster Loan. According to The U.S. Small Business Administration website, OIG “received complaints of more than 5,000 instances of suspected fraud from financial institutions receiving economic injury loan deposits. Nearly 3,800 of those reported instances of suspected fraud came from only six financial institutions. An additional 1,220 reports of suspected fraudulent transactions have come in from other financial institutions. Nine financial institutions have reported a combined total of $187.3 million in suspected fraudulent transactions.”
Additionally, the report showed “initial disaster assistance response has identified $250 million in economic injury loans and advance grants given to potentially ineligible recipients.” The OIG’s report added “we have also found approximately $45.6 million in potentially duplicate payments.”
