5,300 Wells Fargo employees fired for creating over 2 million phony accounts

LA4Bama

All-SEC
Jan 5, 2015
1,624
0
0
Los Angeles, CA
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/09/13/1-in-5-ceos-are-psychopaths-australian-study-finds/

An Australian study has found that about one in five corporate executives are psychopaths – roughly the same rate as among prisoners.


The study of 261 senior professionals in the United States found that 21 per cent had clinically significant levels of psychopathic traits. The rate of psychopathy in the general population is about one in a hundred.
“For psychopaths, it [corporate success] is a game and they don’t mind if they violate morals. It is about getting where they want in the company and having dominance over others.”
This seemed to fit here.
 

seebell

Hall of Fame
Mar 12, 2012
11,919
5,105
187
Gurley, Al
You tell 'em Elizabeth!!

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/21/b...go-ceo-john-stumpf-senate-testimony.html?_r=0

“Have you returned one nickel of the money that you earned while this scandal was going on?” asked Ms. Warren. She helped create the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which imposed its largest penalty ever on Wells Fargo for the sham accounts.
“Have you fired any senior management, the people who actually oversaw this fraud?” Ms. Warren continued.
“No,” Mr. Stumpf replied.
Ms. Warren added: “Your definition of accountability is to push this on your low-level employees. This is gutless leadership.”
 

GrayTide

Hall of Fame
Nov 15, 2005
18,810
6,245
187
Greenbow, Alabama
Agent Sandusky: So, here are your options: Door number one - you go to prison for a very long time. Door number two - we're going to get back the Declaration of Independence; you help us find it, and... you still go to prison for a very long time. But you'll feel better inside.
Benjamin Franklin Gates: Is there a door that doesn't lead to prison?
Agent Sadusky: Someone's got to go to prison, Ben.
 

4Q Basket Case

FB|BB Moderator
Staff member
Nov 8, 2004
9,569
12,865
237
Tuscaloosa
Well, a lot of the stuff I thought would happen (post #17 in this thread) has materialized. Two things surprised me.

First, I underestimated the amount of the largest bonus by a factor of at least 10. I work in a large corporate environment, and am familiar with some of the excesses. But I was shocked at the nine-figure bonus paid to the head of Consumer Banking.

Second, I was floored, in a bad way, by Stumpf's performance in front of the Senate Banking committee. This guy has a near trillion-dollar organization at his disposal, and was stumbling over answers to questions and accusations that were entirely foreseeable.

BS or not, I would have expected smooth, scripted answers that anticipated every contingency. But he looked and sounded like a high school kid busted for cheating on a test.

It was clear he was wholly unprepared. The question is, given his resources, why?

I think the answer is that he chose not to be, and I'm not kidding. I think he truly believed he was going to overwhelm the room with the power of his intellect and charisma. He was going to run circles around these political hacks, then head back to San Francisco for dinner and celebratory drinks at Mark Hopkins.

This guy truly believed that he was unassailable, and didn't need no stinkin' preparation. His ego is so incredibly big that even today, after being publicly humiliated, he might still believe that to the core of his being.

I don't know the clinical definition of a psychopath, but to my unprofessional understanding, that seems to fit.

Now, there are stories of retaliatory firings for whistleblowers. Thus far, the press outlets haven't been the most credible. But the individuals' words have the ring of truth, and I'm betting more mainstream channels are vetting facts before running similar pieces. Hell hath no fury like a fired employee who really truly deserved exactly the opposite.

So more predictions:
-- Stumpf will not be in the CEO chair on 1/1/2017, and will receive no parachute.
-- Tolstedt will have to give back her $125 million.
-- Don't cry for either one...they already had nine figures (maybe even 10 for Stumpf) socked away
-- Other executive heads will roll, including the CFO and the head of HR.
-- There's a bunch of banks, insurance companies, and other financial institutions large and small really puckered up right now, scrambling with their own internal investigations.
-- The whistleblowers are about a year away from settlements that will mean they, their children and grandchildren will never have to work.

All that will make the pitchfork-wielding mob happy. But it won't keep a lot of truly innocent people -- the shareholders -- from being hurt. Remember, there's a good chance that's you, whether directly or indirectly though a mutual fund.
 
Last edited:

jthomas666

Hall of Fame
Aug 14, 2002
22,587
9,642
287
60
Birmingham & Warner Robins
You tell 'em Elizabeth!!

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/21/b...go-ceo-john-stumpf-senate-testimony.html?_r=0

“Have you returned one nickel of the money that you earned while this scandal was going on?” asked Ms. Warren. She helped create the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which imposed its largest penalty ever on Wells Fargo for the sham accounts.
“Have you fired any senior management, the people who actually oversaw this fraud?” Ms. Warren continued.
“No,” Mr. Stumpf replied.
Ms. Warren added: “Your definition of accountability is to push this on your low-level employees. This is gutless leadership.”
And that's pretty much why so many people wanted to see her on the ticket. She understands how outraged the public has gotten by crooked executives who line their pockets and walk scott free,
 

chanson78

All-American
Nov 1, 2005
2,926
1,795
187
47
Huntsville, AL
All that will make the pitchfork-wielding mob happy. But it won't keep a lot of truly innocent people -- the shareholders -- from being hurt. Remember, there's a good chance that's you, whether directly or indirectly though a mutual fund.
You had me up until this point. I don't believe that if there wasn't such a machiavellian atmosphere regarding creating shareholder profit that things like this would be nearly as prevalent. You say the investors are completely innocent. If they truly were upset by such actions they would move their money somewhere else. When investors quit investing in banks that have shady practices, odds are the shady practices will stop. The truth of the matter is that most people like to profess public indignation while they marvel at the size of their investments in private.
 

4Q Basket Case

FB|BB Moderator
Staff member
Nov 8, 2004
9,569
12,865
237
Tuscaloosa
You had me up until this point. I don't believe that if there wasn't such a machiavellian atmosphere regarding creating shareholder profit that things like this would be nearly as prevalent. You say the investors are completely innocent. If they truly were upset by such actions they would move their money somewhere else. When investors quit investing in banks that have shady practices, odds are the shady practices will stop. The truth of the matter is that most people like to profess public indignation while they marvel at the size of their investments in private.
No conceptual disagreement here. The trick is knowing about the shady practices before investing.

For your assertion to be fully valid, the shareholders would have to have known about the fraud beforehand, and invested anyway. Essentially, you're saying they're part of the fraud. And I just don't think that's the case.

Purely out of self-interest, I doubt many of WF's current shareholders would have forked over their money if they had known about the shenanigans. But they didn't know, so they did invest, and now they're hurt, too.
 

4Q Basket Case

FB|BB Moderator
Staff member
Nov 8, 2004
9,569
12,865
237
Tuscaloosa
And that's pretty much why so many people wanted to see her on the ticket. She understands how outraged the public has gotten by crooked executives who line their pockets and walk scott free,
I understand the outrage because I feel it too.

The problem with Warren and her lynch mob is that they throw the baby out with the bathwater.

The bad guys and girls should be punished to the full extent of the law. But we shouldn't hobble the good ones because of the acts of the bad ones.

Look, a lot of corporate executives aren't nice guys. They're nobody you'd want to drink a beer with. But most benefit thousands, or even tens of thousands, of people.

The equity markets that make retirement possible don't have a long-term prevailing upward trend by magic. They do because, with notable exceptions, corporate executives do a pretty good job.

Yeah, a big part of the reason for that is their pay. But if you think you'll get the performance that makes tens of millions of dollars for thousands of shareholders, out of a $100k a year guy, I guess you believe in Santa Claus too.

Punish the bad guys severely. But don't keep the good ones from generating the profits that lead to mass benefit.

I just don't think Elizabeth Warren gets that second part.
 

Latest threads

TideFans.shop : 2024 Madness!

TideFans.shop - Get YOUR Bama Gear HERE!”></a>
<br />

<!--/ END TideFans.shop & item link \-->
<p style= Purchases made through our TideFans.shop and Amazon.com links may result in a commission being paid to TideFans.