Warren calls for Wells CEO Stumpf to resign

Sen. Warren blasts $WFC CEO: “You should resign…and you should be criminally investigated…” pic.twitter.com/uSB5UB6H6s

— CNBC Now (@CNBCnow) September 20, 2016

Sen. Elizabeth Warren on Tuesday called on Wells Fargo CEO John Stumpf to resign and face a criminal investigation in the wake of alleged illegal banking practices.

The Massachusetts Democrat blasted Stumpf while questioning whether he had paid back any of the money he made from his stock shares during the time that thousands of Wells Fargo employees opened more than 2 million fake accounts. 

“You have said repeatedly, ‘I am accountable,’ but what have you actually done to hold yourself accountable? Have your resigned as CEO or chairman of Wells Fargo?” Warren asked during a Senate Banking Committee hearing. 

{mosads}“Have you returned one nickel of the millions of dollars you were paid while this scam was going on?” she said. “This is about responsibility.”

Warren, a well-known critic of Wall Street, called it “gutless leadership” for Stumpf to not leave the bank or pay back any of the money he made during the five-year period of the alleged fraud.

She argued that Stumpf pushed the bank’s cross-selling practices to investors and enriched himself by more than $200 million in stocks during the five-year period when Wells employees allegedly opened credit card and deposit accounts for customers that they didn’t know about.

Stumpf said cross-selling is not a scam and was aimed at “deepening relationships” with the bank’s customers. But Warren gave him very little time to respond. 

“We need tough prosecutions. Until then, it will be business as usual,” she said.