California launches criminal investigation into Wells Fargo

California’s Justice Department has launched a criminal investigation into Wells Fargo over allegations of identity theft after the creation of potentially millions of unauthorized accounts.

California Attorney Gen. Kamala Harris, who is running for the Senate, issued a warrant earlier this month demanding that the San Francisco-based bank provide the names of customers and employees involved in the fake accounts scandal, the Los Angeles Times first reported on Wednesday.

{mosads}The warrant, which was served Oct. 5, urges Wells to provide the names the customers affected as well as the names of the Wells Fargo employees and managers involved with opening the accounts, and any fees and emails about those accounts.

A dark cloud has been parked over Wells since federal regulators slapped the bank with a $190 million fine, including $5 million in restitution, for opening accounts across the country without the customers’ permission.

In the wake of the scandal, former CEO John Stumpf abruptly retired last week.

He had already forfeited $41 million but reportedly left the bank with $134.1 million in stock.

Stumpf was grilled twice in the last month on Capitol Hill by lawmakers who called for his ouster as well as for a criminal investigation in the bank’s actions and his failure to stop the the problem. The bank’s shoddy practices led to the firing of more than 5,000 employees over five years.

The former chief executive also has resigned from the board of directors of Chevron and Target, effective immediately, according to several news reports on Wednesday.