Dems launch investigation into Wells Fargo’s insurance sales

Two congressional Democrats are launching an investigation into whether Wells Fargo signed up customers for insurance without their knowledge or permission.

Rep. Elijah Cummings of Maryland and Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts sent a letter on Tuesday to John Strangled, head of the Prudential Financial, requesting a slew of documents regarding their business with the San Francisco-based bank. 

The lawmakers say they are concerned that Wells shoddy retail practices extended beyond the unauthorized opening of bank and credit card accounts.

{mosads}”It appears that the extent of Wells Fargo’s fraudulent business practices is still unknown and the bank preyed on low-income customers through numerous schemes in an effort to line executives’ pockets,” Cummings and Warren wrote.  

“We need a complete picture of how far Wells Fargo’s abusive business practices stretch in order to hold executives accountable and prevent such fraud from ever happening again,” they wrote.

They are requesting information about Prudential insurance policies sold through Wells Fargo branches since January 2013.

Cummings, the ranking member of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, and Warren are investigating Wells Fargo’s retail banking practices that led to an $190 million penalty, including $5 million to repay customers hurt by their actions, levied by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau in September.

The bank settled charges that employees potentially created millions of unwanted accounts to meet sales goals.

Wells fired about 5,300 employees over a five-year span. 

In October, CEO John Stumpf resigned from the bank amid the backlash over the bank’s problems after testifying at two congressional hearings on Capitol Hill.