Case Analysis: The Wells Fargo Fake

The Wells Fargo Fake Account made national headlines in mid-2016 different from other historical scandals such as Enron and Volkswagen engineers and their emissions “workaround.” The Wells Fargo scandal did not include a few wrongdoers within the organization, instead the unethical behaviors was widespread at the bank with thousands of employees being involved. According to a lawsuit filed by the state of California against Wells Fargo in May 2015, it claims employees engaged in “unlawful and fraudulent conduct, including opening customer accounts and issuing credit cards without authorization” and the bank “has known about and encouraged these practices for years.” The suit also cites “the results is that Wells Fargo has engineered a virtual fee-generating machine, through which its customers are harmed, its employees take the blame, and Wells Fargo reaps the profits.” The shocking scandal of 2016 is employees of Well Fargo secretly created over 2 million new bank and credit card accounts for over 15,000 customers without their knowledge, resulting in overdraft and other fees. This ethical dilemma also resulting in 5,300 Wells Fargo employees’ termination, and copious amounts of fines and monies reimbursements to be paid to consumers and the government.

Because of the fake account, CNNMoney spoke with several former Wells Fargo employees who attempted to report the illegal tactics, but faced harsh punishment by the organization. These whistleblowers used the appropriate channels to report the wrongdoing and suffered retaliation that ranged from a hostile work environment to termination of employment from Wells Fargo. The suppression of whistleblowing by Wells Fargo could result in legal consequences for the executives for any retaliation that occurred against employees who called the ethics hotline to report the illegal