Wells Fargo to pay $1B to settle suit over consent order noncompliance

Wells Fargo bank

Wells Fargo agreed to pay $1 billion to settle a class-action lawsuit filed by shareholders who claimed the bank overstated its progress in complying with regulatory orders related to its 2016 fake accounts scandal.

The bank entered the settlement Tuesday in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York with plaintiffs that included the Employees’ Retirement System of Rhode Island (ERSRI), the Public Employees’ Retirement System of Mississippi, the Louisiana Sheriffs’ Pension & Relief Fund, and Swedish bank Handelsbanken Fonder AB. The settlement was preliminarily approved by Judge Gregory Woods.

The plaintiffs alleged Wells Fargo and several of its executives, including former Chief Executive Timothy Sloan, made false and misleading statements about the bank’s progress complying with 2018 consent orders imposed by regulators, including the Federal Reserve Board, the Treasury Department’s Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, to rectify improper banking practices and deficiencies in corporate oversight in the aftermath of the fake accounts scandal.

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