WASHINGTON—U.S. regulators’ nearly decade-long effort to hold former Wells Fargo executives accountable for the bank’s fake-accounts scandal is ending quietly, American Banker reported.
Earlier this year, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency settled two enforcement cases for a combined $150,000—less than 2% of the $8.5 million initially ordered before appeals. Now, the OCC has agreed to resolve its final case, against former Wells Fargo risk executive Claudia Russ Anderson, for $0, down from the $10 million penalty imposed by Acting Comptroller Michael Hsu during the Biden Administration, American Banker said.
The settlement came just before oral arguments in Russ Anderson’s federal court appeal of Hsu’s decision, which followed an administrative trial that drew sharp criticism from defense attorneys, American Banker noted.
“The fact that they wanted $5 million from me, then $10 million, and we’re settling for zero—I think tells you everything you need to know,” Russ Anderson told American Banker.