September 29, 2016
It is unlawful for anyone employed by or associated with any enterprise engaged in, or the activities of which affect, interstate or foreign commerce, to conduct or participate, directly or indirectly, in the conduct of such enterprise's affairs through a pattern of racketeering activity or collection of unlawful debt....
By Ben Lane
Throughout Wells Fargo CEO John Stumpf’s (click here) rough day in front of the House Financial Services Committee, multiple representatives called for the bank to be broken up, suggesting that the megabank is simply too big to manage effectively.
But as the five-hour hearing neared its conclusion, the ranking member of the committee, Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., went beyond her fellow representatives’ calls to break up Wells Fargo, stating that she is going to actually move to break up the bank.
“I’ve come to the conclusion that Wells Fargo should be broken up,” Waters said. "It’s too big to manage and I’m moving forward to break up the bank.”
According to a represenative from Waters' office, Waters told reporters after the hearing that she plans to pursue legislation to break up the bank.
Waters' declaration that action will be taken to break up the bank goes beyond what other representatives said during Stumpf’s appearance.
“This bank is too big to manage and it’s time to break them up,” Rep. Brad Sherman, D-Calif., said earlier in the hearing....
Realize there is no governance in these banks. We have seen the London Whale, too. There have been time and again financial institutions, many trusted in the past, becoming ungovernable. The tragedy seems contrived to many Americans who have become used to "The Coping American" rather than the outraged American.
Americans have become used to the Bush paradigm of government whereby if the government kills the company the people will suffer for the loss of monies due them. Americans have become used to the idea all is fair until it is not and course correction has to take place. The same apathy is exampled in Wells Fargo Banks SCHEME. There were a lot of people involved in this scheme and the CEO simply sat back and reaped bonuses from the increasing bottom line. Where was the incentive to find out where the money was coming from and congratulate the executive who initiated a powerful tool to bring in customers?
US Representative Maxine Waters is correct. This is dangerous. When is Wells Fargo Bank going to collapse because it no longer has a sustainable business model and all those false accounts result in a balance sheet of Zero of NEGATIVE balance.
This is just another bank behaving badly, this is a very destructive spiral into failure. Wells Fargo may be able to absorb the losses, but, what kind of programs were other banks developing and using to compete with this wayward bank? Wells Fargo didn't just misbehave, it compromised the financial markets yet again. It is time to begin to bring Wells Fargo down in size to allow a bank that can be governed without exploitation of fantasy.
This is fraud. The fraud was systemic and hopefully it has not effected the entire financial system. Where is AIG when you need them?
It is unlawful for anyone employed by or associated with any enterprise engaged in, or the activities of which affect, interstate or foreign commerce, to conduct or participate, directly or indirectly, in the conduct of such enterprise's affairs through a pattern of racketeering activity or collection of unlawful debt....
