Crime News – Page 78 – The Pen Hustle With Brandy Cavalli

5,300 Wells Fargo Employees Fired For Creating Millions Of Phony Accounts

Well..well..well…

According to FOX 5 San Diego:

Everyone hates paying bank fees. But imagine paying fees on a ghost account you didn’t even sign up for. That’s exactly what happened to Wells Fargo customers nationwide.

On Thursday, federal regulators said Wells Fargo employees secretly created millions of unauthorized bank and credit card accounts — without their customers knowing it — since 2011.

The phony accounts earned the bank unwarranted fees and allowed Wells Fargo employees to boost their sales figures and make more money.

“Wells Fargo employees secretly opened unauthorized accounts to hit sales targets and receive bonuses,” Richard Cordray, director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, said in a statement.

Wells Fargo confirmed to CNNMoney that it had fired 5,300 employees related to the shady behavior.

The scope of the scandal is shocking. An analysis conducted by a consulting firm hired by Wells Fargo concluded that bank employees opened up 1,534,280 deposit accounts that may not have been authorized, according to the CFPB.

The way it worked was that employees moved funds from customers’ existing accounts into newly-created accounts without their knowledge or consent, regulators say.

Additionally, Wells Fargo employees also submitted applications for 565,443 credit-card accounts without their knowledge or consent, the CFPB said the analysis found.

Wells Fargo is being slapped with the largest penalty since the CFPB was founded in 2011. The bank agreed to pay $185 million in fines, along with $5 million to refund customers.

“We regret and take responsibility for any instances where customers may have received a product that they did not request,” Wells Fargo said in a statement.

Wells Fargo confirmed to CNNMoney that the firings represents about 1% of its workforce.

“At Wells Fargo, when we make mistakes, we are open about it, we take responsibility, and we take action,” the bank said in a memo to employees on Thursday.

Bill Cosby To Go On Trial For Sexual Assault Charges

Bill Cosby’s lawyers may ask a judge on Tuesday to throw out two key pieces of evidence in the sexual misconduct case against the comedian: a deposition Cosby gave in a 2005 lawsuit by accuser Andrea Constand and a recording of a phone call between Cosby and Constand’s mother.

According to KTLA:

Judge Steven O’Neill’s ruling on those defense motions could shape the case against Cosby, one of the nation’s most-loved entertainers until dozens of women accused him of sexually assaulting them over several decades.

This is the first time he’s faced criminal prosecution. Cosby is charged with three counts of felony aggravated indecent assault from a 2004 case involving Andrea Constand, an employee at his alma mater, Temple University.

She said she went to his home in a Philadelphia suburb for a career consultation and he gave her a mix of pills and wine that left her incapacitated and unable to consent to sex.

Cosby, 79, has pleaded not guilty to all charges. He is required to attend the hearing.

$1 Million Worth Of Weed Plants Found At Connecticut Day Care

According to KTLA — $1 million worth of a marijuana plants at a licensed day care facility in West Haven, Connecticut was found.

West Haven Police Department officers were called to a home on Norfolk Street on Friday and allegedly found 600 marijuana plants in the backyard, according to WTIC.

The street value of the plants after processing was estimated to be over $1 million.

State inspectors discovered the marijuana plants growing in the backyard of the home day care and called local police.

The day care facility was shut down by city housing inspectors, and the day care license was immediately revoked.

Next door neighbors Ivette Quiles and Frankie Torres said the couple who lived in the home kept to themselves. When they saw all the police activity, they knew something was up, but didn’t expect this.

“I saw him building something in the backyard and kind of thought it was just a regular fence,” Torres said.

The discovery had neighbors talking about what was behind that fence.

“I should have smelled that. That’s crazy. I didn’t expect that,” said another neighbor Robson Antoine. “And they have a daycare? Not good.“