Adding to the list of probes and reviews are allegations by a former Wells Fargo financial-crimes investigator who said in a complaint filed Wednesday that the bank improperly follows up on allegations of fraud in customer accounts.
Matthew Valles, who worked at the bank until January, said that instead of investigating potential fraud, the bank would close the accounts, leaving some customers on the hook for unauthorized withdrawals, according to a copy of the complaint filed in Multnomah County circuit court in Oregon.
“We take seriously the concerns of current and former team members, and we investigate them thoroughly,” Jim Seitz, a Wells Fargo spokesman, said in an emailed statement. “Wells Fargo is reviewing the legal complaint that was filed on Wednesday afternoon.”
The bank also disclosed on Thursday that it raised its internal measure of the risk of potential losses from human error or system failures by 17 percent since the end of 2015.
Wells Fargo set aside $3.7 billion last year for litigation, according to the filing, a figure that wasn’t included in its last annual report. The amount, which isn’t tax-deductible, includes $1 billion the bank set aside in the quarter ended in September for mortgage-related investigations by government authorities.
This article was provided by Bloomberg News.