{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.merkley.senate.gov/news/in-the-news/senate-democrats-press-wells-fargo-board-for-answers-on-sales-practices", "Senate Democrats Press Wells Fargo Board For Answers on Sales Practices", "2016-12-22", "2016", "2016-12", "Democrat", "House", "OR", "Jeff Merkley", "M001176", "www.merkley.senate.gov", null, null, "legacy", "Senate Democrats Press Wells Fargo Board For Answers on Sales Practices \r\n\r\n     Members of Senate Banking Committee sent letter to bank seeking more information \r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nThursday, December 22, 2016\r\n\r\n\t\n\r\n\r\n\r\n  \r\n    By:\u00a0\r\n    Emily Glazer \r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nDemocrats on the Senate Banking Committee demanded\u00a0Wells Fargo\u00a0& Co.\u2019s board respond to questions the bank has yet to answer related to its sales practices scandal, according to a letter reviewed by The Wall Street Journal.\r\nThe senators asked the board for more information about its continuing independent investigation of the alleged fraud that caused the bank to pay a\u00a0$185 million settlement\u00a0in September over opening as many as 2.1 million accounts using fictitious or unauthorized customer information.\r\nThe senators in this latest letter also asked the board for a timeline of when its members learned of the questionable sales tactics, actions the board took to\u00a0address the problemand reasons why it didn\u2019t investigate sooner, according to the letter. It asked for answers to its 10 questions by Jan. 7.\r\n\u201cContinued failure to answer questions\u2014especially basic questions\u2014about the causes and consequences of the fraud that Wells Fargo permitted for many years does nothing to restore the trust of Wells Fargo\u2019s customers and shareholders, many of whom are our constituents,\u201d according to the letter.\r\nWells\u00a0Fargo\u2019s\u00a0board\u00a0in late September announced its independent investigation alongside moves to rescind a collective $61 million in pay from now-former Chief Executive\u00a0John Stumpf\u00a0and former retail banking head\u00a0Carrie Tolstedt.\r\nThe\u00a0board\u2019s independent directors \u201cwill take such other actions as they collectively deem appropriate,\u201d according to a statement at the time. The bank neither admitted nor denied the allegations\u00a0in the settlement Sept. 8.\r\nThe 10 Democratic senators, led by ranking member Sen. Sherrod Brown (D., Ohio), submitted 58 questions to Wells Fargo management on Sept. 29 that they said weren't answered by Mr. Stumpf in two congressional hearings. The bank responded on Nov. 15,\u00a0but cited the board\u2019s continuing independent investigation as a reason it couldn\u2019t fully answer some questions.\r\nA bank spokeswoman at the time said Wells Fargo appreciates Congress\u2019s role and will continue to be responsive to lawmakers as the bank\u2019s board investigation progresses.\r\nA person familiar with the board said Thursday that it previously responded to earlier letters from some of the Democratic senators that included some of the same questions.\r\nA spokesman for the board reiterated Thursday that the board would make the findings of the investigation public upon its conclusion.\r\nIn addition to Sen. Brown, the latest letter was jointly submitted by Sens.\u00a0Jack Reed\u00a0(D., R.I.),\u00a0Bob Menendez\u00a0(D., N.J.),\u00a0Jon Tester\u00a0(D., Mont.),\u00a0Mark Warner\u00a0(D., Va.),\u00a0Jeff Merkley(D., Ore.),\u00a0Elizabeth Warren\u00a0(D., Mass.),\u00a0Heidi Heitkamp\u00a0(D., N.D.) and\u00a0Joe Donnelly\u00a0(D., Ind.).\r\nThey asked the board to identify\u00a0members of\u00a0the special committee who are leading the investigation and the criteria to select them, why the board didn\u2019t launch an independent investigation earlier, and the probe\u2019s scope.\r\nThe senators also sought details on how the board will provide \u201csufficient transparency into and details of\u201d the investigation to stakeholders and the public, among other questions relating to the sales practices issues.\r\n\r\n\r\n \r\n           \r\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\tPrint\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\tEmail\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t  \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\tTweet", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.merkley.senate.gov/news/in-the-news/senate-democrats-press-wells-fargo-board-for-answers-on-sales-practices"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.5891478396952152, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}