Wells Fargo Fires Over 100 Employees For Coronavirus Relief Fraud

More than 100 employees have been terminated by Wells Fargo & Co. for allegedly improperly receiving coronavirus relief funds.

According to a source with information on the matter, the company found out that employees made “false representations in applying for coronavirus relief funds for themselves,” an internal memo obtained by Bloomberg stated. Employees defrauded the Small Business Administration to get Economic Injury Disaster Loans that were set in place by the government to provide assistance to businesses amid the pandemic.

David Galloreese, Wells Fargo’s head of human resources released a memo that stated: “We have terminated the employment of those individuals and will cooperate fully with law enforcement. These wrongful actions were personal actions, and do not involve our customers.”

Wells Fargo employees could have received aid for businesses they may have had as a second source of income; the bank, however, discovered mounting evidence that many employees received aid by widely abusing the program.

Banks have the ability to check accounts of their staff to see who received aid. JPMorgan Chase & Co. looked into their employees’ accounts and found that over 500 received aid, dozens from that number doing so fraudulently.

SBA is aware of what’s going on and asks banks to be on alert for suspicious deposits to member accounts as well as staff accounts. Bloomberg Businessweek estimates that at least $1.3 billion has been suspiciously paid out, The Washington Post reports.

SBA’s inspector general has worked at flagging evidence that proves fraud, claiming that over $250 million in relief funds were awarded to people ineligible and $45.6 million were duplicate payments.

As for now, Wells Fargo “will continue to look into these matters,” Galloreese wrote. “If we identify additional wrongdoing by employees, we will take appropriate action.”

For now, between 100-125 employees have been given the axe due to the bank’s “zero tolerance for fraudulent behavior.”