Court documents allege Wells Fargo targeted undocumented immigrants for accounts
SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- There are new allegations against Wells Fargo -- according to sworn declarations submitted in court Wednesday, employees say they were pressured to target undocumented immigrants to open accounts.
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The sworn declarations include how managers pressured employees to "corral undocumented day laborers" by either paying them 10 dollars to come to the branch or by offering to cash their checks for free.
Once they got them inside the bank, employees would then persuade them to open new accounts.
"If you think about it, the undocumented workers were almost the perfect customers," said attorney Mark Molumphy.
Molumphy is representing shareholders in a class-action lawsuit. The suit alleges the bank's top officers and the board should have known such egregious practices were taking place, including targeting society's most vulnerable.
"If things ever went south and they realized that were charged fees and they were being charged fees that they didn't realize, they were probably less likely to complain," he said.
Wells Fargo fired back, saying "These assertions are offensive, because they run counter to the expectations of Wells Fargo, and would be a violation of policies we have in place to safeguard against abuses."
But Kevin Pham, who worked at Wells Fargo for two years, says none of the new allegations surprise him. "They would find the easiest targets, immigrants who couldn't speak English, the elderly who were hard of hearing, young college students," he said.
So far, the board has been insulated from ongoing negative coverage.
At its annual shareholder's meeting Tuesday, every director won reelection.
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