Wells Fargo’s stagecoach being ‘burnt to a crisp,’ shareholder warns

Wells Fargo shareholder Bruce Marks on how the Labor Department is examining whether the bank had made inappropriate recommendations to 401(k) plan participants.

After Wells Fargo came under renewed scrutiny on Thursday for its retirement plan practices, a shareholder warned the scandal-ridden bank to stop the predatory, underhanded business practices or risk shriveling up and dying.

“They’re in trouble,” Bruce Marks told FOX Business’ Liz Claman during an interview on Thursday. “Because, you know, they haven’t learned.”

The Labor Department is reportedly investigating whether Wells Fargo pressured clients in lower-cost corporate 401(k) accounts to switch to more expensive IRA plans when they retired or left their jobs, according to The Wall Street Journal, which cited a person familiar with the matter.

Managers of the retirement savings accounts, under federal law, are governed by fiduciary responsibilities -- meaning they have to put their clients’ interests ahead of their own.

But Wells Fargo is no stranger to controversy: Last week, federal regulators slapped the bank with a $1 billion fine for misbehavior in its auto and mortgage businesses, like charging customers for auto insurance they didn’t need, or pushing some to default on their loans and lose their cars through repossession. And in 2016, the bank admitted it had opened millions of fraudulent accounts, unbeknown to most customers.

“Wells Fargo used to, 20 years ago, have a stellar reputation,” said Marks, the CEO of the non-profit mortgage watchdog Neighborhood Assistance Corporation of America. “They’re destroying it. That stage coach is being burnt to a crisp. They’ve got to change that.”

If the San Francisco-based company doesn’t start making some major changes, Marks predicted the Trump administration would swoop in with increased penalties.

Although President Donald Trump made deregulation a key pinnacle of his 2016 campaign, he wrote on Twitter that he would impose “severe” penalties for those caught cheating.

“If I was Wells Fargo, I’d be really nervous,” Marks said. “This is the Trump administration, which gives a pass to a lot of corporations for their predatory practices. But the Trump administration has this bullseye on Wells Fargo and say they’re going to hold this bank accountable.”