Whistleblower

Confidential emails reveal a top Wells Fargo advisor’s despair after he cried fraud. He could stay at Wells if he was silent, but spoke up anyway – and became a whistleblower.

Collusion and corruption allegedly prevented Wells Fargo whistleblowers, and a former JPMorgan advisor, from obtaining justice.

“Our whistle-blower program is a critical component in our investor-protection toolbox,” SEC Chairman Jay Clayton says.

The accusations shed light on the massive back-office systems maintained by regulators and the difficulty of keeping the sensitive information in them private.

The beleaguered bank is reported to have been ordered by the Justice Department in late 2017 to conduct an independent investigation of the business.

Wells may have settled with former employee Claudia Ponce de Leon because it wanted to avoid the "massive exposure" of a jury trial, an expert says. It is unclear how the agreement will affect Wells’ other cases.

Jurors in New York federal court awarded Jennifer Sharkey $563,000 in back pay and $563,000 for emotional damage.

The mishandling of the two former employees’ complaints, detailed in documents and by former OSHA officials, raises questions about the government’s treatment of whistleblowers throughout the financial services industry.

The agency plans to split the award between just two people who reported the bank’s product-pushing tactics.

The regulator now has punished just one known person associated with the bank's admitted nationwide fiduciary violation: the RIA who flagged abuses.