A former Wells Fargo Bank executive has won a reprieve from a national bank regulator order earlier this year that would barred her from further financial institution service and assessed a multi-million dollar fine, the agency said Thursday.
Claudia Russ Anderson, Wells’ former community bank group risk officer, signed a consent order with the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) that essentially replaces an order the agency issued in January.
In that order, Anderson was prohibited by the OCC from participating in the affairs of any federally insured financial institution and ordered to pay a $10 million civil money penalty (CMP). The prohibition and CMP resulted from the agency’s investigation of alleged sales practices misconduct at Wells from 2013 to 2016.
However, Anderson (according to the OCC) had challenged results of an investigation that began in 2020 into the alleged misconduct. Eleven individuals (including Anderson) were ultimately charged in the case which the agency, then, termed “one of the largest scandals” in banking history. Anderson had filed suit in federal court challenging the results of the investigation and a subsequent ruling by an administrative law judge, which called for the prohibition and CMP.
Under the order made public Thursday, Anderson is no longer subject to the fine, and the prohibition has been modified. Under that section, she must – if employed in the banking industry (or serving as a board member) – must provide the institution’s chief executive with a copy of the latest consent order. She also agreed to drop her challenge in federal court.
Also Thursday, the regulator announced another prohibition (unrelated to the Anderson case) against a former Green Bay, Wis. banker. The OCC said Amy Jo Reid, a former senior vice president and director for purchasing for Associated Bank, N.A. of Green Bay, was prohibited from further financial institution service. The agency alleged that she used the bank’s purchasing cards for personal transactions totaling at least $411,000. The agency also charged that she provided false documents and information to deceive the bank into paying for those personal expenses.
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