WASHINGTON — Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., called on Wells Fargo Chief Executive John Stumpf to resign Tuesday, saying Wall Street would continue to rip off customers until senior executives are held accountable.
During a hearing in front of the Senate Banking Committee, Stumpf apologized for millions of phony accounts opened by Wells employees and said he took full responsibility.
But Warren said he hadn't done nearly enough.
"You should resign," she told Stumpf. "You should give back the money that you took while the scam was going on and you should be criminally investigated by both Department of Justice and the Securities and Exchange Commission."
Warren blamed Stumpf for creating a toxic culture in which lower-level employees felt pressured to open accounts in order to meet sales goals and keep their jobs.
"You squeezed your employees to the breaking point, so they would cheat customers and you could drive up the value of your stock and put hundreds of millions of dollars in your own pocket," she said. "And when it all blew up, you kept your job, you kept your multimillion-dollar bonuses and you went on television to blame thousands of $12-an-hour employees who were just trying to meet cross-selling quotas that made you rich."
