Wells Fargo Pinned Hopes For Mercy On Racist, Was Disappointed

Many misfortunes have befallen Wells Fargo over the past three-and-a-half years, nearly all of them either self-inflicted or richly deserved. But here’s one that really can’t be laid on the bank’s account, fake or otherwise: It might have avoided the slow drumbeat of bad news and its associated fines over the past few years if only Mick Mulvaney had hired a non-published racist to do the exact opposite of what his boss told him to do.

According to the report, Mr. Scharf’s immediate predecessor, C. Allen Parker, explicitly told a member of the bank’s board in May that Mr. Blankenstein had promised him that the Trump administration would continue to smooth the way for the bank — even after Mr. Blankenstein resigned that week over racist statements he had made as a law student.

“Eric also assured me that there would continue to be ‘political’ oversight of the engagement with us, although he wasn’t yet sure who his successor would be,” Mr. Parker wrote to the board member, James Quigley…. Given their conversations with Mr. Blankenstein, the bank’s leaders were expecting to be able to resolve the active investigations with the agency in private, without paying any more fines. They expressed surprise, according to the report, when members of the agency’s staff said two months later that they were not aware of Mr. Blankenstein’s assurances.