• Home
  • Latest
  • Fortune 500
  • Finance
  • Tech
  • Leadership
  • Lifestyle
  • Rankings
  • Multimedia

Trendingnow

1

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang admits he criticizes everything his 42,000-plus employees show him: ‘You can’t go a day without some criticism’

2

Jeff Bezos wants the bottom half of earners to pay zero income tax—he says nurses making just $75K should save $12K a year

3

Sam Altman and Dario Amodei are both walking back their AI jobs apocalypse prophecies as they eye blockbuster IPOs

1

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang admits he criticizes everything his 42,000-plus employees show him: ‘You can’t go a day without some criticism’

2

Jeff Bezos wants the bottom half of earners to pay zero income tax—he says nurses making just $75K should save $12K a year

3

Sam Altman and Dario Amodei are both walking back their AI jobs apocalypse prophecies as they eye blockbuster IPOs
FinanceWells Fargo

Wells Fargo CEO Denies Dumping Stock on Insider Info of Phony Accounts

By
Stephen Gandel
Stephen Gandel
Down Arrow Button Icon
By
Stephen Gandel
Stephen Gandel
Down Arrow Button Icon
September 29, 2016, 1:56 PM ET

Wells Fargo CEO John Stumpf’s phony accounts problem just got worse.

Thursday, during a Congressional hearing on the scandal, Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) accused Stumpf of using insider information about the phony accounts to cash in $13 million worth of his own shares before knowledge of the fraudulent activity at Wells Fargo (WFC) became public. Maloney said the timing of that trade raised questions of whether Stumpf put himself ahead of customers who had been defrauded, and ahead of the bank in general.

“The timing is very, very suspicious and it raises serious questions,” Maloney said.

Stumpf denied that he had done anything wrong. He said he sold stock with proper approvals and claimed the sales were made “with no view about what was going on.”

It was the first time that Stumpf’s own stock sales have become an issue in the phony account scandal. Last week, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) claimed that Stumpf had personally made $200 million off the phony account fraud, which appears to have been tied to the bank’s aggressive cross-selling goals. But Warren didn’t allege any instance of insider trading, just that the value of Stumpf’s shares had risen during the time of the fraud.

According to Bloomberg data, Stumpf sold 300,000 shares of Wells Fargo stock on October 2013. Last week, in Senate hearing, Stumpf said that he first learned about the fraud in late 2013, but wasn’t clear about exactly when. He implied that he learned about it in the run up to the release of a Los Angeles Times article detailing the problems at Wells Fargo. The article, titled, “Wells Fargo’s pressure-cooker sales culture comes at a cost,” came out on December 21, 2013.

The article does not say how long the reporters were working on it, but does say it was based on 28 interviews and a through review of documents. One unnamed sales manager is quoted as saying, “It’s all manipulation. We are taught exactly how to sell multiple accounts. It sounds good, but in reality it doesn’t benefit most customers.”

Wells Fargo CFO Timothy Sloan is quoted in the story saying, “I’m not aware of any overbearing sales culture.”

It is impossible to know, from the outside, if Stumpf traded on insider information. Many CEOs and other executives use plans that automatically sell stock at regular intervals to avoid allegations of trading on insider information. Stumpf does not appear to have one of those plans set up. And he didn’t mention the existence of a blind plan on Thursday in his response to Rep. Maloney.

In fact, Stumpf doesn’t appear to have sold a single share of his stock holders for at least three years, before unloading the 300,000 shares in late October 2013. Stumpf on Thursday said the stock sale represented a small portion of his overall holdings, and that he holds four times as much stock in the company as he did then.

A filing from early 2013 showed that the stock sale represented about half of his total Wells Fargo stock holdings, but the executive did have options to buy as many as six million additional shares of the stock. A filing from earlier this year showed that Stumpf’s Wells Fargo stock holdings had risen to 1.6 million shares, but his overall holding in Wells Fargo, including stock and options had dropped to 5.4 million shares earlier this year from 6.6 million three years ago.

About the Author
By Stephen Gandel
See full bioRight Arrow Button Icon

Latest in Finance

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025

Most Popular

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Fortune Secondary Logo
Rankings
  • 100 Best Companies
  • Fortune 500
  • Global 500
  • Fortune 500 Europe
  • Most Powerful Women
  • World's Most Admired Companies
  • See All Rankings
  • Lists Calendar
Sections
  • Finance
  • Fortune Crypto
  • Features
  • Leadership
  • Health
  • Commentary
  • Success
  • Retail
  • Mpw
  • Tech
  • Lifestyle
  • CEO Initiative
  • Asia
  • Politics
  • Conferences
  • Europe
  • Newsletters
  • Personal Finance
  • Environment
  • Magazine
  • Education
Customer Support
  • Frequently Asked Questions
  • Customer Service Portal
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms Of Use
  • Single Issues For Purchase
  • International Print
Commercial Services
  • Advertising
  • Fortune Brand Studio
  • Fortune Analytics
  • Fortune Conferences
  • Business Development
  • Group Subscriptions
About Us
  • About Us
  • Press Center
  • Work At Fortune
  • Terms And Conditions
  • Site Map
  • About Us
  • Press Center
  • Work At Fortune
  • Terms And Conditions
  • Site Map
  • Facebook icon
  • Twitter icon
  • LinkedIn icon
  • Instagram icon
  • Pinterest icon

Latest in Finance

Man in a dark jacket
Big TechSalesforce
Salesforce turbocharges $25 billion stock buying spree with debt, cuts cash flow guidance in half
By Amanda GerutMay 27, 2026
1 hour ago
American Economist Robert Solow
EconomyProductivity
Employees using AI are working faster, but the economy isn’t more efficient. A look at what happened in the pre-Internet era might explain why
By Tristan BoveMay 27, 2026
8 hours ago
man giving child keys to home
EconomyWealth
A study finds escaping your income bracket no longer means building wealth. That disconnect may be what’s driving consumer pessimism to record highs
By Jake AngeloMay 27, 2026
10 hours ago
crfb
Economynational debt
Interest on the national debt is eating a record 19% of federal revenue — and watchdog warns it will get worse
By Nick LichtenbergMay 27, 2026
11 hours ago
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang
EconomyWealth
Even if every California billionaire left tomorrow, it would take 25 years for the state to lose as much as it stands to gain from proposed wealth tax
By Tristan BoveMay 27, 2026
11 hours ago
Frustrated man in work meeting
SuccessCareers
Real estate billionaire was called the ‘worst analyst’ at Goldman Sachs—now he says the criticism was the best thing that ever happened to him
By Emma BurleighMay 27, 2026
13 hours ago

Most Popular

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang admits he criticizes everything his 42,000-plus employees show him: ‘You can’t go a day without some criticism’
Success
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang admits he criticizes everything his 42,000-plus employees show him: ‘You can’t go a day without some criticism’
By Preston ForeMay 26, 2026
2 days ago
Jeff Bezos wants the bottom half of earners to pay zero income tax—he says nurses making just $75K should save $12K a year
Success
Jeff Bezos wants the bottom half of earners to pay zero income tax—he says nurses making just $75K should save $12K a year
By Preston ForeMay 21, 2026
7 days ago
Sam Altman and Dario Amodei are both walking back their AI jobs apocalypse prophecies as they eye blockbuster IPOs
AI
Sam Altman and Dario Amodei are both walking back their AI jobs apocalypse prophecies as they eye blockbuster IPOs
By Sasha RogelbergMay 26, 2026
1 day ago
Techlash grows in education: 'My daughter went to middle school and was sent home with a screen addiction in her backpack'
North America
Techlash grows in education: 'My daughter went to middle school and was sent home with a screen addiction in her backpack'
By Jocelyn Gecker and The Associated PressMay 26, 2026
2 days ago
Current price of oil as of May 27, 2026
Personal Finance
Current price of oil as of May 27, 2026
By Joseph HostetlerMay 27, 2026
15 hours ago
The U.S. campaigned to host the World Cup. Now soccer fans will trade their countries' train system for the U.S.'s 'D' rated infrastructure
Travel & Leisure
The U.S. campaigned to host the World Cup. Now soccer fans will trade their countries' train system for the U.S.'s 'D' rated infrastructure
By Catherina GioinoMay 25, 2026
3 days ago

© 2026 Fortune Media IP Limited. All Rights Reserved. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy | CA Notice at Collection and Privacy Notice | Do Not Sell/Share My Personal Information
FORTUNE is a trademark of Fortune Media IP Limited, registered in the U.S. and other countries. FORTUNE may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. Offers may be subject to change without notice.