SEC charges former Wells Fargo executives over fake-accounts scandal

cnn.com

It seems that they're not being charged with the actual "fake accounts scandal". They're charged with misleading investors, over just how successful it was.

Having opened fake accounts, charging fees for them, and potentially damaging consumers' credit... that produces no charge. The company paid fines, but the executives who knowingly messed with customers suffered nothing. It's only because they messed with investors that they're finally being charged with a crime.

There are many branches of enforcement. The SEC is, quite reasonably, focused on the securities fraud/misleading investors angle of any given scandal. That the SEC is charging them is good news; it does not [necessarily] mean they're off the hook for anything else.

From the article, it appears that there have been previous successful charges, included an executive with a lifetime ban and $17.5M fine: https://www.cnn.com/2020/01/23/investing/wells-fargo-executi...

Remember, your rent/mortgage is expensive now partly because we've inflated real estate in order to bail these people out, and your favorite politician (both left and right) probably voted for it.

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