井戸／弁護士席s Fargo account スキャンダル 延長するs to small 商売／仕事 -U.S. 上院議員
By Suzanne Barlyn
NEW YORK, Oct 4 (Reuters) - The スキャンダル over 妥当でない sales practices at 井戸／弁護士席s Fargo & Co 延長するd to thousands of small-商売／仕事 owners, によれば a U.S. 国会議員, raising questions about the 範囲 of the bank's 問題／発行するs with unauthorized accounts.
In a Sept. 29 letter 見解（をとる）d by Reuters on Tuesday, Sen. David Vitter, a Louisiana 共和国の／共和党の, 需要・要求するd that 井戸／弁護士席s Fargo 大統領 John Stumpf 供給する a "十分な accounting" of 顧客s 影響する／感情d. Vitter is a member of the U.S. 上院's banking 委員会 and also 長，率いるs its small 商売／仕事 委員会.
Discussions between congressional スタッフの一員s and 井戸／弁護士席s Fargo "have 示すd that the fraudulent activity of your 従業員s was not 限られた／立憲的な to 井戸／弁護士席s Fargo's 消費者 banking 操作／手術s," Vitter wrote. "Thousands of small 商売／仕事 owners were 衝撃d by this 詐欺."
A person familiar with Vitter's 調査（する） say 井戸／弁護士席s has identified about 10,000 small 商売／仕事 accounts that were 支配する to 妥当でない practices. Vitter spokeswoman Cheyenne Klotz 拒絶する／低下するd to comment on 明確な／細部s about those practices.
発覚s of 井戸／弁護士席s Fargo's problems with small-商売／仕事 顧客s come almost a month after it reached a $190 million 解決／入植地 over 開始 as many as 2 million accounts in 小売 顧客s' 指名するs without their knowledge. The bank has said it 解雇する／砲火／射撃d about 5,300 従業員s for improperly 開始 the accounts.
The 公表，暴露s have 原因（となる）d a public 熱狂的興奮状態, with Stumpf 直面するing heated questions before two congressional 委員会s and other U.S. 当局 開始する，打ち上げるing 調査s into the bank's sales practices, 含むing the 司法（官） Department and the Labor Department.
"While the 広大な 大多数 of accounts in the 解決／入植地 were 消費者 accounts, to the extent there were small 商売／仕事 accounts 含むd, all were 以前 報告（する）／憶測d in the total number of 潜在的に 衝撃d accounts," said 井戸／弁護士席s spokeswoman Jennifer Langan. "As 明言する／公表するd earlier, 井戸／弁護士席s Fargo has already refunded 115,000 accounts. The 衝撃d accounts, 含むing Small 商売／仕事, were part of our 小売 Bank 商売／仕事."
A 消費者 財政上の 保護 Board 広報担当者 否定するd the 井戸／弁護士席s 声明, however, 説 its 人物／姿／数字 of nearly 2 million accounts 存在 影響する／感情d did not 含む small 商売／仕事 accounts.
井戸／弁護士席s is also 戦う／戦いing 訴訟s from former 従業員s, 顧客s and 株主s 関係のある to the 問題／発行する. In a second letter, Vitter requested that the Small 商売／仕事 行政's 視察官 general, Peggy Gustafson, 調査／捜査する 井戸／弁護士席s, too.
PACKAGES OF THREE
上級の bank (n)役員／(a)執行力のあるs have わびるd for 開始 accounts 顧客s did not request, but characterized the 問題／発行する as 限られた／立憲的な to 比較して few 顧客s and 従業員s in the 小売 bank. 早期に results from Vitter's examination are the first hard 調印する that problems may 延長する その上の.
Reuters also spoke to a former 井戸／弁護士席s 従業員, and a lawyer 代表するing former 従業員s and a former and 現在の 井戸／弁護士席s 顧客, who 述べるd abusive sales practices with 多重の 商売／仕事 accounts.
Jose Maldonado, a restaurant owner in Southern California who banked with 井戸／弁護士席s Fargo for 15 years, said he discovered seven accounts after enlisting the help of his accountant. He 最初 の近くにd extraneous ones, and 最終的に moved his remaining 商売／仕事 to Bank of America Corp and JPMorgan Chase & Co.
"I don't like 井戸／弁護士席s Fargo anymore. I don't feel comfortable," Maldonado said in an interview. "In the past, there were いつかs crazy accounts without my 許可."
Langan 拒絶する／低下するd to comment on Maldonado's accounts.
An ex-井戸／弁護士席s Fargo 商売／仕事 銀行業者, who 拒絶する／低下するd to be identified, said 従業員s at his former 支店 were 要求するd to sell 製品s to small 商売／仕事 顧客s such as hair-salon owners and carpet cleaners in 一括s of three - 関わりなく whether they needed them.
Those typically 含むd accounts for checking, credit card 過程ing and payroll, and were often linked to 付加 貯金 accounts, said the former 井戸／弁護士席s 銀行業者. 銀行業者s also tacked on 商売／仕事 credit cards and were 圧力d to call a 井戸／弁護士席s 保険 部隊, with the 顧客 現在の, to 押し進める 商売／仕事 義務／負債 政策s.
Langan, the 井戸／弁護士席s spokeswoman, said the bank discontinued those 一括s in April 2015.
弁護士／代理人／検事 Jonathan Delshad とじ込み／提出するd two class-活動／戦闘 訴訟s against 井戸／弁護士席s Fargo in September on に代わって of former 従業員s, 含むing one 商売／仕事 銀行業者, who say they were 解雇する／砲火／射撃d for 辞退するing to create 偽の accounts to 攻撃する，衝突する sales 割当s. 井戸／弁護士席s 一時停止するd those 割当s on Oct. 1.
Other former 井戸／弁護士席s Fargo 商売／仕事 銀行業者s 接触するd Delshad after the 訴訟 received マスコミ attention, he said. "商売／仕事 owners are also 存在 ripped off," one wrote to him in a message he 供給するd to Reuters.
SOURED RELATIONSHIPS
商売／仕事 and 法人組織の／企業の governance 専門家s say small-商売／仕事 顧客s can be as susceptible to 詐欺 as any 顧客.
Owners are typically knowledgeable about their 商売／仕事 専門的知識 but not about banking services, said Peter Conti-Brown, a 財政上の 規則 professor at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School. For example, a new dentist who borrows from a bank to buy a practice may then need other services that she does not even know 存在する, such as payroll 管理／経営 or credit-card （疑いを）晴らすing.
But the 可能性のある for 乱用 still 存在するs, he said. A bank can sell 多重の, unnecessary accounts and credit cards to 単独の proprietors whose needs rarely 越える making deposits and 令状ing checks. The 危険 of 乱用 is greater when 銀行業者s are 要求するd to sell a 確かな number of 製品s to 会合，会う 業績／成果 goals.
"The best 事例／患者 is that you will sour your 関係, and in the worst 事例／患者, you'll get 銀行業者s committing 詐欺," Conti-Brown said. "井戸／弁護士席s Fargo has seen both of these things." (報告（する）／憶測ing by Suzanne Barlyn; Editing by James Dalgleish, Lauren Tara LaCapra and Brian Thevenot)
