Former Wells Fargo Executive Pays $40,000 Fine, Exits Banking Industry After Allegedly Misleading Customers and Falsifying Documents

A former Wells Fargo senior manager just agreed to pay a $40,000 fine and turn his back on the banking industry.

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) is issuing a consent order against ex-Wells Fargo operations senior manager Norman Desembrana for allegedly misleading customers, engaging in reckless unsafe and unsound practices and breaching his fiduciary duty to the bank.

The OCC finds that between October 2021 and March 4th, 2022, Desembrana intentionally hid the fact that the bank’s Philadelphia Lockbox was witnessing a significant backlog of unprocessed customer checks. According to the OCC, Desembrana failed to disclose the issue with his employer during meetings and instructed his supervised employees to generate fake bank reports to conceal the amount of backlogged customer checks.

When customers complained, the OCC says Desembrana came up with misleading statements about the reason for the delays to placate bank customers and employees.

Says the OCC,

“Violations, practices, or breaches were part of a pattern of misconduct and caused more than a minimal loss to the Bank and prejudice to the interests of depositors.

Respondent’s misconduct demonstrated personal dishonesty, willful or continuing disregard for the safety and soundness of the Bank, and reckless disregard for the law or applicable regulations.” 

Without admitting or denying the OCC’s findings, Desembrana agrees to pay a $40,000 civil money penalty.

He also agrees to the OCC’s order to never work again in the US banking industry unless he gets prior written consent from the regulator itself and a financial firm willing to acquire his services.

Generated Image: Midjourney