Senator Elizabeth Warren just blasted Wells Fargo & Co WFC's CEO John Stumpf for his "gutless" leadership.
Stumpf faced the wrath of Senators on Tuesday when he testified in front of the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs. Sen. Warren sits on the committee and lashed out at the executive after the bank acknowledged opening millions of fake accounts for customers.
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"Since this massive year-long scam has come to life, you have said repeatedly 'I am accountable'," Warren said during the hearing. "But what have you actually done to hold yourself accountable?"
Warren asked if Stumpf if he has resigned as CEO or Chair of Wells Fargo. Stumpf has done neither.
Warren went on to ask if Stumpf has returned "one nickel" of the "millions of dollars" he was paid while the scheme was ongoing.
Stumpf attempted to provide a vague answer that the company's Board of Directors "will take care of that." Warren wasn't having any of it and continued to press Stumpf if he took it upon himself to take such an action.
Stumpf did not answer the question.
Moving on, Warren asked if Stumpf fired a senior executive leader of the company rather an a lower level regional manager. This time around Stumpf answered the question and acknowledged no senior executives have been fired.
"So you haven't resigned, you haven't returned a single nickel of your personal earnings, you haven't fired a single senior executive," Warren said. "Instead, evidently, your definition of accountable is to push the blame to your low level employees who don't have the money for a fancy PR firm to defend themselves."
Image: Edward Kimmel, Flickr
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