Dear John,

What can you do when Wells Fargo, the fifth biggest bank in the world, repeatedly breaks the law, defrauding consumers and investors alike, for over two and a half decades? It's clear that fines and restitution are not enough.

It’s time to break up Wells Fargo.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) has just fined Wells Fargo $1.7 billion, its biggest fine ever, along with $2 billion in restitution, for illegal fees and interest on consumers’ car and home loans.^[1]

Yet this nearly $4 billion in penalties is only small potatoes given Wells Fargo’s $75 billion annual profit. They will barely feel it.

It will take more than fines to protect consumers and force Wall Street banks to clean up their act. It’s time for one of the worst of the worst to pay the ultimate price. Tell Federal Regulators: Break up Wells Fargo now.

Of course, this isn’t the first time Wells Fargo has been on the wrong side of the law.

Back in 1998, Wells Fargo systematically urged employees to open multiple savings and checking accounts using their customers’ names and identifying information, but without customers’ authorization, or even knowledge. Wells Fargo staff even made up identification numbers for unauthorized debit cards in their customers’ names.

That resulted in $3 billion in settlements with the Justice Department and Securities and Exchange Commission.^[2] But it didn’t result in the operational changes needed to keep Wells Fargo from breaking the law again.

This corporate culture is longstanding and deep.

CFPB Director, Rohit Chopra, calls Wells Fargo a “corporate recidivist” with “longstanding problems” that have never been satisfactorily resolved. He’s right.

There’s only one clear way to prevent Wells Fargo from going forward and continuing their deceptive and illegal practices -- again -- and that’s to break them up now. Click here to send a letter to Acting Comptroller Michael Hsu now.

The nation’s largest banks need to be broken up. Let’s start with one of the most egregious.

Thank you for taking action today.

Robert Reich
Inequality Media Civic Action

^{[1] Wells Fargo to Pay Record CFPB Fine to Settle Allegations It Harmed Customer
[2] Wells Fargo Reaches Settlement With Government Over Fake-Accounts Scandal}