Michael Hiltzik: Wells Fargo got slammed with a $3.7-billion penalty. So why doesn't it sound sorry?
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau left very little unsaid when it announced, a few days before Christmas, $3.7 billion in assessments against Wells Fargo Bank for more than a decade of legal violations harming its millions of customers.
The total included a $1.7-billion civil penalty, the largest imposed by the CFPB in its 11-year history, and an additional $2 billion in redress and restitution for cheated customers.
"Put simply, Wells Fargo is a corporate recidivist that puts one-third of American households at risk of harm," CFPB Director Rohit Chopra said, calling the giant bank "one of the most problematic repeat offenders" in its jurisdiction.
One might think that a financial institution so soundly spanked would respond to the punishment with humility and candor. Sadly, no. This is Wells Fargo we're talking about, so in its own news release it described the CFPB's order as an "agreement ... to resolve multiple issues."
The release didn't even mention the $2 billion in redress and restitution to customers. It highlighted that the CFPB, in its Dec. 20 order, "recognized"
