Hard Sell, Hard Fall: The Wells Fargo Phony Accounts Debacle

The inside story of how the Los Angeles Times brought to light the unrelenting sales pressure that led Wells Fargo bankers to open millions of unwanted bank and credit card accounts, resulting in hundreds of millions of dollars in fines and settlements and the exit in disgrace of the bank’s longtime chairman and chief executive. The reporter who uncovered the fraud, Scott Reckard, will describe how earlier examinations of subprime mortgage lenders and Wells Fargo’s sales culture laid the groundwork for his three-month investigation, and examine how the scandal fits in with the larger ethical crisis in financial services.

• How previous stories exposing subprime mortgage fraud and examining intense sales pressure at Wells Fargo branches provided the red flags that led to a major Times investigation
• How a sales metric first became a marketing mantra, then an obsession