Readers React: When you’re Wells Fargo, a $1-billion fine for recklessness is chump change

To the editor: The Wells Fargo & Co. saga continues, with the bank most recently being penalized a whopping $1 billion. President Trump’s appointee to head the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Mick Mulvaney, boasted to his critics that this huge fine shows that he is indeed intent on enforcing the law. (“Wells Fargo to pay $1 billion in fines over auto, mortgage lending abuses,” April 20)

Let’s look at the numbers. Last year, Wells Fargo enjoyed a profit of $22.2 billion, and in the first quarter of this year it generated an adjusted profit of $4.7 billion. If that isn’t enough to cover the penalty, Trump’s business-friendly tax reform package “has and will provide Wells Fargo $24 billion through tax cuts and proposed capital relief,” according to Gov. Jerry Brown.

It appears that the penalties for serious business misconduct and persistent reckless and unsafe risk management are still pretty cheap.

June Maguire, Mission Viejo

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To the editor: If I get caught robbing a Wells Fargo bank, I go to jail. If Wells Fargo gets caught robbing millions of its customers, it just pays a fine and nobody goes to jail.

Why?

Wayne Behlendorf, North Hollywood

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