Wells Fargo agrees to $3 billion payment over accounts misconduct

Wells Fargo agreed to a $3 billion payment to resolve criminal and civil investigations into its practice of opening authoritized accounts in the names of unsuspecting customers, the U.S. Department of Justice announced Friday.

"This case illustrates a complete failure of leadership at multiple levels within the bank. Simply put, Wells Fargo traded its hard-earned reputation for short-term profits, and harmed untold numbers of customers along the way," Nicola T. Hanna, U.S. attorney for the Central District of California, said in a statement Friday. "We are hopeful that this $3 billion penalty, along with the personnel and structural changes at the bank, will ensure that such conduct will not reoccur."

Under the terms of a deferred prosecution agreement, Wells Fargo agreed to cooperate with other federal investigations.

As part of the agreement, Wells Fargo admitted the company "collected millions of dollars in fees and interest to which the company was not entitled, harmed the credit ratings of certain customers, and unlawfully misused customers' sensitive personal information, including customers' means of identification," according to information from the Department of Justice.

The alleged scheme began in 1998 with sales staff being pressured to increase the unlawful and unethical sale of accounts and services to customers that had no need for them, according to the Department of Justice. Senior officials at Wells Fargo were aware of the practices as early as 2002, according to the Justice Department.

-- Nicole Tyau