Free Republic

The Center for American Progress is a left-wing organization that is closely associated with the Obama administration. Its principal product is a web site called Think Progress. Think Progress is part of the internet cesspool that modern liberalism has become. Written by hack left-wing bloggers, it is bitterly hostile to free enterprise. It is a low-rent site that traffics in the most absurd smears and conspiracy theories. Many have wondered for some years who finances far-left web sites like Think Progress. As of today, we know at least part of the answer, as CAP released its corporate donor list for...

Wells Fargo branches across the country deliberately targeted “undocumented immigrants” to open savings and checking accounts in order to meet aggressive sales goals, according to court documents. In sworn declarations obtained by Burlingame plaintiff’s attorney Joseph Cotchett, former employees describe a scheme in which Spanish-speaking colleagues would visit places they knew were frequented by immigrants (including construction sites and a 7-Eleven), drive them to a branch and persuade them to open an account. Some employees would give the immigrants $10 apiece to start an account. The events described in the declaration go back a decade. “The conduct we have come...

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio warned Wells Fargo & Company over its funding for the Dakota Access pipeline, saying he has the power to pull the plug on the bank’s contract for operating accounts. “I am writing to express my deep concern about your involvement, and the involvement of other banks, in financing the Dakota Access Pipeline,” de Blasio wrote in a Feb. 17 letter to Wells Fargo CEO Timothy Sloan. He said his concern stemmed from the fact that he is the mayor of a “coastal city threatened by climate change" and that such a structure carrying...

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio threatened Wells Fargo bank for its investment in the North Dakota Access Pipeline. In a February 17 letter to Wells Fargo CEO Timothy Sloan, de Blasio said he wanted to “express my deep concern about your involvement, and the involvement of other banks, in financing the Dakota Access Pipeline,” noting his concern is partly based on being a Mayor of a “coastal city threatened by climate change.” De Blasio claimed the pipeline would violate “human and tribal rights of the Standing Rock Indian Reservation” and would have “negative environmental consequences” to the land...

Back in September of last year, Wells Fargo was rocked by a fake accounts scandal, whereas 5,300 of their employees had been in on a scam to create fake checking accounts for existing customers (without telling them, of course) so they could charge fees on the accounts to unsuspecting customers. In total, over two million fake checking accounts were created, and unauthorized applications for 565,443 credit cards were sent out. Needless to say, the $185 million in fines they paid is minuscule in comparison to what such scandals do to a brand’s image. And it’s with that in mind that...

Eight-years after taxpayers rescued the U.S. financial system, some of the country's largest banks, including JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo, continue to receive billions in bailout money, according to government data. Wells Fargo is eligible for up to $1.5 billion in bailout funds over the next seven years. JPMorgan and Bank of America could receive $1.1 billion and $964 million respectively. The continuous flow of funds is a remnant of the $700 billion bailout effort, known as the Troubled Asset Relief Program or TARP, put in place during the financial crisis. Some of that money, about $28 billion, was carved...

A North Dallas man is so angry with Wells Fargo, he has taken out a full-page ad in The Dallas Morning News and three other newspapers Thursday to the tune of a quarter-of-a-million dollars. Lacy Harber, 80, of Dennison, says he lost close to $5 million one day alone in a dealing with one of the branches of Wells Fargo. It has been very upsetting to both Harber and his wife, and in his full-page ad, he used the words "greed," "dishonesty," and "betrayal" in describing the San Francisco-based banking giant. Harber says he is a longtime customer, and Wells...

... The white-haired, 63-year-old CEO repeatedly told a congressional panel that he had to check with staff, lacked information or was not an "expert" on a range of topics including executive compensation, credit scores and contracts that must be signed to open an account. Earlier this month, the lender agreed to pay $190 million in penalties and customer payouts to settle the case involving the creation of credit, savings and other accounts without customers' knowledge. About $5 million will directly go to customers, many of whom might have paid a small fee on the unwanted accounts. His responses gave plenty...

Wells Fargo will pay $24 million to settle allegations that it mistreated members of the military -- including illegally repossessing their cars. The bank, already reeling from a scandal over fake accounts, will pay $4.1 million to settle Justice Department charges that it seized 413 cars owned by service members without a court order, a violation of federal law. The Justice Department said the illegal repossessions took place from 2008 to 2015. The first complaint came from an Army National Guardsman in North Carolina who said the bank seized his car while he was preparing to deploy to Afghanistan. Wells...

Corporate interests and influences have gained a great deal of ground in the Democratic Party under Hillary Clinton’s candidacy. For example, Clinton’s 2008 campaign co-chair, former Democratic National Committee (DNC) Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz rescinded a DNC ban enacted by Barack Obama in 2008 on donations from lobbyists and SuperPACS. The decision helped Clinton keep up with Bernie Sanders’ grassroots fundraising. . . --------------------------------------------------------------------------snip--------------------- According to the filing report, some of the donors include George Soros’ son, Alexander, who gave $200,000; Priorities USA, a SuperPAC funded by George Soros, gave $1.5 million; Bank of America gave $1 million; Chevron gave...

Each passing week brings us closer to the most critical election of our lifetimes, and with each passing week we learn vividly what is actually at stake. Monday’s debate promises to be the most watched in the nation’s history, and why not? As Obama finishes his eighth year in office, the United States is practically disintegrating under the weight of terrorism – from both jihadis and faux civil rights groups like Black Lives Matter. Last weekend and into Monday morning, a would-be mass murder planted a series of bombs across New York and New Jersey. Only dumb luck spared the...

That did not take long. Just hours after a CNN report suggested that Wells Fargo was retaliating, and firing, company whistleblowers who had spoken out against the company's illegal "account creation" practices (while blaming them of being "tardy"), moments ago Reuters reported that Senators have asked the Labor Department to investigate Wells Fargo for potential violations of Fair Labor Standards Act. To be sure, now would be a perfect time for Wells Fargo's biggest shareholder, Warren Buffett - who owns a 10% stake in WFC - to speak up in defense of his favorite US bank, alas that won't happen....

Warren Buffett showed that the selloff in Wells Fargo & Co.’s stock this year has just made him love the banking giant even more, as he boosted his stake in the company to 504.3 million shares, according to regulatory filings. Buffett’s investment vehicle Berkshire Hathaway Inc. BRK.B, +0.01% now owns 10% of Wells Fargo’s common stock outstanding, making him by far the largest shareholder. That is up from 479.7 million shares, or a 9.45% stake, as of Dec. 31, filings show.

Elizabeth Warren unleashed a verbal barrage at Wells Fargo CEO John Stumpf on Tuesday, calling the embattled bank boss "gutless" and demanding he step down. "You should resign...You should be criminally investigated," Warren told Stumpf during a fiery one-sided exchange at the Senate Banking Committee's Wells Fargo hearing. Warren, a vocal critic of big banks like Wells Fargo, demanded both the Department of Justice and SEC criminally investigate Stumpf for his "gutless leadership." Last week, a U.S. official told CNN that the DOJ has issued subpoenas to Wells Fargo.

A series of cutting animated videos blasting Wells Fargo’s sales incentives are getting a new life online in the wake of the bank settling federal regulatory probes that found its employees created more than 2 million bogus accounts — slamming customers with $2.6 million in fees — in order to meet branch quotas. “If tellers and bakers make those sales numbers at the end of the month everybody in the branch will get a $5 gift card to McDonalds,” the manager says in the video. “The district manager will get a $10,000 cash bonus, and the community banking president executive...

Wells Fargo Exec Who Headed Phony Accounts Unit Collected $125 Million Wells Fargo & Co’s “sandbagger”-in-chief is leaving the giant bank with an enormous pay day—$124.6 million. In fact, despite beefed-up “clawback” provisions instituted by the bank shortly after the financial crisis, and the recent revelations of massive misconduct, it does not appear that Wells Fargo is requiring its former consumer banking chief Carrie Tolstedt to give back any of her nine-figure pay. Until recently, Tolstedt was in charge of the unit where Wells Fargo employees opened more than 2 million largely unauthorized customer accounts—a seemingly routine practice that employees...

If Wells Fargo was focused on bank charges and interest rates rather than political hot button issues, perhaps they wouldn’t have had to fire thousands of employees for ripping off customers and be liable for millions in fines.In a recent press release, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau [CFPB] recounted that Wells Fargo Bank, N.A. will pay “the largest penalty the CFPB has ever imposed,” $185 million, because thousands of Wells Fargo employees “covertly” opened “more than two million deposit and credit card accounts,” transferring funds from consumers’ authorized accounts without their knowledge or consent, often racking up fees or other...

<p>Everyone hates paying bank fees. But imagine paying fees on a ghost account you didn't even sign up for.</p> <p>That's exactly what happened to Wells Fargo customers nationwide.</p> <p>On Thursday, federal regulators said Wells Fargo employees secretly created millions of unauthorized bank and credit card accounts -- without their customers knowing it -- since 2011.</p>

“A ballerina yesterday. An engineer today. Let’s get them ready for tomorrow,” one ad read. The ads were intended to celebrate the aspirations of young people, but fell short of the goal, the company said in an apology on its Twitter account. “An actor yesterday. A botanist today. Let’s get them ready for tomorrow,” another ad read. The bank, which is based in San Francisco and has its largest employment hub in Charlotte, tweeted out an apology Saturday. The bank said it gave $93 million last year in support of the arts, culture and education. We offer our sincere apology...

A major knives manufacturer from central California says his company was denied access to an internet payment processing service because they sell weapons online, raising questions about whether an anti-fraud program called Operation Choke Point is continuing to block legal businesses in the firearms and weapons industries from accessing basic banking services.