FINRA SETTLEMENT On November 25, 2020, FINRA announced a settlement with Wells Fargo Clearing Services, LLC (“WFCS”) concerning allegations that WFCS (i) failed to make accurate order memoranda in violation of Rule 17a-3(a)(6) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and FINRA Rules 4511 and 2010, and (ii) transmitted inaccurate reports to the Order Audit Trail System in violation of FINRA Rules 7450 and 2010 during the period October 1, 2016 to June 12, 2018. Without admitting or denying the findings, WFCS accepted a censure and agreed to pay a fine of $75,000.
FINRA SETTLEMENT On December 6, 2021, FINRA announced a settlement with Wells Fargo Clearing Services, LLC and Wells Fargo Advisors Financial Network, LLC (“Wells Fargo”) concerning allegations that Wells Fargo failed to store records related to its Customer Identification Program (“CIP”) in the required Write Once, Read Many (“WORM”) format. The findings also stated that when the issue was initially discovered it was not escalated to the appropriate group to determine if it need to be reported to FINRA nor was it remediated at that time. The issue has since been remediated and CIP records are now being stored on a WORM-compliant platform. Without admitting or denying the findings, Wells Fargo accepted a censure and agreed to pay a fine of $2,250,000.
FINRA SETTLEMENT On December 20, 2021, FINRA announced a settlement with Wells Fargo Clearing Services, LLC and Wells Fargo Advisors Financial Network, LLC (“Wells Fargo”) concerning allegations that Wells Fargo failed to establish and maintain a supervisory system reasonably designed to supervise representatives’ 529 plan share-class recommendations in violation of MSRB Rule G-27 during the period January 1, 2011, and December 4, 2016. Without admitting or denying the findings, Wells Fargo accepted a censure and agreed to pay restitution of $3,367,929 plus interest.
FINRA SETTLEMENT On December 13, 2021, FINRA announced a settlement with Wells Fargo Clearing Services, LLC and Wells Fargo Advisors Financial Network, LLC (“Wells Fargo”) concerning gations of unsuitable recommendations and supervisory failures in relation to unit investment trusts in violation of FINRA and NASD rules for the period July 2013 to June 2018. Without admitting or denying the findings, Wells Fargo accepted a censure and agreed to pay a $650,000 fine and restitution to certain clients totaling $2,458,762.33 plus interest.
SEC SETTLEMENT On May 20, 2022, the SEC announced that Wells Fargo Clearing Services, LLC agreed to a settlement of allegations that, in connection with the firm’s failure to timely file certain SARS between April 2017 and October 2021, it willfully violated Section 17(A) of the Exchange Act and Rule 17A-8 thereunder. Without admitting or denying the findings contained in the order, with the exception of the SEC’s jurisdiction over it and the subject matter of the proceedings, the firm consented to: (a) cease and desist from committing or causing any violations and any future violations of Section 17(A) of the Exchange Act and Rule 17A-8 promulgated thereunder, (b) be censured, and (c) pay a civil monetary penalty in the amount of $7,000,000. The firm paid the civil monetary penalty on or about June 2, 2022.
SEC SETTLEMENT In August 2023, Wells Fargo Clearing Services, LLC and Wells Fargo Advisors Financial Network, LLC (collectively, the “Firm”) agreed to a settlement with the SEC regarding allegations that the Firm and its predecessor firms overcharged approximately 10,945 accounts of advisory clients opened through 2014 more than $26.8 million in advisory fees from at least 2002 through December 2022 and failed to adopt and implement written compliance policies and procedures reasonably designed to prevent the overbilling in willful violation of Sections 206(2) and 206(4) of the Investment Advisers Act of 1940 and Rule 206(4)-7 thereunder. In 2022 and 2023, the Firm corrected the advisory fees to be charged to the accounts and issued payments for the overcharged advisory fees, plus interest, to the affected accountholders. Without admitting or denying the findings, the Firm consented to a settlement that included a cease-and-desist order, censure, and civil money penalty of $35,000,000.