When news of the scandal first broke, Wells Fargo placed advertisements in newspapers where they did take some responsibility for the illegal activities taking place at the company. However, Wells Fargo executives such as the CEO at the time John Stumpf, completely denied the notion that the company's toxic and impossible sales culture led to employees opening illegal accounts and cards. In their crisis response, Wells Fargo attempted to scapegoat their employees and frame it as a "sales practice" scandal, instead of acknowledging the true problem which is their toxic corporate culture as a whole (Forbes.com).

"I do want to make it very clear that there was no orchestrated effort, or scheme as some have called it, by the company. We never directed nor wanted our employees, whom we refer to as team members, to provide products and services to customers they did not want or need." -Former Wells Fargo CEO John Stumpf during his testimony before the House Financial Services Committee on September 29, 2016 (CNBC.com).

• The CFPB fined Wells Fargo $100 million on September 8, 2016 for the "widespread illegal practice of secretly opening unauthorized accounts." 

• The CFPB fine also ordered Wells Fargo to pay an additional $2.5 million to the affected customers for refunds and acquire an independent consultant to review the company's procedures.

• Wells Fargo also had to pay several additional fines due to refunds and lawsuit such as: 

  • • $575 million settlement to the Attorney General for opening illegal accounts and charging extreme fees for auto insurance and mortgages.

    • $6.1 million in refunds to customers that had fees and charges from these illegal accounts.

    • $142 million settlement due to a customer class-action lawsuit.

    • $480 million settlement for a shareholder class-action lawsuit. 

• In total, Wells Fargo paid nearly $3 billion in fines.

• Wells Fargo fired approximately 5,300 low level employees who opened these accounts and cards. 

• Despite initially stating he would not resign due to the scandal, company CEO John Stumpf resigned on October 12, 2016, almost a month after the CFPB fines and scandal were revealed.

• Stumpf also was penalized $41 million in stock options due to the scandal. 

• Overall, the company has gone through numerous different management changes since the scandal. For example, the company has gone through four different CEOs since the scandal, the current being Charlie Scharf who was placed at the head of the company in 2019. 

• Following the $3 billion in penalties and fines, Wells Fargo has also faced significant financial hardship and loss since the scandal broke.

• In May 2017, Wells Fargo announced it would close over 400 of its 6000 branches by the end of 2018.

• As of January 2023, Wells Fargo reported a 50% loss in profit for the fourth quarter of 2022. 

• In 2022, Wells Fargo had a provision for credit losses at $452 million which then rose to $957 million in 2023.