Potential Wells Fargo Whistleblowers Were Fired Over Phony Account Scandal

Wells Fargo & Co WFC's stock has shed $25 billion following a massive scandal involving millions of fake bank accounts being created, which resulted in more than 5,000 employees being fired.

The scandal may have taken a turn for the worse following a CNN Money report which states former Wells Fargo workers tried to put a stop to the bank's illegal actions.

CNN Money reported that "almost half a dozen" workers it spoke with confirmed they were fired after speaking up.

One of those individuals, a former banker in Pennsylvania named Bill Bado, refused orders to open fake bank and credit accounts. He reached out to Wells Fargo's human resources in September 2013, but was terminated barely a week later.

Bado also reached out to an anonymous ethics hotline - the same line that Wells Fargo's CEO John Stumpf referenced on Tuesday when he spoke to U.S. Senators.

Related Link: Elizabeth Warren Just Blasted Wells Fargo CEO John Stumpf's 'Gutless' Leadership

An ex-employee working in Wells Fargo's human resources department told CNN Money the bank had a method in place to retaliate against tipsters. Specifically, employees were fired "in retaliation for shining light" on various illegal schemes.

"If this person was supposed to be at the branch at 8:30 a.m. and they showed up at 8:32 a.m, they would fire them," the former human resources official told CNN Money,

"That's retaliation. It's a big problem -- and a perfect example of what shouldn't happen," Ken Springer, a former FBI agent who runs a firm that offers a whistleblower hotline service told CNN Money. "It looks like there's been a terrible breakdown of checks and balances at Wells Fargo."