Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd LLP Files Class Action Suit Against Wells Fargo & Company

SAN DIEGO, Sept. 26, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd LLP ("Robbins Geller") (http://www.rgrdlaw.com/cases/wellsfargo/) today announced that a class action has been commenced on behalf of purchasers of Wells Fargo & Company ("Wells Fargo") WFC common stock during the period between February 26, 2014 and September 15, 2016 (the "Class Period").  This action was filed in the Northern District of California and is captioned Hefler v. Wells Fargo & Company, et al., No. 16-cv-05479.

If you wish to serve as lead plaintiff, you must move the Court no later than 60 days from today.  If you wish to discuss this action or have any questions concerning this notice or your rights or interests, please contact plaintiff's counsel, Shawn A. Williams of Robbins Geller at 800/449-4900 or 415/288-4545, or via e-mail at shawnw@rgrdlaw.com.  If you are a member of this class, you can view a copy of the complaint as filed at http://www.rgrdlaw.com/cases/wellsfargo/.  Any member of the putative class may move the Court to serve as lead plaintiff through counsel of their choice, or may choose to do nothing and remain an absent class member.

The complaint charges Wells Fargo and certain of its current and former officers and/or directors with violations of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934.  Wells Fargo is a diversified financial services company that provides retail, commercial and corporate banking services, principally in the United States.

The Company has three reportable operating segments, Community Banking, Wholesale Banking, and Wealth and Investment Management.  A key part of Wells Fargo's business strategy is "cross-selling," which entails selling its existing customers more retail products.  Wells Fargo's execution on its cross-selling opportunities was considered central to the Company's business and growth prospects.

The complaint alleges that during the Class Period, defendants made materially false and misleading statements regarding the Company's true financial condition, financial performance and future prospects, including about the source of its growth in products per household and the success of its overall strategy of cross-selling its products.  Specifically, throughout the Class Period, defendants made false and misleading statements and/or failed to disclose that Wells Fargo's cross-selling efforts to retail customers were neither designed to meet customers' financial needs nor drive customer satisfaction, but rather were the product of a carefully designed system that resulted in the Company illegally, through forgery and other electronic means, opening millions of deposit and credit card accounts for customers without their knowledge in an effort to generate fee income for Wells Fargo and compensation rewards for Wells Fargo employees, including defendants.  Wells Fargo also failed to disclose that an ongoing internal investigation had in fact determined by the beginning of the Class Period that employees in the Community Banking segment had engaged in a wide ranging scheme to inflate the Company's financial performance figures by opening millions of unauthorized deposit and credit card accounts, ultimately resulting in more than 5,000 employee terminations.  As a result of defendants' false statements and/or omissions during the Class Period, Wells Fargo stock traded at artificially inflated prices, reaching a high of over $58 per share and allowing certain of the defendants to sell more than $31 million worth of their own Wells Fargo stock at artificially inflated prices.

On September 8, 2016, the U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau ("CFPB") imposed a fine of more than $185 million on Wells Fargo and published a Consent Order detailing the Company's fraudulent practices, which were centered on a corporate culture intent on growing its cross-selling opportunities and unlawfully and without its customers' consent opening millions of unauthorized deposit and credit card accounts.  In the days following the CFPB announcement, several media outlets issued articles detailing the scandal.  The complaint alleges that as a result of these revelations, between September 8, 2016 and September 16, 2016, the Company's stock price declined 9%, from a close of $49.90 per share on September 8, 2016 to a close of $45.43 per share on September 16, 2016, as information about defendants' conduct and its impact on Wells Fargo's operations reached the market.

Plaintiff seeks to recover damages on behalf of all purchasers of Wells Fargo common stock during the Class Period (the "Class").  The plaintiff is represented by Robbins Geller, which has extensive experience in prosecuting investor class actions including actions involving financial fraud.

Robbins Geller is widely recognized as one of the leading law firms advising U.S. and international institutional investors in securities litigation and portfolio monitoring.  With 200 lawyers in 10 offices, Robbins Geller has obtained many of the largest securities class action recoveries in history and was ranked first in both total amount recovered for investors and number of securities class action recoveries in ISS's SCAS Top 50 Report for the last two years.  Robbins Geller attorneys have shaped the law in the areas of securities litigation and shareholder rights and have recovered tens of billions of dollars on behalf of the Firm's clients.  Robbins Geller not only secures recoveries for defrauded investors, it also strives to implement corporate governance reforms, helping to improve the financial markets for investors worldwide.  Please visit rgrdlaw.com/cases/wellsfargo/ for more information.

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SOURCE Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd LLP