Wells Fargo Handing Out $85,000,000 After Bank Allegedly Triggers Investor Losses With ‘Materially False and Misleading Statements’

Wells Fargo has agreed to pay tens of millions of dollars to settle a lawsuit accusing the bank of violating federal securities laws and triggering losses for investors.

According to the settlement administrator’s portal, Wells Fargo will pay $85 million to settle allegations that the bank violated federal securities laws by making “materially false and misleading statements and omissions regarding Wells Fargo’s diversity hiring initiative.”

The class action lawsuit, which was initially filed on June 28th of 2022, claims investors suffered losses following revelations of the diversity hiring scheme by the media.

“Plaintiffs alleged that the fact Wells Fargo was conducting widespread fake or sham interviews of diverse candidates under the policy was disclosed by The New York Times on June 9, 2022, and caused shareholder losses.”

The settlement class members include individuals and entities that bought Wells Fargo shares between February 24th of 2021 and June 9th of 2022.

According to estimates from a damages expert hired by the plaintiffs, about 1.512 billion Wells Fargo shares were purchased during that period.

Claims must be submitted by April 14th of 2026. The final approval hearing will be held on May 5th of 2026.

Despite Wells Fargo agreeing to settle the class action lawsuit, the mega lender denies any wrongdoing.

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