Sanders: Is the Justice Department probing Wells Fargo?

Bernie Sanders has one question when it comes to the scandal at Wells Fargo: Has the government launched a criminal probe?

In a letter sent to financial regulators Monday, the Vermont senator directly asked if either the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) or the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) had made criminal referrals to the Justice Department regarding the bank.

{mosads}The two regulators slapped the bank with a record fine earlier this month, after it discovered that thousands of the bank’s employees had opened millions of fake accounts for existing customers in an effort to meet sales goals. The bank agreed to pay $185 million in fines and pay back $2.6 million in fees to affected customers.

The bank fired 5,300 employees, and the bank’s chief executive has been called before Congress to explain what happened. But Sanders wants to know if it’s possible anyone could go to jail over what happened.

“Your agencies recently fined Wells Fargo Bank, N.A., $100 million, and $35 million, respectively, for illegally opening deposit accounts and issuing credit cards for customers without their knowledge or consent,” he wrote. “Have your agencies made any criminal referrals to the Department of Justice regarding this matter?”

That is the entirety of Sanders’s letter.

The lack of prosecutions of top bank executives for wrongdoing on Wall Street has been a persistent sore point with the left, particularly since no major executives faced charges following the 2008 financial crisis.

However, reports have indicated that federal prosecutors have opened an investigation into the sales techniques. It is not clear if financial regulators made a referral in that matter.

A spokesperson for the OCC declined to comment on the letter, and a spokesperson for the CFPB did not respond to a request for comment.

Wells Fargo is set to enter the Washington spotlight imminently, with banking panels in both the House and Senate launching independent investigations into how the massive wrongdoing happened. Wells Fargo CEO John Stumpf will be testifying before the Senate Banking Committee Tuesday and is expected to testify before the House Financial Services Committee at a later date.