Wells Fargo Resolves Allegation Madison Banker Pressured Loan Applicant for Sex

Wells Fargo Bank has settled a complaint by a loan applicant who claimed a Madison branch employee pressured her to have sex in exchange for working on her loan application.

State officials claimed the bank took insufficient action once it heard about the employee's alleged conduct.

As part of a settlement agreement announced Wednesday by Acting Attorney General John J. Hoffman and the Division on Civil Rights, Wells Fargo has agreed to strengthen its harassment and anti-discrimination policies, train human resources personnel to investigate employee-conduct-related complaints, and pay the Division on Civil Rights $2,500.

Wells Fargo and the loan applicant, Jeanine Johnson of Newark, also settled a separate claim Johnson filed against Wells Fargo, according to a New Jersey attorney general's office news release.

“This settlement resolves very troubling allegations,” Hoffman said. “People who seek a bank loan have every right to anticipate that their privacy and their dignity will be respected, and that they will not be pressured to engage in any sort of unlawful and offensive quid pro quo bargain in order to obtain the loan they’ve requested."

“The policy reform and staff training components of this settlement are particularly important,” Division on Civil Rights Director Craig T. Sashihara said. “Not only is it vital that Wells Fargo’s banking employees be reminded of what constitutes harassing behavior;  it also is vital that the company’s human resources personnel be aware of how to conduct an effective, thorough investigation when a customer has complained about an employee’s words or actions.”

Wells Fargo said in a statement it was sorry a customer was put in the situation, and that the bank expects employees to maintain "the highest standards of ethics and business conduct."

"We apologize that one of our customers was put into this situation," Wells Fargo spokesman Kevin Friedlander said. "At Wells Fargo, we expect our team members to adhere to the highest standards of ethics and business conduct towards customers. When we learn that a team member has violated our policies, we take appropriate action, based upon all of the facts.  We continue to take great pride in our company and the honesty and integrity we promote among our team members."

According to the attorney general's office news release, Johnson told Division on Civil Rights investigators she was employed at a rest stop along the New Jersey Turnpike in January 2011 when she met the banker, who said he could help her get a loan.

She later contacted him, and he suggested discussing her loan needs over dinner and a movie. Johnson declined that invitation, but subsequently met him at a diner for coffee, where she gave him her pay stubs and tax records, and filled out a Wells Fargo loan application.

Johnson alleged the banker then began "turning up at her workplace, pressuring her for dates and sending her text messages such as 'I need sum affection' and asking when he would 'get a treat' for his efforts on her behalf," according to the news release.

"Eventually, after she had rebuffed his overtures on numerous occasions, the banker became verbally abusive and advised Johnson he would not process her loan, she told investigators," the news release said. "He also allegedly sent Johnson a text message that read,  'f---  u and ur loan.'

She complained to the Wells Fargo branch in Madison, where the banker worked and she once visited him to inquire about the progress of her loan application.

When two managers later interviewed him, he did not deny Johnson’s allegations, but said he had been "involved in a personal relationship with Johnson that predated her interest in a loan," according to the state.

"The two supervisors cautioned the employee about the need to separate his personal and professional lives when dealing with banking matters, but otherwise took no action," the news release said. "They closed their internal review after speaking only with the alleged harasser, and never contacted Johnson for her version of events."

The state said Wells Fargo terminated the employee in February 2011, ostensibly over unrelated issues.

Wells Fargo admits no wrongdoing as part of the terms of its settlement. The bank never updated Johnson about the status of her loan application.