More legal headaches for Wells Fargo

The banking giant is being sued for allegedly placing tens of thousands of robo-calls without customer consent

More legal headaches for Wells Fargo

Wells Fargo is facing yet another lawsuit, this time for allegedly violating a federal law meant to protect consumers from harassing phone calls.

A lawsuit filed last week on behalf of a nationwide class accuses the banking giant of making tens of thousands of robo-calls to cell phones without consumer consent, according to a Reuters report. According to the lawsuit, Wells Fargo called wrong numbers with auto-dialing equipment and then failed to honor requests to stop. The lawsuit is seeking triple damages under the US Telephone Consumer Protection Act – up to $1,500 for each call, Reuters reported.

The lawsuit was filed by Lisa Barnes, a Michigan resident who claimed that Wells Fargo began calling her cell phone in 2016 asking to speak to a Richard Loutman – a person Barnes had never heard of.

Barnes, who was never a Wells Fargo customer and never consented to being called, told Wells Fargo to stop calling her, according to Reuters. However, the bank allegedly continued calling her phone.

Wells Fargo has been rocked by repeated scandals and lawsuits over the last two years. Last week, the bank announced that two of its top executives were taking leaves of absence as a result of extended regulatory scrutiny. Earlier this month, Sen. Elizabeth Warren asked the Federal Reserve not to lift restrictions against Wells Fargo until its CEO, Tim Sloan, hands in his resignation.

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