Wells Fargo fired more than 100 employees for improperly applying for a Covid-relief program that allowed small businesses to request $10,000 grants, Bloomberg News reported, citing an unnamed source familiar with the matter.
The employees applied for the emergency grants available under the Small Business Administration’s Economic Injury Disaster Loan program, which also allowed eligible small business owners to borrow up to $2 million.
“We have terminated the employment of those individuals and will cooperate fully with law enforcement,” David Galloreese, the bank’s head of human resources, said in a memo to employees that was cited by Bloomberg News.
The Wells Fargo employees made “false representations in applying for coronavirus relief funds for themselves,” Galloreese said in the memo, which also made it clear the employees’ abuse of the SBA relief program occurred outside their roles at the bank. “Those wrongful actions were personal actions, and do not involve our customers.”
Read more of this subscription-only story from the Phoenix Business Journal.
