Another settlement…
https://www.palmbeachpost.com/story/news/state/2025/04/04/wells-fargo-bank-ordered-to-pay-826-million-to-seminole-childrens-trust/82754101007/#
10 replies (most recent on top)
Fraud is a business model
Anyone who wants to shift blame to the Seminole Tribe has absolutely no idea what they are talking about. Further, they incredibly uneducated about how trusts are designed or how they work.
The mo--nic relationship manager never read the trust document and testified to that fact in court.
WF had sole investment discretion. As the named fiduciary, WF is required by the trust document to invest as a “prudent man” would, which means investing in the best interest of the beneficiaries of the trust.
In the past, Wachovia/Wells Fargo was the named trustee for Piggly Wiggly grocery store chain and their family trust. The bank regularly advised the Piggly Wiggly mo--ns they should diversify out of their own Piggly Wiggly stock. Those attempts were well documented too. When Piggly Wiggly went belly up, so did the family trust. Since the bank documented all the times they tried to convince them to diversify, the bank could was not sued.
With the Seminole Tribe trust, there was no such documentation nor any attempts to invest the trust more aggressively.
When the relationship manager was cross examined by the Tribes attorneys, he testified in court that the WF also unjustly charged the trust fees without reason.
#wellsfargoshitshow in action
Welcome to the criminal bank!
Apparently WF wasn't allowed to show proof they were acting in accordance to the plan documents of the trust. Trusts this large have specific investing guidelines. You can't just load up on Nvidia.
I'm sure this is why the jury went the.way they did:
The Seminole removed Wells Fargo from the trust in 2016 after tribal officials reviewed the low rate of return and questioned the $7.6 million in fees charged by the bank, according to the suit.
The bank tried to broker a new deal instead of owning up to mismanagement, according to the lawsuit, and the tribe sued.
As the sole trustee to the fund, Wells Fargo was accused of bilking 2,000 beneficiaries of an estimated $818 million in damages and lost income. The lawsuit accuses the bank and eight representatives of breaching their fiduciary duty, engaging in intentional misconduct and unlawfully collecting millions of dollars in unlawful fees for more than a decade.
Sounds like like the Tribes Trust sc--wed up. WF just follows the rules the trust set out. Just logically the Trust would review at least once a year what's going on.. Logically how can mismangement occur for 11 years between 2005 and 2016 without them raising their hands. This screams of shakedown for the tribes errors.
It looks like the big argument is they feel the funds should’ve been invested more aggressively, and since they weren’t, there was 800 million of opportunity cost? That’s insane. If WF as the trustee was directed to be conservative, then that’s what they do. Can’t believe a jury went this way. I’m sure the appeal will work, hence why this isn’t making huge news at this point.
This has been covered before on this board. It just represents the lack of ethics that this bank has.
Seminoles 1 - NY 0