Wells Fargo CEO John Stumpf sat in front of the Senate Banking Committee today for nearly three hours during a hearing on the recently revealed fraud perpetrated by his bank, but he’ll probably remember eight minutes of it better than the rest. That’s how long Massachusetts senator Elizabeth Warren spent tearing into Stumpf, who has shirked all responsibility for his bank’s misdeeds. “It’s gutless leadership,” she told him.
Warren, who was among a group of Democrats on the committee to request this hearing last week, criticized Stumpf for throwing low-level employees under the bus while reaping enormous financial rewards during his time as CEO. “You should resign. You should give back the money you took while this scam was going on. And you should be criminally investigated,” Warren said.
The senator did not hesitate to suggest how she’d like to see that investigation end. “The only way that Wall Street will change is if executives face jail time when they preside over massive frauds,” she said.
