The Wall Street Journal is reporting that a federal investigation into Wells Fargo in the U.S. has broadened to include its wealth-management division.
Since 2016, Wells Fargo has been dealing with the fallout from a scandal in its retail banking unit in which, among other things, employees opened up millions of fake accounts without customer authorization.
WSJ reports that the Justice Department is now investigating whether Wells Fargo made inappropriate recommendations or referrals, or failed to inform customers about potential conflicts of interest.
A bank spokesman declined to comment to the WSJ about the report on Friday.
Earlier this year, the Federal Reserve put significant restrictions on the San Francisco bank citing “widespread consumer abuses.” The bank is replacing four members of its board and its asset level has been frozen by the Fed until internal controls are improved.
As WSJ reports, sources said Federal Bureau of Investigation agents “have been interviewing some wealth-management employees in the Phoenix area as recently as this week.” It adds Phoenix was “one epicenter of Wells Fargo’s retail-banking sales practices problems.”
Read the full WSJ story (paywall).