By Sydney Johnson
They say hindsight is 20/20, but what if wrongdoing was spotted before it got worse? When whistleblowers come forward with evidence of fraud, waste, and abuse, they are often ignored at best and retaliated against at worst, just to have their disclosures vindicated years later. Unfortunately, that is what happened to Judi Klosek and many other Wells Fargo whistleblowers.
Throughout the month of March, we are excited to highlight groundbreaking women whistleblowers for Women’s History Month. We are proud of all whistleblowers who come forward to expose fraud and abuse within government agencies, government contractors, and private corporations, but often women whistleblowers face increased risk when they step forward. In the second instalment in this series, we want to highlight Judi Klosek, a whistleblower whose disclosures led to even more whistleblowers coming forward to eventually expose harm to the employees and customers of Wells Fargo.
In 2010, Wells Fargo Personal Banker Judi Klosek blew the whistle on the bank’s overly aggressive sales practices, including opening and closing customer accounts without holder authorization and “shoving products down customers’ throats.” Additionally, she reported customers were receiving 10-15 debit cards they did not request. Originally, Klosek thought it was a mistake, but she later realized it was a clear pattern of fraud. She believed it was her responsibility to report the misconduct she witnessed internally to management, but Wells Fargo dismissed her complaints.
Soon, Klosek began to experience retaliation. While she was on disability for cancer treatment, the corporation gave her position away. When applying for similar positions, her applications were rejected. A few months later, she filed a complaint with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration and joined a joint lawsuit against Wells Fargo for the retaliation she experienced. Though the judge dismissed Klosek’s retaliation claims, they agreed she was discriminated against based on her disability.
From then until 2014, multiple whistleblowers, including many women, over multiple offices and states came forward to report Wells Fargo’s misleading practices that Judi spoke up about. In 2016, these allegations caught up to the corporation. After admitting to fake accounts being created to meet sales goals, Wells Fargo was ordered to pay $190 million in fines after regulators said the bank’s practices led to the opening of about two million customer accounts without authorization. In October of that year, Wells Fargo chief executive John Stumpf resigned following intense Congressional questioning of when he knew about these fraudulent practices.
In the years after her disclosure and retaliation, consumers could have been saved millions of dollars from these fraudulent practices and many other whistleblowers could have been saved from retaliation when they reported the same wrongdoing. When whistleblowers disclosures made internally are listened to and believed, we are all better off. Judi Klosek is a great example of how different this event could have been if her heroic actions were honoured.
Judi Klosek was represented by Perez & Associates.
Source: https://whistleblower.org/blog/womens-history-month-judi-klosek/
