On September 30, 2016, Bottini & Bottini filed a shareholder derivative action in San Francisco against various current and former officers and directors of Wells Fargo & Company. The complaint alleges that the officers and directors breached their fiduciary duties and violated Section 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and engaged in insider trading in violation of the California Corporation Code in connection with their conduct related to Wells Fargo's Great Eight and Daily Incentive cross-selling efforts. Pursuant to the Company's cross-selling efforts, the Company opened additional unauthorized accounts for existing customers, sometimes forging customer signatures. The Company also pressured its own employees to open the unauthorized accounts and then fired approximately 5,300 employees to allegedly cover up the Company's wrongdoing.
The Complaint also alleges that some of the Individual Defendants made false and misleading statements regarding the cross-selling strategy and caused the Company to repurchase billions of dollars of its own stock at inflated prices before the truth regarding the unlawful conduct was publicly disclosed, causing at least $2 billion in damages to Wells Fargo.
A Copy of the complaint can be viewed below.