Wells Fargo CEO to face Senate scrutiny for fraud case

John Stumpf, the long-time chief executive of Wells Fargo who built a wholesome image of himself on Wall Street, will face the biggest test of his career on Tuesday when he gets grilled by US senators over the creation of millions of sham bank accounts and credit cards that nickel-and-dimed his customers.

Stumpf, 63, is scheduled to appear in front of the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs, which includes outspoken Wall Street critic Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.).

While Stumpf is expected to tell Congress that he is “deeply sorry” for the sham accounts, he denies that there was an “orchestrated effort” to rip off his customers, according to a copy of his prepared statements.

The panel is expected to pinpoint Stumpf’s role in managing the bank, including finding out what checks and balances, if any, he put in place to monitor if his employees were abusing customers.

There is also likely to be scrutiny of the bank’s allegedly nonchalant attitude toward scamming customers, as well as a $125 million bonus paid to Carrie Tolstedt, who headed community banking, and announced her retirement in June.

Wells Fargo entered into a $185 million settlement with three government agencies earlier this month for opening 2 million fake bank accounts and 565,000 fake credit card accounts for customers — reaping about $2.6 million. The bank didn’t admit or deny any wrongdoing in the settlement.

Several Justice Department probes of the bank are still ongoing and could result in criminal charges.

The hearing will also explore the bank’s incentive compensation structures and safeguards against conflicts of interests, Sen. Robert Menendez (D-NJ) told The Post.

“If the hearing deduces that there were structural and leadership failures here, and/or complicity, then a clawback, or even other charges, should be considered,” Menendez said.