Advisor Hub-
The ongoing scandal at Wells Fargo & Co. extended to its wealth management unit on Monday as the Securities and Exchange Commission imposed a $3.5 million penalty on Wells Fargo Advisors for anti-money-laundering reporting violations.
Without admitting or denying the findings that new managers beginning in March 2012 pressured compliance officials to stop filing suspicious activity reports (SARs) in violation of the Bank Secrecy Act, Wells agreed to the settlement.
The regulator charged Wells with failing to file the reports, or for delaying filings, at least 50 times over 15 months, saying the majority of the violations involved accounts at Wells Advisor branches catering to international customers. The failures related to customers who had previously been the subject of suspicious activity reports.