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Wells Fargo Fires Exec for Partying in Foreclosed Malibu Beach House
Neighbors say banker partied in foreclosed home of Madoff victims.
Sept. 14, 2009— -- Cheronda Guyton, a Wells Fargo senior vice president has been fired from her job following reports that she was occupying a multi-million dollar Malibu beach house the bank had foreclosed on.
The bank said in a statement today that Guyton was fired after an internal investigation. Wells Fargo did not specifically name Guyton, but sources have confirmed her identity to ABC News.
The house in question, the bank says, ended up in their hands in May 2009 when the former owners turned it over to Wells Fargo after reportedly losing a bundle in Bernie Madoff's massive fraud.
"We deeply regret the activities that have taken place as they do not reflect the conduct we expect of our team members," the bank said in the statement. "We continue to place the highest value on honesty, trust and integrity to guide our team members in making business decisions each day."
This isn't the first time this year the billion-dollar San Francisco-based banking company finds itself mopping up a public relations mess. In fact, 2009 is shaping up as a corporate annus horribilis for Wells Fargo -- a banking behemoth which touts itself on its Web site as one of America's great companies.
In February, just months after receiving $25 billion from the U.S. Treasury as part of the TARP bailout plan, came news that the bank planned a lavish "employee recognition" event in Las Vegas. The all-expenses paid, multi-night extravaganza included rooms at two of the priciest hotels in Sin City -- the Wynn, Las Vegas and Encore, Las Vegas.
After Washington lawmakers and others publicly criticized bank executives for "spending taxpayer money to bankroll Las Vegas junkets," the trip was cancelled.
A few months later, in August, Wells Fargo announced that four of its most senior executives -- including CEO John Stumpf -- would be the recipients of huge boosts in pay. Stumpf's salary increased six-fold from $900,000 to more than $5 million. The company explained the increase was necessary to "pay ... senior people fairly" because TARP-funded banks are subject to limits on the amount of non-salary compensation executives can receive.
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