WFC Wells Fargo and Company

By Denny Jacob

Wells Fargo & Co. late Thursday responded to a New York Times article stating that the company is at the center of a criminal investigation regarding whether it had violated federal laws.

The Times reported earlier in the day that the investigation regarded whether the financial-services company violated federal laws by conducting fake job interviews with women and people of color for positions that had already been promised to other people.

"No one should be put through an interview without a real chance of receiving an offer, period," Wells Fargo said in a statement. The company said that its diverse slate guidelines it put in place are meant to increase diverse representation across the company and that it has seen results in its hiring data since 2020.

The company-wide policy that was put in place in 2020 said that at least of the candidates interviewed for positions paying $100,000 or more needed to be diverse.

Wells Fargo said that earlier this week it temporarily paused the use of its diverse slate guidelines and that during the pause it is conducting a review so employees can understand how the guidelines should be implemented, "so we can have confidence that our guidelines live up to their promise."

Sources told the Times that a civil rights unit inside the criminal division of the Manhattan U.S. attorney's office is in the early stages of conducting the investigation.

Write to Denny Jacob at denny.jacob@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

June 09, 2022 17:56 ET (21:56 GMT)

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