Lowey Dannenberg is investigating possible violations of federal securities laws on behalf of investors of Wells Fargo & Company (“Wells Fargo” or the “Company”) (NYSE: WFC).
On April 5, 2020, Wells Fargo announced that it had received strong interest in the Paycheck Protection Program (“PPP”), a program under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act, and was targeting to distribute a total of $10 billion to nonprofits and small business customers with fewer than 50 employees. On this news, Wells Fargo’s shares increased by $2.40 per share, over 9%, to close at $28.63 per share.
On April 8, 2020, the Federal Reserve announced that it would allow Wells Fargo to exceed the asset cap that it had imposed on Wells Fargo in 2018 after revelations that the Company had opened millions of accounts in customers’ names without their permission. This change would allow Wells Fargo to make additional small business loans as part of the PPP. Wells Fargo announced this change on the same day, stating that “[Wells Fargo] will expand its participation in the [PPP] and offer loans to a broader set of its small business and nonprofit customers subject to the terms of the program.” The market received these news positively. Wells Fargo’s shares increased by $1.51 per share, over 5%, to close at $30.28 per share.
Then, on April 20, 2020, after at least two lawsuits were filed against Wells Fargo, reports emerged that Wells Fargo may have unfairly allocated government-backed loans under the PPP. Following this news, Wells Fargo’s stock price fell more than 5% over two trading days to close at $26.84 per share on April 21, 2020.
Finally, on May 5, 2020, Wells Fargo disclosed in an SEC filing that “it has . . . received formal and informal inquiries from federal and state governmental agencies regarding its offering of PPP loans.” Following this news, Wells Fargo’s stock price fell by more than 6% over two trading days to close at $25.61 per share on May 6, 2020.
If you are a shareholder of Wells Fargo who suffered a loss, we encourage you to contact attorney Andrea Farah of Lowey Dannenberg at (914) 733-7256 or afarah@lowey.com to learn more about this investigation or to discuss your options.
Whistleblowers: Persons with non-public information regarding Wells Fargo should consider their options to help in the investigation or take advantage of the SEC Whistleblower program. Under the new program, whistleblowers who provide original information may receive rewards totaling up to 30 percent of any successful recovery made by the SEC.