Wells Fargo Malibu Scandal Unearthed

After losing a significant amount of money to Bernard Madoff and his multi-billion dollar Ponzi scheme, a Malibu couple was forced to return their $12 million beach house to Wells Fargo. A scandal erupted, though, when it was discovered that Cheronda Guyton, a Wells Fargo senior vice president in charge of foreclosed commercial properties, had been spending weekends in the foreclosed home, throwing parties and living the high-life, all the while prohibiting the house from being sold.
 
For many, Guyton’s brazen use of a multi-million dollar foreclosed home has reignited outrage about how banks that received billions of dollars in taxpayer money are behaving. Wells Fargo released a statement saying that it repossessed the house in May and was able to withhold it from the market as part of an agreement.
 
However, Wells Fargo did state that it is against company policy for employees to use foreclosed properties for personal use, which means that the bank may end up caving into public outcry and canning Guyton. Until then, though, Wells Fargo has plenty of image cleanup to do following an explosion of public outrage against the bank.

Image: Flickr