A former top Wells Fargo executive avoided prison time for her role in the bank’s sham accounts scandal, after a federal judge on Friday instead sentenced her to six months of home confinement and three years of probation.
She is also ordered to pay a $100,000 fine and perform 120 hours of community service.
The former executive, Carrie L. Tolstedt, who was head of retail banking at Wells Fargo, was the only high-ranking executive at the bank to be criminally charged for its misdeeds.
She plead guilty this year to one criminal charge of obstructing a bank examination.
Prosecutors had sought a 12-month prison sentence, saying in a legal filing that imprisoning Ms. Tolstedt, 63, would be a “general deterrence to other executives who might find themselves tempted to skirt the truth.”Ms. Tolstedt’s lawyers had pressed for probation, citing similar sentences in other cases and invoking Ms. Tolstedt’s “lifelong charitable works.” Both the prosecution and the defense also cited Ms. Tolstedt’s health issues, the details of which had been redacted from the public versions of legal filings, as a factor favoring leniency.
Persons:
Carrie L, Tolstedt, Prosecutors, Ms, Tolstedt’s
Organizations:
Wells
Locations:
Wells Fargo