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EXCLUSIVE: CEO Says ‘Stumpf Should Be Shipped To ISIS As Their Personal Banker’

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Robert Donachie Capitol Hill and Health Care Reporter
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Former Chief Executive of Wells Fargo John Stumpf stepped down Wednesday following a scandal where the bank issued over a half a million credit cards and opened over a million credit accounts without customer consent.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau slapped the bank with a $185 million fine — the largest it has ever levied — after finding these practices were rampant throughout Wells Fargo since 2011. (RELATED: Wells Fargo Just Got Hit With The Biggest Fine In CFPB History)

One prominent business executive from the financial sector is now coming out in public condemnation of the former Wells Fargo CEO. Eric Schiffer, finance expert and CEO of The Patriarch Organization, told The Daily Caller News Foundation the bank took far too long to remove Stumpf from his position. “I think it’s a disgrace. They should have amputated him out of the system far sooner. They knew about this since 2013, or maybe even earlier. They were unfortunately amateur about how they moved. Some would say reckless. They were putting the future of the brand at risk.”

In his discussions with numerous members of Wells Fargo, Schiffer found that, on one side, you have members of Wells Fargo “internally is downplaying the scandal like it wasn’t a big deal. They are trying to moralize the behavior.”

On the other, Schiffer found that many are furious. Some hold the opinion that “Stumpf should be shipped to ISIS as their personal banker.”

“It’s good to see that Wells made the right choice in getting rid of him. I hope he faces the DOJ at this point. There are a lot of angry people at what he did: consumers, people who lost their jobs, and so many more. They feel they got a raw deal. The system was made to benefit Stumpf and the shareholders and the consumers got shafted,” Schiffer tells TheDCNF.

Schiffer thinks the exit will serve to help the company brand heal, although it will take time. “They hit rock bottom, so there going to start returning but it will take time,” Schiffer explains to TheDCNF.

Stumpf’s replacement is Tim Sloan, a Wells Fargo employee with a 30-year tenure at the company mainly in the corporate and institutional side of the bank.

Schiffer thinks the choice to elevate Sloan to chief executive was largely a mistake.

“I think they are taking a guy who was part of the system of corruption, and they are elevating him. To me this is flawed. They should have looked outside and not take someone who participated. It is a dishonest attempt to fix this. They need a true outsider to fix this. To slap another person that was part of the system and put them in power is like death to the credibility of Wells Fargo,” Schiffer explains.

As far as the congressional hearing Stumpf endured at the end of September, Schiffer thinks the congressmen were not nearly hard enough on the chief executive.

“I think Congress missed the mark. I think the only Congresswoman Elizabeth Warren was tough, but I think it was like watching a goat rodeo. They could have been a lot tougher. He came in with this bandage on his wrist so that people won’t be tough. It worked, because most people were not that tough,” Schiffer concluded.

After Stumpf resigned, Sen. Elizabeth Warren went on a twitter tirade.

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