Insurance regulators in California and New Jersey are investigating allegations by former employees of Prudential Insurance Company that Wells Fargo Bank employees signed up consumers for Prudential life insurance policies without the consumers' authorization.
Earlier this year, Wells Fargo admitted that as many as two million unauthorized bank accounts for its customers had been created by thousands of Wells Fargo employees. As a result, Wells Fargo was fined nearly $200 million and it fired more than 5,000 employees.
Now, whistleblowers are alleging that the Wells Fargo fraud extended to Prudential's life insurance policies stemming from Prudential's partnership with Wells Fargo to sell insurance products. The California Department of Insurance and the New Jersey Division of Insurance are investigating this issue.
California Department of Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones asked department investigators to investigate all aspects of these allegations, including possible violations of California laws requiring persons transacting insurance to have an insurance license issued by the department.
“Investigators with the California Department of Insurance will investigate new allegations of fraud and misconduct made by former Prudential employees regarding Wells Fargo and its employees,” said Commissioner Jones. “Former Prudential employees who filed a whistleblower lawsuit allege that Wells Fargo signed up consumers for Prudential insurance policies without consumer permission much as Wells Fargo admitted its employees illegally signed up consumers for bank products without permission. We will also examine Prudential Insurance company's practices in this regard.”
Steven A. Meyerowitz
Steven A. Meyerowitz, a Harvard Law School graduate, is the founder and president of Meyerowitz Communications Inc., a law firm marketing communications consulting company. He may be contacted at [email protected].