Wells Fargo Agrees $480 Mln Settlement Deal In Securities Fraud Lawsuit

(RTTNews) - Wells Fargo & Co (WFC) said on Friday that it has agreed to pay $480 million to resolve a securities fraud lawsuit related to a sales scandal that surfaced in 2016.

The $480 million settlement is to resolve a class-action in federal court in the Northern District of California. It is subject to final approval by the court.

The lawsuit sought damages for investors who bought Wells Fargo stocks between February 2014 and September 2016.

The bank said that it "denies the claims and allegations in the action and entered into the agreement in principle to avoid the cost and disruption of further litigation."

Wells Fargo CEO Timothy Sloan said in the statement that the San Francisco-based bank believes "that moving to put this case behind us is in the best interest of our team members, customers, investors and other stakeholders."

Union executive board member Dr. Andreas Zubrod released a statement saying: "We take action to rectify misconduct that raises significant public policy concerns and severely harms public stock market investors."