SEC, Ex-Wells Fargo VP in Settlement Talks Over Accounts Scandal

The Securities Exchange Commission is in settlement talks with a former Wells Fargo & Co. top executive accused by the agency of misleading investors about the company’s fake accounts scandal, according to court filings.

The SEC and Carrie Tolstedt, who was a senior vice president before she left the bank in 2016, asked the court on Thursday to refer their dispute to a magistrate judge to try to resolve it without going to trial.

In a 2020 lawsuit, the agency accused Tolstedt of making statements claiming the bank’s strategy was to sell existing customers new products they needed, wanted, ...