Wells Fargo Declines on Report of Probe Into Fake Interviews (1)

Wells Fargo & Co. shares declined after a report that the bank is the target of a criminal investigation into whether it violated federal law by conducting fake job interviews of minority candidates to satisfy in-house diversity guidelines.

The San Francisco-based firm is being investigated by the civil-rights unit of the Manhattan U.S. attorney’s office, the New York Times reported Thursday, citing people it didn’t identify who have knowledge of the matter. It isn’t clear what charges could result from such an inquiry, the newspaper wrote.

The share decline accelerated after the paper’s report. The stock fell 4.4% to $42.67 ...