The New York Attorney General announced that Wells Fargo Company has agreed to pay a 65 million fine in connection with its cross-sell business model related sales practices and publicly reported cross-sell metrics The misconduct at Wells Fargo was widespread across the bank and at every level of management impacting both customers and investors who were misled Attorney General Barbara D Underwood said in a press release State securities laws are vital to protecting the hard-earned savings of working families and Main Street investors from financial fraud and my office will continue to do whats necessary to protect the public and the integrity of our markets The AGs office went on to explain that Wells Fargo told investors that it could increase revenues and better serve customers through its cross-sell strategy In addition the company reported cross-sell metrics that falsely showed the success of that strategy However the success of these efforts was actually centered on sales practice misconduct at the bank Driven by strict and unrealistic sales goals employees in Wells Fargos Community Bank division engaged in fraudulent sales practices including the opening of millions of fake deposit and credit card accounts without customers knowledge Through a significant incentive compensation program employees who met these targets were eligible for promotions and bonuses while employees who did not meet the sales targets faced relentless pressure and even termination according to the release Furthermore Wells Fargos Board of Directors received reports detailing the misconduct as early as 2011 but failed to report it to investors In fact during Congressional testimony Wells Fargos former CEO admitted that he became aware of widespread fraud by the companys employees in 2013 When the truth was finally made public New York investors lost millions of dollars The NY Attorney Generals office added that todays settlement has no impact on its other investigation into Wells Fargo illegal practices of opening millions of unauthorized accounts and enrolling consumers in services without their knowledge or consent