Wells Fargo has found evidence that some employees filed fraudulent applications to get money from a Small Business Administration relief program supporting companies dealing with coronavirus lockdowns, according to an internal memo.
“We have terminated the employment of those individuals and will cooperate fully with law enforcement,” the bank’s head of human resources, David Galloreese, wrote in the memo, which was posted on an internal website on Wednesday. “These wrongful actions were personal actions and do not involve our customers.”
The memo said the employees had created fake profiles to file for money from the Economic Injury Disaster Loan program. In early March, Congress allocated money to support around $7 billion in lending in response to the pandemic. It added another $10 billion through the CARES Act to fund $10,000 cash grants, which applicants could get even if their loan applications were denied.
The memo did not specify how many people had been fired. A person familiar with the bank’s operations said that between 100 and 125 people had been dismissed and that the investigation was continuing. The person was not authorized to speak publicly about the matter.
Bloomberg reported the firings earlier Wednesday.
United Airlines lost $1.8 billion in the three months through September, with operating revenue down 78 percent compared with the same period in 2019.
The results, reported after markets closed on Wednesday, were in line with the second quarter of the year, which spanned the depths of the coronavirus crisis and in which United lost $1.6 billion on an 87 percent decline in revenue.
“Having successfully executed our initial crisis strategy, we’re ready to turn the page on seven months that have been dedicated to developing and implementing extraordinary and often painful measures,” United’s chief executive, Scott Kirby, said in a statement. “We are now focused on positioning the airline for a strong recovery.”
The airline said it ended September with more than $19 billion in cash and other available liquidity, boosted by a large debt offering backed by its mileage program and the ability to borrow $5.2 billion from the Treasury Department. Through the quarter, the airline was consuming $25 million in cash a day. The airline expects to operate about 40 percent as many flights this month as it did a year ago.
The announcement comes one day after Delta Air Lines reported a $5.4 billion loss over the same period, with operating revenue down 79 percent compared with a year prior.
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said on Wednesday that he did not expect an economic relief package to be enacted before the Nov. 3 election, as he and Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California have continued to struggle to reach an agreement on a broad package to support the economy.
Negotiators on Wednesday resumed discussions over a coronavirus relief package, even though Democrats and Republicans remain wildly divided over the scope and size of another stimulus bill.
Speaking at a Milken Institute conference on Wednesday, Mr. Mnuchin said that his conversation with Ms. Pelosi was “comprehensive” but indicated that important differences remained. He said that it was unlikely that a deal could be reached and enacted before the election.
“At this point, getting something done before the election and executing on that will be difficult,” Mr. Mnuchin said.
Ms. Pelosi and Mr. Mnuchin spoke on Wednesday for about an hour, discussing the language of the administration’s latest $1.8 trillion framework as compared to House Democrats’ $2.2 trillion stimulus plan, which Ms. Pelosi pushed through the House earlier this month.
They agreed to speak again on Thursday.
“One major area of disagreement continues to be that the White House lacks an understanding of the need for a national strategic testing plan,” Drew Hammill, a spokesman for Ms. Pelosi, said on Twitter. “The Speaker believes we must reopen our economy & schools safely & soon, & scientists agree we must have a strategic testing plan.”
The Treasury secretary suggested that the gap on the top-line cost of the bill was not that wide, but that the differences on the policies within a package remained…
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