California Attorney General Kamala Harris has launched a criminal investigation into whether Wells Fargo employees committed false impersonation and identity theft as part of an accounts scandal that has engulfed the bank in recent weeks.
The investigation comes more than a month after the bank was fined $185 million amid allegations that employees opened as many as 2 million credit and deposit accounts without customers’ knowledge or permission.
Documents shared with ABC News include a search warrant requesting, among other things, documents and data related to bank products and services “that have been identified as being created or issued for the customer without the customer’s consent,” from May 2011 to July 2015.
According to the warrant, investigators are also requesting the the names and other identifying information for employees and managers who may have opened or authorized the opening of accounts allegedly without customers’ permission.
Asked about the California investigation, a Wells Fargo spokesman said that the bank was cooperating by providing the requested information.
A representative for the California attorney general’s office did not offer further details.