Wells Fargo Abruptly Terminating Customers’ Bank Accounts, Say Attorneys General in 16 States, Demanding Immediate Freeze on Lender’s Alleged Debanking Practices

More than a dozen Republican attorneys general are demanding Wells Fargo answer for the closure of a gun dealer's account and woke environmental policies they feel could negatively impact its clients, according to a letter provided to Fox News Digital.

The coalition of top state legal officers is eyeing Wells Fargo's practices regarding debanking, or the closure of individual or organization accounts the bank views as a risk. The group believes the financial institution uses the practice as "a political tool to extend the policies of the Biden Administration throughout the economy."

"Wells Fargo is pushing the Biden administration's anti-gun and anti-traditional energy policies and discriminating against customers who don't fall in line with their political beliefs," Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen told Fox News Digital. 

"As attorney general, it's my job to protect Montanans from discriminatory business practices. I will continue to investigate and fight against any illegal actions that could impact Montana businesses and consumers."

Knudsen and 15 other AGs sent a letter to Wells Fargo CEO Charles Scharf on Wednesday stating their concerns over the bank's abrupt shuttering of accounts, including the gun dealer. They also seek answers regarding actions the institution plans to take if its clients do not meet its strict environmental policies, such as emission reductions.

In December, Wells Fargo unexpectedly closed the business and personal accounts of Brandon Wexler, the owner of Florida-based firearms dealer Wex Gunworks, with a vague explanation for why they had done it.

"I've been with them for 25 years," Wexler told The Reload following the move. "I'm a professional fireman. I do everything the right way. It's messed up."

According to their letter, the AGs worry Wells Fargo is moving toward "designating gun sellers as a 'type of business' that will be denied lending services" and ask the institution to provide documents related to Wexler's matter.

"As we have said regarding investment firms, insurance and proxy companies, ratings agencies and other powerful commercial institutions — banks should not be in the business of choosing winners and losers based on politics," Utah Attorney General Sean Reyes, a signatory of the letter, told Fox News Digital. "Nor should they be using their financial muscle to push ideological goals that can ultimately harm our economy, national security or impair citizens' ability to exercise their constitutional rights and liberties."

AGLetter

The AGs also fear that Wells Fargo's environmental initiatives will have severe consequences for its clients. In particular, they take aim at its pro-environmental, social and governance (ESG) initiatives. The ESG movement broadly seeks to advance a green transition and left-wing social priorities through the private sector. 

In March 2021, Wells Fargo said it was committed to aligning its activities "to support the goals of the Paris Agreement and to helping transition to a net zero carbon economy." 

In their letter, the AGs fire back at that statement, noting that the "Paris Agreement is not law in the United States" and saying that the commitment "is transparently political" as Wells Fargo "continues to take more and more debanking actions to accomplish its political goals."

"When you made this statement, Wells Fargo publicly committed to net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, including emissions from clients in its financing portfolios," the AGs wrote. "A few months later, Wells Fargo pushed its commitment even further by joining the UN-convened Net-Zero Banking Alliance (NZBA), along with the five other largest banks in the country. Together, these banks are acting as economywide economic regulators, carrying out mandates that the Biden Administration has been unable to pass through our country's democratic processes."

The AGs zero in on Wells Fargo's emission reduction targets — which rely on emissions produced by its clients — and say they will lead to debanking. They question what the company plans to do if its existing clients fail to meet such targets.

"Debanking is a scourge on our financial system and a threat to this nation's freedoms of expression and free association," Will Hild, the executive director of Consumers' Research, told Fox News Digital. "Banks receive far too much subsidy and protection from the government to be engaging in cancelation of people based on anything other than illegal activity."

"As we saw with Operation Chokepoint during the Obama administration, the risk is far too high that banks will collude with government agencies to target anyone and anything that the ruling regime doesn't like," Hild said. 

The AGs request that Wells Fargo answer those matters within 30 days. They also seek answers on several other issues, including the "certain types of businesses" it will not lend to.

Wells Fargo declined to comment on the letter.

This article originally appeared on Fox Business