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Wells Fargo CEO John Strumpf resigns after sales scandal

Wells Fargo chairman and CEO John Stumpf has retired effective immediately, the company said Wednesday. President and COO Tim Sloan will replace him.

The bank has been rocked by scandal following revelations that its employees opened as many as 2 million fake accounts to boost sales numbers. Regulators fined Wells Fargo $185 million for the accounts and other illegal sales practices they found were rampant in the bank’s culture.

“While I have been deeply committed and focused on managing the company through this period, I have decided it is best for the company that I step aside,” Stumpf said in a statement.

But the full scope of the problem — how long it existed at the company, and how long executives knew about it — is still an open question.

VICE News reported Monday that an employee in 2006 reported a fake customer account to Wells Fargo executive Carrie Tolstedt, then the head of regional banking. Read the full story.

Stumpf testified to Congress last month that the company’s board learned of possible problems with sales practices at a “high level” in 2011.