Wells Fargo Is Now The 4 Horsemen Of The Apocalypse By Illegally Freezing Bank Account Of ML-Implode

Wells Fargo is now the 4 horsemen of the apocalypse in the blogosphere. The bank has been getting hammered lately during the past month because of the death of Norman Rousseau. Rousseau is the husband and father they drove to suicide with their foreclosure tactics. Tactics that would have even Franz Kafka night terrors. The bank has also been accused of refusing to modify loans. In addition to shamelessly screwing over African-American and Latino homeowners by giving them “Ghetto Loans”.

Let’s face it. Wells Fargo is run by idiots. They should have addressed Rousseau’s death in a humane way. Additionally, they should have things in place to make sure it doesn’t happen again. Instead, Wells Fargo didn’t do that. Instead, the bank decides to attack their critics by closing their Wells Fargo accounts. Not only that, they are seizing assets of those critics. 

Yesterday, ML-Implode owner Aaron Krowne discovered Wells Fargo had frozen the business account for ML-Implode with no warning. Aaron discovered the account had been flagged a “credit risk” and slated for immediate closure.

Aaron claims these actions are more than slightly unusual. ML-Implode’s account was a plain checking account. Thus it was not an underwritten account. In fact, ML-Implode paid a monthly fee for the account, so the bank was certainly doing it no favors.

Aaron also said,

“In fact, as part of the freeze, Wells Fargo made a $3500 deposit from ML-Implode’s merchant account processor “disappear”, leaving a short-term advance of $1500 from an affiliate un-covered, and a similar $1500 obligation to another affiliate unpaid. The whereabouts of the monies are unknown.” 

Was I Retaliation For Writing About Norman Rousseau?

It appears that the bank did this in retaliation for a recent series of articles by ML-Implode blogger Martin Andelman. which Aaron Krowne describes the article as: 

“…pulled no punches in criticizing Wells Fargo over its foreclosure practices — in particular the tragic and horrific case of Norm Rousseau who was driven to suicide after Wells Fargo lost a mortgage payment and mistakenly foreclosed on the family’s home, despite a lengthy back-and-forth process which gave the bank ample opportunity to correct the mistake.”

Andelman and other contributors to the site like me are not paid by ML-Implode. We are allowed to blog wholly independently from ML-Implode oversight. As the operator of the site, Aaron Krowne does not dictate or control what we write.

If the bank is retaliating for the articles, they are apparently violating federal law: USC 47 USC § 230.

Federal law forbids holding an internet “common carrier” (such as an ISP, forum, or any sort of hosting outfit) liable for the content users independently post or transmit.

It appears Wells Fargo is so pissed off at Martin Andelman that they are trying to silence him by scaring anyone they believe he has a business interest with.

Wells Fargo’s Retaliation Goes Much Deeper

Several weeks ago, REST Report Matters promoted by Andelman sells homeowners at risk of foreclosure access to the same loan analysis tools the banks have. REST also had its account shuttered by Wells Fargo.

Apparently, the bank followed Andelman’s references to REST Report Matters and then targeted them.  Wells Fargo then connected them to ML-Impolde’s business account.

Martin Andelman says:

“This whole thing is just ridiculous.  I have no ongoing financial relationship with REST Report Matters.”

Aaron Krowne claims,

“That our sources inside the bank tell us the critical blog posts were the motivating factor.”

After reading Aaron’s Press release, I contacted my sources at the bank. They told me the same thing this morning.  I believe the only reason they have not tried this with MFI-Miami is because I don’t have any bank accounts with Wells Fargo.

If Wells Fargo got this riled up over the REST Report, criticism of how they handled the foreclosure and unnecessary death of Norman Rousseau and the testimony of Beth Jacobson about Wells Fargo’s “Ghetto Loans” initiatives that was profiled in yesterday’s Washington Post, I can only imagine what will happen next week when I post about the “special perks” we received in wholesale lending during the boom from Wells Fargo and other lenders.

Read More About Wells Fargo At MFI-Miami.com