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Wells Fargo branch in Baltimore, MD.

Regulation and Compliance > Litigation

Ex-Wells Fargo Advisor Alleged Rape by Co-Worker, Faced Retaliation: Lawsuit

By Jeff Berman

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What You Need to Know

  • Wells Fargo did nothing to help the plaintiff after she reported being raped by a managing director, according to a lawsuit.
  • The plaintiff faced retaliation, according to her complaint, filed in Los Angeles Superior Court.
  • The plaintiff took a medical leave and eventually resigned, the complaint said.

A former Wells Fargo wealth advisor and senior vice president at the firm sued the company and four men who worked with her, alleging she was raped by one of the co-defendants and faced other sexual harassment while on a business trip and saying the company retaliated against her after she reported the rape.

In a complaint filed in Los Angeles Superior Court on Thursday, the plaintiff, identified only as “Jane Doe,” alleged that Eric R. Pagel, a Wells Fargo managing director and senior investment strategist and one of the four named co-defendants, subjected her to “sexually explicit comments and inappropriate touching” after she joined Wells Fargo in April 2018.

On Jan. 28, 2020, while on an overnight business trip to Bakersfield, California, with the four male co-defendants and another female Wells Fargo executive to meet with high-net-worth clients and prospects, Pagel allegedly entered her room at the Padre Hotel while she was intoxicated and sexually assaulted and raped her, according to the complaint.

The plaintiff ended up resigning from Wells Fargo in or about July 2021 after the firm’s lack of action to help her, according to the complaint.

Also named in the suit were David Weitzel, regional private banking manager and senior vice president; Mark Peterson, senior wealth strategist and senior vice president; and Brian Ray, vice president and private banker.

In a statement provided to ThinkAdvisor on Monday, Wells Fargo said: “We take all allegations of misconduct very seriously and are reviewing the lawsuit.”

‘Embarrassed and Mortified’

On or around Feb. 27, 2020, the plaintiff complained to her manager, Weitzel, about Pagel’s “inappropriate comments,” stating it made her “feel uncomfortable.” In response, Weitzel “merely suggested that Plaintiff should not give Pagel a ‘window of opportunity’ to be inappropriate,” according to the complaint.

Because “no steps were taken to remedy Plaintiff’s complaint,” Pagel’s inappropriate behavior continued,” the complaint said.

“Specifically, on or around March 23, 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic was emerging, thus Plaintiff inquired about what would be the most appropriate way to come into work. Pagel responded to Plaintiff’s inquiry by stating that, ‘swim suite attire [would be] most appropriate,’” according to the complaint.

Then, in the ensuing months, the plaintiff was “emotionally distressed to the point of paralysis with the thought of her sexual assault and the cavalier attitude of Weitzel when Plaintiff pointed out inappropriate comments,” the complaint said.

She was “initially too embarrassed and mortified at the idea of making a complaint” via the firm’s “formal channels, catastrophizing scenarios in her head whether she would be believed, blamed, ridiculed, retaliated against and somehow further victimized for speaking up,” according to the complaint.

But, on Nov. 13, 2020, she made a formal complaint to the Wells Fargo Ethics Hotline regarding the rape, the complaint stated.

The plaintiff also made a formal complaint to the Lomita station of the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department regarding her rape, according to the complaint.

“After reporting the January 28, 2020 incident, as well as the other harassing conduct by Pagel, no meaningful investigation ensued” at Wells Fargo, the complaint alleged.

Instead, the plaintiff was “subjected to adverse actions regarding her employment,” according to the complaint. “Specifically, Plaintiff’s clients were reassigned to another Wells Fargo employee without her input. Moreover, Plaintiff was excluded from important client communications and threatened to be excluded from lucrative accounts.”

For a few months, the firm “did close to nothing to actually investigate Plaintiff’s report of being raped and harassed by her male colleagues, such as asking for witnesses or getting Plaintiff’s statement,” according to the complaint. “It was not until after Plaintiff made a formal charge with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in April 2021 (five months after her internal complaint was made) that Wells Fargo’s internal investigation actually kicked into gear with request for interviews and communication from the investigative team.”

On or about April 14, 2021, the plaintiff started a medical leave due to “stress, anxiety and depression stemming from both the trauma from the sexual assault but also the utter lack of care by Wells Fargo to actually help Plaintiff and get to the bottom of what happened,” according to the complaint.

“Despite allegations of rape against Pagel, he was still employed by Wells Fargo, and Wells Fargo was dragging its feet to actually do anything about the situation,” the complaint alleged.

During the medical leave, after getting notice of the EEOC charge against the firm, Wells Fargo investigators “finally started asking follow-up questions asking for witness names and contact info,” according to the complaint.

The investigation was “still active” in July 2021 eight months later, the complaint said. The firm is “either grossly incompetent or insidiously calculating to still have an investigation about rape open 8 months on,” the complaint said.

In or about July 2021, feeling “betrayed by Wells Fargo’s lack of care to actually doing something about what Pagel (or any of the other defendants) had done to her, and only moving on the complaint when a federal agency step in, Plaintiff felt continuing employment with Wells Fargo was intolerable for her mental well-being, and resigned her employment,” according to the complaint.

(Photo: Diego Radzinschi/ALM) 

Jeff Berman

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