Accountability: Corporate America needs a wake-up call

OPENING unauthorised bank accounts. Cheating customers on mortgages and car loans. Mistreating service members. If you can dream up a financial scam, there's a good chance that Wells Fargo ran it on its customers in recent years. Last week, after years of pressure, the company finally parted ways with its second CEO in three years. But that's not nearly enough accountability. It's time to reform our laws to make sure that corporate executives face jail time for overseeing massive scams.

In 2016, after the Wells Fargo fake-accounts scam came to light, I called out then-CEO John Stumpf for gutlessly throwing workers at the bank under the bus - and told him he should resign. Weeks later, he did. When Wells Fargo elevated long-time senior executive Tim Sloan to replace Mr Stumpf, I told Mr Sloan he should be fired for his role in enabling and covering up the fake-accounts scam. For years, I pressured federal regulators, urging his dismissal, and last week, Mr Sloan "retired". Don't get me wrong. I'm glad both men aren't in charge anymore. But this isn't real accountability. When a criminal on the street steals money from your wallet, they go to jail. When small-business owners cheat their customers, they go to jail. But when corporate executives at big companies oversee huge frauds that hurt tens of thousands of people, they often get to walk away with multimillion-dollar payouts.

Too often, prosecutors don't even try to hold top executives criminally accountable. They claim it's too hard to prove that the people at the top knew about the corporate misconduct. This culture of complicity warps the incentives for corporate leaders. The message to executives? So long as you bury your head in the sand, you can keep collecting fat bonuses without risk of facing criminal liability.