Per Reuters

The former executive of Wells Fargo has pled guilty to the charges against her over opening fake accounts in 2016. On top of her $17 million fine, she could face up to 16 months in prison.

The 63-year-old Carrie Tolstedt faces a civil penalty of $17 million, per the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency. On top of this, she could also face up to 16 months in prison under a plea deal with federal prosecutors.

Tolstedt was said to be responsible for sales abuses at the bank, where there could have been potentially millions of accounts opened without getting any approval from the customer. The former executive ran the retail and small business lending sector of Wells Fargo from 2007 to 2016.

Aside from the $17 million from Tolstedt, Wells Fargo also paid $3 billion in February to settle civil and criminal probes. The fake accounts were reportedly opened due to unrealistic sales goals after the firm pressured its employees from 2002 to 2016.

Acting US attorney for the California central district, Joseph McNally, gave a statement regarding how corporations and executives should fully cooperate with them. However, he said that in the case of Tolstedt, steps were taken to cover up the misconduct that happened deliberately.

Tolstedt: "The justice system and regulators rely on corporations and their executives to fully cooperate during investigations into potential wrongdoing. But, in this case, Ms. Tolstedt took steps to cover up misconduct at Wells Fargo,"

Earlier this year, Wells Fargo fired an executive for reportedly urinating on a fellow passenger during a flight. Officials noted that the employee was drunk during the lengthy flight and that the woman filed a complaint against him.

Earlier this year, the company had reportedly announced that it planned to increase its home loan availability to minority communities by offering "less complex" business.

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Reuters