Last Updated on June 19, 2021
Lauren Witzke, the former Republican candidate for U.S. Senate and political pundit who Wells Fargo admits to debanking, is now pledging to take legal action against the American multinational financial services company for what she calls the politically motivated decision to terminate her bank account, leaving her stranded out of state with no access to her funds.
“Just an update on the Wells Fargo issue. I WILL be pursuing legal action and filing complaints against WF for violating federal and state banking laws, discriminating against me for my religious/ political beliefs, and violating my consumer rights,” Witzke wrote in her Telegram channel, before noting that she was stranded out of state with no access to her finances when Wells Fargo closed her account. “We’re fighting back. Hold the Line now, or lose everything and be thrown in the gulags later.”
In another post, Witzke referenced National File’s article about Wells Fargo also banning Pete D’Abrosca. Like Witzke, D’Abrosca had his accounts terminated with no explanation, and believes Wells Fargo’s decision to terminate his accounts may be due to his politics. Witzke wrote, “Wells Fargo also shut down my political consultant’s account who helped run my campaign in 2020,” referring to D’Abrosca, who is of Arab descent. “Undeniably targeted, politically motivated, and not to mention, racist!”
Wells Fargo took hours to reply to National File’s inquiry about the decision to ban Witzke from banking with them. Eventually, Wells Fargo claimed in an email to National File that the decision to cancel Witzke’s account was not due to “political views or affiliations” but could have been due to “a number of reasons” and claimed they “reviewed this situation” and “it was handled appropriately.”
Witzke is one of many conservative individuals, organizations, or companies who have been cut off from financial services apparently due to their political views. Gab founder and CEO Andrew Torba earlier this year revealed that he and his social media platform had been banned from four banks within the space of four weeks, due to media smears claiming the site is a “haven for extremists” and other spurious reports. In February, pro-Trump coffee brand “Covfefe Coffee” were banned from using Chase Bank’s WePay processor, and after National File and others reported on the incident, sales for Covfefe Coffee shot up over 7,500%.
