Lauren Witzke, a Trump-supporting Republican who ran an unsuccessful race for the U.S. Senate in Delaware last year, has had her bank account shuttered by Wells Fargo, one of the country’s biggest financial institutions.
“Wells Fargo has shut down my bank account, taking all of my money and leaving me with a zero balance,” Witzke wrote in a Telegram post, according to Breitbart News. She added that the account closure left her stranded in Florida.
“When I called Wells Fargo told me that it was a ‘business decision’ and that they have the right to close my account at any time,” Witzke, 33, added, according to the outlet.
“Had I not been surrounded by friends in Florida, I would be completely stranded. Use this as a warning and get your money out of Wells Fargo if you are a conservative. This is so evil,” she wrote.
According to entrepreneur and conservative columnist Michelle Malkin, Witzke on Tuesday received a “terse notice” from the bank informing her that her account balance was zero. “Her entire life savings of roughly $15,500 had been transferred to ‘loss prevention,'” Malkin wrote.
“Was this a cause of theft or fraud? Had her account been compromised? Nope,” Malkin noted further.
The columnist confirmed Witzke as saying the bank’s decision was arbitrary.
“A Wells Fargo representative told Witzke, who is working out of state and has no other bank account, that she would be barred from retrieving her funds at any branch office and that they would ‘mail a check,'” Malkin wrote.
“You know how that goes. Wells Fargo did not respond to my phone messages and email inquiries regarding Witzke’s case,” she added.
WHO WILL STOP THE DE-BANKING OF #AmericaFirst PATRIOTS? @WellsFargo has pulled plug on former Delaware GOP Senate candidate/Hold the Line PAC leader Lauren Witzke’s only bank account! She’s a peaceful activist being punished for attending 1/6 rally. https://t.co/m3uc4l6KEF pic.twitter.com/VQKPdKkgam
— Michelle Malkin (@michellemalkin) June 15, 2021
But the bank did respond to its actions, according to Breitbart News.
“Wells Fargo does not consider political views or affiliations in making account decisions,” a Wells Fargo spokesman said, the outlet reported.
“An account may be closed for a number of reasons based on individual facts and circumstances. While we cannot discuss customer accounts because they involve confidential customer information, we can report that we have reviewed this situation and it was handled appropriately,” the spokesman added.
But Pete D’Abrosca, a conservative activist and American Greatness contributor, posted on Twitter that the bank closed his account as well — on the same day as Witzke.
“Wells Fargo closed my account without notice, and can’t cut me a check for the balance because the check with the balance is in the mail. They didn’t even have the decency to overnight the check,” he wrote on Twitter.
Earlier he wrote, “@WellsFargo just closed my accounts with no explanation. I’m sure it has *nothing* to do with my political opinions.”
Can Wells Fargo simply cancel the check and write me one in person, you ask?
No. Because the account is closed.
Literal theft.
— Pete D’Abrosca (@pdabrosca) June 15, 2021
He told the National File he is considering legal action against Wells Fargo.
The financial institution has been criticized in the past for its ‘wokeness.’
In February 2020, the bank drew the ire of Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) after it decided to end its financial support for the state’s private school voucher program.
“We have reviewed this matter carefully and have decided to no longer support Step Up for Students,” Wells Fargo said in a statement at the time. “All of us at Wells Fargo highly value diversity and inclusion, and we oppose discrimination of any kind.”
Rubio noted that the bank’s actions weren’t going to harm the schools but rather poor, disadvantaged students.
“What really set me off is that doing what they did is not going to hurt those schools,” he told Family Research Council President Tony Perkins in an interview. “Those schools are not going to abandon the Bible over a government program. They existed before this program.
“Who they are hurting are low-income kids, because they are not going to be able to go to school and probably not go to a school that doesn’t have those policies, by the way,” Rubio noted further.
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