Wells Fargo Corruption: Craig Lathan Walls

Update 6/1/23: Craig Walls is no longer employed at the Kenai Wells Fargo, nor is he vice president of the Kenai Peninsula Food Bank https://kpfoodbank.org/ He now works for Kenai Aviation, a small company offering commuter flights in Alaska. https://www.kenaiaviation.com/

Craig Lathan Walls began working at the Kenai Wells Fargo in 2016 after moving to Alaska from Tupelo, Mississippi with his wife, Joanna Oliver Walls MSN, ARPN, FNPC, of the Pain and Headache Center in Soldotna https://www.painandheadachecenter.com/ .

Wells Fargo has continued to drag their feet and fail to take action in regards to the unethical, illegal and risky behaviors of their #kenai#alaska branch manager Craig Walls. Because of this failure to act, I am publishing my report submitted to their EthicsLine, as well as to the board of directors. This issue has persisted over nearly 16 months and was first reported in May of 2021 (a report they ignored, dismissed and did not even investigate). This report was the second report (submitted April 2022). I have repeatedly made attempts to stay updated on the progress of the investigation and #wellsfargo responds with “we need more time” or “expect to hear from us soon” repeatedly.

While I will give Wells Fargo credit that they actually did launch an investigation with the second report, I believe that they only did so because I made this situation extremely public.

Please keep in mind this report contains only the information that I felt was relevant to Wells Fargo as a business and many other stories, experiences and encounters with Craig are not included in this report. If you’d like more information and details, you can find it through my YouTube/TikTok accounts.

YOUTUBE: https://youtu.be/0HkTMLCq7iw

TIKTOK: https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZTRr8RJDm/?k=1

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I am writing over significant ethical concerns regarding the behavior and actions of the branch manager, Craig Lathan Walls, in Kenai, Alaska. Concerns about Craig’s unethical, deceptive, and quite frankly, risky behavior have been reported to multiple people, as well as the ethics line, yet Wells Fargo has failed to take action. Because of Wells Fargo’s refusal to take action, I have taken my concerns regarding Craig Walls to social media platforms such as TikTok, where videos concerning his unethical behavior have been viewed 100,000+ times. I have also made a point to share this story in local Facebook groups and intend to share this letter in its entirety on platforms such as TikTok, Facebook, local community forums, Google, RipOffReport, Better Business Bureau and more. Additionally, I have also been in contact with multiple journalists about this deeply concerning situation.

In 2016, Craig Walls began working as a personal banker at the Kenai Wells Fargo. Craig had moved from Mississippi to Alaska with his wife, Joanna Oliver Walls, to be closer to his wife’s family after she had obtained employment as a nurse practitioner locally. Almost immediately, Craig began telling co-workers about a patent he owned for a 2FA added to a VPN. He eventually sold this patent for $300,000 and along with a small loan from SunTrust, began construction of four four-plexes on a piece of land he inherited in Tupelo, Mississippi. Craig claimed the land had been passed down through multiple generations in his family, having originally been part of a civil war land grant paid to an ancestor who fought for the confederacy.

Craig walked everyone through the process of building these apartments. It was a constant subject of discussion for him. From taking bids from contractors, to breaking ground, to finishing touches, to tenancy, to fighting the county to extend the highway to make the apartments more accessible; Craig kept everyone in the loop about his apartments. He talked about hiring a woman named Lela who had been his former assistant manager at Best Buy to manage the apartments for $60,000 a year. He talked about entering a contract for a handyman on an as-needed yearly contract, rather than paying per incident. He explained that it typically works out cheaper in the end to do it this way. He claimed to be making $20,000 profit per month just on the apartment buildings. When asked, Craig stated that there’s no sales tax on rentals in Lee County, Missisippi.

Craig claimed to be doing so well with the apartments that he invested in a friend’s Mexican restaurant in Tupelo. He claimed to have no responsibility. He was just a silent investor and received dividends each quarter and K1s yearly. Craig was doing so well, he opened a trust for his daughter using the profits from the apartments each month and in less than a year, he reported that his new trust was making $10,000-20,000 per month.

In November of 2020, Craig was promoted to branch manager in the Kenai branch.

Craig was looking for more investment opportunities and was considering “round two” of the Mexican restaurant. He claimed his friend in Tupelo, Missisippi wanted to open a second location but lacked the capital to make it happen. He attempted to solicit investments from his coworkers at the Kenai branch, informing them that for $10,000 they could “buy in” on this amazing investment opportunity and enjoy the same profits he was allegedly making on his investment in the first restaurant. He also attempted to convince one co-worker to quit their job with Wells Fargo and offered them a $50,000 start-up investment for them to start their own business. Craig stated he had talked to his wife about it and they were confident the coworker would be successful. The co-worker turned down Craig’s offer.

Craig continued discussing what was going on with his various investments on a regular and near-daily basis. He expressed that he was conflicted about paving the parking lot at his apartment buildings because he wasn’t sure if it was worth paving it with sidewalks versus without sidewalks due to the cost being nearly double for sidewalk installation. He told his coworkers that he had just purchased a copy of Oracle Netsuite for $18,000 and that while it was expensive, it would be worth it because he had just hired a CPA named Chad in Tupelo to handle his finances. This “on-site” version of Netsuite would allow remote access for the CPA to update his books and wouldn’t require a costly subscription; it was a one time purchase with no recurring fees. He discussed plans to add a pool and a clubhouse to the apartment complexes in the next couple of years. Craig even showed his coworkers the same specific and distinct piece of land on Google maps on multiple occasions and stated “it doesn’t show the apartments because the photos are old.” He also talked about how he was recently prequalified for a $1.2 million mortgage through Wells Fargo and his wife was excitedly looking at high-end homes, even though he was trying to “talk her into” a home in the $300-400k range. These discussions continued constantly, without end, for five years.

Craig L. Walls’ life and accomplishments were common knowledge at the branch, among both customers and employees. He spoke openly and freely with anyone who would listen. These investments were a constant subject of conversation for Craig and he spoke about them nearly daily for five years. Everyone was aware of what was happening with Craig’s investments at all times because he never stopped talking about them, often to the point it was obnoxious. Even employees from neighboring branches knew a great deal about Craig Walls’ life and investments, solely because of how often he brought them up. During the pandemic, Craig L. Walls registered three business licenses; CW Investments, CW Tech Solutions and Jow Co. No one ever questioned the validity of Craig’s stories.

In the Spring of 2021, there was an incident between Craig and a teller that brought his management experience into question. One concerned team member could not shake the feeling that Craig lacked the experience a manager should have based on the way he talked down to a teller, despite Craig’s claims he had previously managed over 150 employees when he worked at Best Buy. While Craig’s management experience did appear to be legitimate, the rest of his story was not.

1. Craig has never owned a patent; ownership records are public and retained.
2. The distinct and specific piece of land Craig pointed out was updated in 2021 on Google maps and shows no apartments, despite the construction allegedly having been completed by 2018, nor does it show any extension of the highway to meet the land he pointed out.
3. The county confirmed via telephone that the highway had never been extended to meet the property located at the coordinates Craig pointed out.
4. The land Craig Lathan Walls pointed out is owned by a Coggins family and is currently being used as farmland.
5. Lela, the apartment manager, was contacted about the apartments and denied any knowledge of any apartments and stated she does not work for Craig and does not want her name associated with him in any way.
6. Netsuite does not offer an “on-site” version of their software or any other non-subscription product.
7. Craig is not listed on any business licenses in Mississippi; for neither the Mexican restaurant nor the apartments. Both business ventures would require business licenses, especially considering he stated he was receiving K-1’s from the Mexican restaurant.
8. There are no CPAs in Tupelo named Chad.
9. Lee County, Mississippi does require sales tax on apartment rentals. Craig stated they do not.
10. There were no “land grants” offered to confederate soldiers in Mississippi; rather land bounties were offered in places like Iowa, Ohio and Tennessee.
11. For a trust to make $10,000-20,000 per month, it would need to have $2-4 million invested. According to Craig’s own stated expenses and profits, the most he would have in profits from the apartments would have been just shy of $500,000; nowhere near the amount it would take to earn the returns he stated he was receiving.

This concerned team member confronted Craig about his lies and Craig initially stated he would show proof, but refused to do so on the spot. The concerned co-worker asked to see anything that would back up Craig’s stories; deeds for the apartments, property tax records, business licenses, even the text chain with his alleged apartment manager, Lela. Craig became agitated and quickly told them that he did not “owe them proof.” The team member told Craig that he was only confirming these suspicions. Craig went silent for several minutes before asking “Who else knows?” and “Who else have you told?” These are not the statements of an innocent man, but rather someone who has become entangled in his own web of lies and deception.

Wells Fargo’s Code of Ethics states “Every employee is expected to be a leader. This means that each of us must take responsibility for maintaining Wells Fargo’s reputation and for ensuring that we always act with honesty and integrity.” The Code of Ethics continues on to instruct all employees to “Be a role model for ethical leadership and support your fellow employees when they ask questions and raise ethical concerns.” The Code of Ethics also states “We have a responsibility to always act with honesty and integrity. When we do so, we earn the trust of our customers. We have to earn that trust every day by behaving ethically, rewarding open, honest communication and holding ourselves accountable for the decisions we make and the actions we take.” Craig’s behavior and actions are blatantly in defiance of the Code of Ethics. Additionally, his behavior is deeply disturbing and indicative of a much more serious problem; a problem that is not coachable, nor able to be rectified in the workplace. His lies were pathological, calculated, deliberate and well-researched. These were not “little white lies,” or “slip-ups” and are strongly suggestive of ulterior motive. Craig poses a significant risk to Wells Fargo’s reputation and security, as well as a substantial risk to the community for a multitude of reasons;

• Craig has demonstrated and displayed behavior that is not characteristic of a leader. He has shown his team that he is deceptive, unethical and untrustworthy. Wells Fargo’s Code of Ethics states that “Every employee is expected to be a leader.” A team cannot function under a leader that cannot be trusted to act ethically. If employees cannot trust the manager assigned to lead them, how can customers trust the bank? Team members cannot genuinely accept guidance, direction and coaching from someone known to be immoral, unethical and deceptive. It is an unfair and detrimental burden to place on a team to retain someone as manager that has demonstrated these behaviors.
• Craig’s lies were financial in nature. He frequently offered financial opinions and advice based on these fictitious experiences he had never actually had. If someone were to take this advice, be it a co-worker or customer, they could suffer significant financial damages.
• Craig attempted to cross the line between his fantasy world and real-world finances when he attempted to solicit investments from fellow team members into the fictitious Mexican restaurant, as well as when he offered a co-worker start-up money to quit their job with Wells Fargo and start their own business.
• Craig has proven he is untrustworthy and poses a risk to the bank and yet he retains his access to thousands of customers’ sensitive financial information. This is extremely concerning considering the fact all of his lies revolved around financial success. There is no telling what purposes he could use his access to this information for, nor is the bank protecting its customers by retaining this risk.
• Craig’s behavior follows the patterns of many well-known con artists, such as Anna Delvey, Frank Abagnale and Brent Garry Murray, all of which participated in social engineering, building false reputations of extreme financial success in order to collect money and defraud unsuspecting people under the guise of “investment opportunities.” Craig attempted to do just that when soliciting investments from co-workers for “round two” of the Mexican restaurant.

Despite these very real and significant concerns, as well as the violation of ethics policies, Wells Fargo has failed to take action and continues to allow this risk to persist in their branch. This concerned team member brought these concerns to multiple higher-level managers as well as reported to the ethics line and Wells Fargo failed to take action. This situation would have been easily verified had Wells Fargo done their due diligence and asked Craig’s current and previous co-workers what they knew about his investments.

The concerned team member thought very carefully on how to handle and address the situation. They consulted policies and asked for guidance from higher-level management, who emphasized and alluded that they should not report the situation to ethics and that nothing would come of it. Despite upper management’s attempts to dissuade him, the team member followed ethics policies and raised their hand when they saw concerning behavior.

Wells Fargo’s Code of Ethics states “Each of us must take responsibility for maintaining Wells Fargo’s reputation and ensuring that we always act with honesty and integrity.” This employee was extremely concerned about potential reputational damage to Wells Fargo that would certainly arise from this situation being brought to the attention of the public. They submitted an Ethics report in May of 2021. The team member carefully and precisely followed policy and procedure, and kept the information to themselves, fully expecting Wells Fargo to quietly address the situation and prevent damage to Wells Fargo’s reputation. This team member was stunned when the ethics report was closed, seemingly without investigation, and with no action taken. This team member began to lose all faith in the company.

Wells Fargo’s code of ethics states “We do not engage in or tolerate retaliation of any kind against anyone for providing information in good faith about suspected unethical or illegal conduct..” Additionally, the employee handbook also states, “All employees, including managers, are prohibited from taking negative actions, such as retaliation, harassment or unprofessional behavior, in response to employees speaking up in good faith.” Yet, this concerned team member experienced blatant retaliation from Craig Lathan Walls and suffered significant emotional distress due to the hostile work environment created in the eight months following their report to ethics. This team member was deliberately excluded from management meetings following the report; meetings they had previously been included in on a regular basis. Craig would no longer speak to them verbally, nor would Craig look them in the eye. All communication from Craig was through email only due to Craig’s refusal to speak to this team member verbally. Craig stopped providing this team member with any one-on-ones and stopped offering coaching and feedback to them altogether. This employee was no longer asked to open or close the branch with Craig; again, something they normally did on a regular basis prior to making the ethics report.

Despite this team member’s efforts to follow policy and raise their hand about these serious ethical violations, Wells Fargo made it clear they were not concerned and failed to enforce their own policies, despite the Code of Ethics stating “Violations of the provisions of this Code or the references policies and guidelines is grounds for corrective action, which may include termination of your employment.” The hostile work environment that Wells Fargo’s failure to take action created continued for eight months after the initial ethics report was made. The entire duration of which, this team member was subject to constant retaliation and exclusion by their manager. This hostile work environment created so much stress that they found themselves forced to quit their job. They were no longer able to function in this hostile work environment where they knew they could not trust their manager. This team member absolutely could not build relationships with customers and encourage them to place their trust in Wells Fargo when they could no longer trust Wells Fargo themselves.

When this team member decided to leave Wells Fargo due to the hostile work environment, they took the opportunity to inform select co-workers as to what truly transpired with Craig. Prior to making the decision to leave Wells Fargo, this team member could not communicate openly and honestly with their co-workers due to fear of even further retaliation from their manager. When they shared the situation with some of the former co-workers, more suspicions and lies began to surface from others who had interacted with Craig L. Walls. Craig had told an employee he had 200+ 2oz gold confederate coins (which were later confirmed to have never been minted and were mythical in nature). Craig told another employee he had a private pilot license. The State of Alaska and FAA determined this was also a lie. Craig had also stated he used the phone bank for his $1.2M mortgage pre-approval, rather than the in-branch mortgage consultant. This only cast more doubt on the validity of Craig’s claims.

Because of Wells Fargo’s failure to adhere to their own Code of Ethics, I have made this situation public knowledge on social media, TikTok, local community forums and more. Our local community, as well as the online community are outraged about the situation and even more outraged over Wells Fargo’s failure to address the situation. I am aware of numerous customers who have chosen to close their accounts with Wells Fargo due to Wells Fargo’s failure to take action. Through this situation, Wells Fargo has proven that they cannot be trusted to conduct business ethically, nor can they be entrusted with sensitive financial information.

Wells Fargo failed to comply with their own Code of Ethics and allowed disparate treatment of an employee who spoke up in good faith about serious ethical violations. Wells Fargo then continued to allow their Kenai branch manager, Craig Lathan Walls, to create hostile work environment so severe, that an employee felt it was better to quit their job than continue to live in daily fear of further retaliation.

I would like to emphasize that this situation would have been easily verified had Wells Fargo conducted a true investigation and spoken to all of Craig’s current and former co-workers; all of which he told these similar stories and all of which, could attest to the accuracy of the statements in this letter. These stories were public knowledge amongst every employee in the Kenai branch (and several in other branches) as well as many customers. Because of Wells Fargo’s failure, I will continue to bring this situation to the public’s attention so long as Craig L. Walls still poses a threat to our community and so long as Wells Fargo fails to abide by their own Code of Ethics and continues to allow Craig to pose a risk to the safety and security of Wells Fargo’s customer’s sensitive financial information.