According to this article on MSNBC, Wells Fargo, which received about $25 billion in taxpayer bailout money, is planning on having a “series of corporate junkets” to Las Vegas casinos this month.
From the article…
Wells Fargo, once among the nation’s top writers of sub prime mortgages, has booked 12 nights at the Wynn Las Vegas and its sister hotel, the Encore Las Vegas beginning Friday, said Wynn spokeswoman Michelle Loosbrock. The hotels will host the annual conference for company’s top mortgage officers.
The conference is a Wells Fargo tradition. Previous years have included all-expense-paid helicopter rides, wine tasting, horseback riding in Puerto Rico and a private Jimmy Buffett concert in the Bahamas for more than 1,000 employees and guests.
Other banks have cancelled their “employee recognition” outings due to financial cutbacks, but not Wells Fargo. Evidently, they feel it’s okay to spend all this taxpayer bailout money on parties and “What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas” shenanigans.
“I was amazed with just how lavish it was,” said Debra Rickard, a former Wells Fargo mortgage employee from Colorado who attended the events regularly until she left the company in 2004. “We stayed in top hotels, the entertainment was just unbelievable, and there were awards — you got plaques or trophies.”
What’s the excuse for continuing this lavish event even though the company needed (and received) bailout money to stay afloat?
“Recognition events are still part of our culture,” spokeswoman Melissa Murray said. “It’s really important that our team members are still valued and recognized.”
“Part of our culture?” Is poor management to the point of bankruptcy part of your culture, too? Is misusing public funds part of your culture? Is destroying the public trust part of your culture? Is lavish excess funded by taxpayer money part of your culture?
Evidently, it is now.
If they actually hold this event, I think all their bailout money should be returned… forcibly if necessary. Let them fail because they certainly aren’t doing anything to succeed. They are just taking in public funds for their own grand, hedonistic enjoyment, flushing the money down the financial toilet of delusional entitlement.
There was supposed to be some pretty stringent oversight attached to this bailout money. I hope Congress steps in and puts the smack down on this Wells Fargo fiasco, but I sadly fear that they won’t.
Murray did not immediately have details about the size or cost of the events or what was planned.
No surprise there. The MSNBC article provides this detail, though.
Rooms at the Wynn and the Encore are consistently among the most expensive in Las Vegas. The $2.3 billion Encore opened in December as sister hotel to the Wynn. Its decor includes a 27-foot Asian dragon made from 90,000 Swarovski crystals and artwork by Colombian artist Fernando Botero. One of the restaurants features Frank Sinatra’s 1953 Oscar.
I guess the Red Roof Inn is out of the question.