Wells Fargo wealth management employees questioned by federal agents: WSJ

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People walk by a Wells Fargo bank branch on October 13, 2017 in New York City.

Federal agents are interviewing employees of Wells Fargo’s wealth management division as the government expands its investigation of the bank’s sales practices, according to a report Friday in The Wall Street Journal.

The report said the FBI has interviewed some employees in the Phoenix area as the Justice Department and Securities and Exchange Commission expand the scope of an investigation into sales practices beyond Wells Fargo’s retail division.

In 2016, Wells acknowledged widespread problems with sales practices, including the creation of 3.5 million accounts without customers’ knowledge as retail division employees pursued aggressive sales targets.

Late last year, as earlier reported, the government asked Wells Fargo to begin an investigation into sales practices at its Wells Fargo Advisors unit after whistleblowers flagged problems in sales and products.

Wells Fargo had no comment for CNBC.

Shares of the bank are down 0.7 percent on Friday.