OIG Hotline investigators, I opened the following two letters from Wells Fargo this afternoon, both of them indicating that the Bank has elected not to comply with the California Privacy Act. Instead, it is declining to honor my data deletion request.
I do not believe this stance complies with state and federal law.
Is the FBI's lie that a whistleblower of the agency's malfeasance is engaged in "espionage" or "terrorist" activities that represent a "national security threat" sufficient to prevent the truth of the far right's bid for totalitarianism, in which everyone's right to privacy will be abrogated, from being publicly known?
Should a consumer bank ever assume a predatory role toward a law-abiding customer by retaining false and defamatory material about her to be utilized at the behest of the FBI at a future time?
In what privacy violations has Wells Fargo Bank already engaged toward me at the FBI's direction?
How can Americans adequately defend themselves against far right factions of the FBI which prey upon them by virtue of their holding a simple bank account in their own name?
What would have been the appropriate response of Wells Fargo to my data deletion request?
Of course, we will protect your privacy as a law-abiding customer of Wells Fargo Bank for the last thirty-five years.
Unfortunately, this immediate and fundamental assurance has not been forthcoming from Wells Fargo.
Here is the most central content of both of these Wells Fargo communications, duplicated in the letters dated May 12, 2023 and May 15, 2023:
Case number: 06202305011304016
We reviewed your concerns and want you to know that we strive to honor personal data deletion requests (sic), we may retain personal data to the extent we are required or permitted by law. In this instance, we have retained data because it is exempt from deletion requests made pursuant to the California Consumer Privacy Act .
Personal data we've retained includes:
- Personal data we've collected in connection with consumer accounts or applications for financial products or services used for personal, family or household purposes.
- Personal data we need to comply with federal, state, and local laws.
- Personal data we need to retain in order to exercise or defend against potential legal claims.
We can confirm that we will retain a copy of your request also.
How to contact us
We appreciate your time and effort you took (sic) to contact us. If you have questions, please contact us at 515-446-2049. We're ready to help you Monday through Friday from 7:00 AM to 3:30 PM Central Time.
Sincerely,
Joseph D.
Executive Case Specialist
Enterprise Complaints Management Office
Photos of both letters are included below.
From my perspective, the most critical information is contained within the admission that Wells Fargo has retained "Personal data we need to comply with federal, state, and local laws."
In other words, if the FBI shows up at Wells Fargo's door, stating that Wells Fargo needs to serve as a repository of aggregated information about a "suspicious," "dangerous" or "criminal" Wells Fargo customer, and further, that the Bank needs to comply with the FBI's demands based on federal law, Wells Fargo is going to comply.
But what about the circumstances when the aggregated information is knowingly false? What happens when the FBI is lying? What happens when those lies are intended to discredit and defame an FBI whistleblower, and the agency is simply misusing national security regulations in order to shield itself from scrutiny?
It seems clear that the FBI is wielding the privileges it has been granted in the the interests of maintaining national security in order to control the reputations, health, families, finances, and indeed the very lives of law-abiding American citizens.
Should Wells Fargo, or any other bank, be helping them in this autocratic endeavor?
I don't believe that our freedom as Americans can be sustained by the FBI's secretive and predatory practices in co-opting individuals and business alike in the aggregation and dissemination of disinformation about "targeted" members of the American public.
Central to the far right's deceit is the idea that certain Americans who are wrongfully designated as "targets of interest" can be deprived of their civil liberties and human rights at no cost to the rest of society.
Yet, the very nature of totalitarianism is that everyone is ultimately drawn under suspicion. We have only to look at Stalin's successive purges, at Mao's sequential assaults, at Pol Pot's expanding atrocities, at Hitler's industrialized murders -- to understand that totalitarian initiatives are fundamentally criminal endeavors that end in the worst possible ways known to mankind. If we believe that the FBI's unwarranted surveillance and defamation toward law-abiding American citizens is a peaceable endeavor with peaceable goals, we are likely to be surprised by the truth. The truth is that the Phoenix Program, which which the FBI's "target of interest" program overlaps, is not peaceable.
OIG Hotline investigators, I believe that Wells Fargo's internal and external communications regarding my personal data, whatever that data may be, should be rigorously examined by your Office.
Accordingly, I hereby grant to the Office of the Inspector General Hotline Investigations Division my full permission to investigate Wells Fargo's actions in this matter.
One thing is certain: if I am to speak on behalf of those who love democracy, and I hope to do so, I cannot fear that Wells Fargo Bank, or any other, will bow to corrupt demands on the part of the far right to lie about my character and integrity.
I regret that certain segments of the FBI have elected to lie about law-abiding members of the American public. But that mistake was their own, not mine.
The FBI's leadership is accountable for that mistake, and must answer for it publicly, lawfully, and completely -- without committing yet further crimes of attempting to discredit the whistleblower who has identified the agency's malfeasance.
I will prepare this information for the OIG Hotline in affidavit format as soon as I am able to do so.
I hereby certify that the foregoing is true and correct.
Lane MacWilliams
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The FBI is a deeply divided agency. There are many FBI employees who view their vows to the Constitution with the utmost seriousness and honor, and who strive to defend the fundamentals of our democracy with courage, fortitude and commitment. The fact that some segments of the FBI appear to have embraced a lawless course is not a justification to assail the FBI in general. As President Joseph R. Biden has so rightly expressed, violence is never justified in any circumstance. The rule of law must always be honored and upheld. It is our shared determination to preserve the civil liberties and human rights of all Americans that renders the United States a democracy. We must never abandon this promise. All of our most cherished freedoms depend upon it.
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