Wells Fargo fires exec accused of using bank-owned Malibu home for partying

This is inside the Malibu bank-owned home where the bank exec moved in with her husband and two children and entertained with parties with family and friends.

Moving to contain a public relations mess, Wells Fargo & Co. fired a top executive accused of using a bank-owned Malibu beach house to entertain her family and friends. Cheronda Guyton, a senior vice president responsible for commercial foreclosed properties, broke company rules barring personal use of bank property, Wells Fargo said in a statement Monday.

The Times reported last week that Guyton had been spotted by neighbors spending time at the Malibu Colony home with her family this summer. At a party in August, guests were ferried to the beach house from a yacht, residents of the enclave said.Guyton did not return phone calls or e-mails requesting comment.

Read on.

Update: Here is the statement by Wells Fargo on the Wells Fargo website. Notice, that the news release is dated September 13th which tells you that the bank exec was given her walking papers quietly on Friday before the weekend.

News Release

Wells Fargo Concludes Malibu-Property Investigation Resulting in Team Member Termination

Company policies clearly prohibit activities

LOS ANGELES — September 13, 2009

Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) said today that its internal investigation into alleged team member misconduct at a bank-owned residential property in Malibu, Calif., has concluded and that the employment of the team member involved in the incident has been terminated for violation of the company’s policies.

Wells Fargo took possession of the property, located on Malibu Colony Drive, last May as part of a private agreement with the prior owner. Under the terms of the agreement with the owner, the property was withheld from the market for an agreed-upon period of time.

In a statement, the company said: “Our investigation concluded a single team member was responsible for violating our company policies. As a result, employment of this individual has been terminated. We deeply regret the activities that have taken place as they do not reflect the conduct we expect of our team members. We continue to place the highest value on honesty, trust and integrity to guide our team members in making business decisions each day.”

Wells Fargo & Company is a diversified financial services company with $1.3 trillion in assets, providing banking, insurance, investments, mortgage and consumer finance through more than 10,000 stores and 12,000 ATMs and the internet (wellsfargo.com) across North America and internationally.