Tavis Responds to Predatory-Lending Accusations

From the first announcement in June that Wells Fargo was being sued by the city of Baltimore for racist mortgage lending, Tavis Smiley has been entangled in the predatory-lending web. Another suit would follow in July.

From 2005 to 2009, Smiley was the economic-empowerment and wealth-building poster child for Wells Fargo. Since the suits became public, everyone wants to know whether Smiley helped Wells Fargo hook black folks in to disastrous loans. In his defense, Smiley released this statement:

Recently there has been a flurry of false reports about my relationship with Wells Fargo Bank and Wells Fargo Home Mortgage, Inc. amidst charges that the company unfairly steered African American customers into costly sub-prime mortgages.

I addressed this issue many months ago with a statement posted on my Web site during the first quarter of this year when these allegations against Wells Fargo first surfaced.

My statement thoroughly explained that I was no longer conducting any business with the Wells Fargo Company. That initial statement has remained accessible on my Web site homepage since it was first posted, shortly after the "State of the Black Union" symposium, February 2009.

Those who are now suggesting and reporting that I cut my company's ties to Wells Fargo just days ago are wrong. I have informed those persons who have reported this false information on the Internet of their error and have requested that they make the necessary corrections.

Compelled by my personal experience years ago as a victim of redlining and predatory banking practices in South Central Los Angeles, I remain committed to spreading a message of self-determination through financial literacy to African Americans and to all who will listen.

I have been quite a fan of Smiley, supporting his books and tuning in when I see him providing real talk on the tube. My initial reaction to the scandal was that there is no way he could have known what he was in to. After reading his statement, though, I have to say that rather than allay my concerns, he has served to heighten them. I understand that this may be a legal landmine for him right now, but for Smiley not to come out and boldly refute that he was on board says volumes. Oh, Tavis, say it ain't so.