Wolves in Sheep's Clothing, Part II

Earlier this week, Wells Fargo abruptly canceled an expensive trip to Las Vegas for numerous employees after receiving criticism for misusing $25 billion in economic assistance that the company received from the federal bailout plan in October. Initially defending the "conference" as a company tradition, Wells Fargo reported that it had booked twelve nights (starting yesterday) at the Wynn Las Vegas and the Encore Wynn Las Vegas hotels. Before abandoning the plans for the trip, a spokesperson from Wells Fargo claimed that this was a "unique opportunity" for the company to "focus on continuing to do all we can for U.S. homeowners". The trip was to come on the heels of the news that Wells Fargo lost more than $2.3 billion in the last three months of 2008.

Rooms at both hotels are consistently among the most expensive in Las Vegas and both properties contain high end retail stores, such as Chanel and Manolo Blahnik. With a total cost of $2.3 billion, the decor of the Encore Wynn Las Vegas includes a 27-foot Asian dragon made from 90,000 Swarovski crystals. Previous all expense paid trips for Wells Fargo employees have included helicopter rides, wine tastings, horseback rides in Puerto Rico, camel rides and fortune tellers. Aside from a private concert by Jimmy Buffett in the Bahamas for more than one thousand of the company's top employees and guests, these trips have also included performances by Cher, Jay Leno and Huey Lewis. When employees returned to their rooms each night, there was a new gift on their pillows.

On another note, Morgan Stanley, another bailout recipient, had been planning to send its top employees to a hotel in Monte Carlo this April. However, that trip, as well as a similar company event in the Bahamas, was cancelled this week.