Eric Adams Goes From Partying With Wells Fargo To Blasting Bank

NEW YORK CITY — Mayor Eric Adams' cringeworthy dance with model Cara Delevingne at a Wells Fargo-sponsored private party just got more awkward.

Adams and city Comptroller Brad Lander announced Friday they were halting opening new city accounts with Well Fargo. Their reason: accusations the banking giant committed widespread discrimination against Black homeowners, as first reported by Bloomberg.

“In light of this persisting track record of discrimination, New York City will not be opening any new depository accounts with Wells Fargo Bank, N.A. as we continue to investigate these troubling findings," they wrote.

The Bloomberg report came out on March 11 — two weeks before Adams raised eyebrows by attending a celebrity-filled bash at One Vanderbilt thrown by Wells Fargo.

The private event marked the launch of Bilt Rewards, a credit card that allows people collect points by paying rent in certain homes.

Photographs and video from the event showed Adams hobnobbing with hip hop star A$AP Rocky and stepping out (and staying put) on the dance floor with Delevingne. Besides the ribbing he received for the sheer weirdness of his stoic appearance alongside an animated Delevingne, many people criticized him for appearing at a party thrown by Wells Fargo.

"After announcing he plans to destroy every homeless encampment in NYC this week, and has no plans to house anyone, Eric Adams went to the club for an event sponsored by Wells Fargo," tweeted Joshua Potash. "To launch a new credit card for rich people to pay rent with. You truly can't parody this guy."

Adams' decision to halt new banking with Wells Fargo came two weeks after the One Vanderbilt party and nearly a month after the Bloomberg report.

The mayor and comptroller cited the Bloomberg report's findings to justify their decision.

“As the Mayor and Comptroller of New York City, a diverse community where Black homeowners own and are the primary residents of more than a quarter of two-to-four person homes, we are both gravely concerned about the recent report in Bloomberg that Wells Fargo rejected over half of Black applicants seeking to refinance their homes in 2020 while approving over 70% of white applicants," they wrote in a joint letter.

“These disparate mortgage practices, layered upon a checkered history of steering homeowners of color into subprime mortgages, rejecting mortgages in redlined neighborhoods, and numerous outstanding consent decrees pertaining to mortgage practices, require a swift response by both your bank and stakeholders."