A 12-year-old business owner claim Wells Fargo drained and closed bank accounts for her Beautiful Curly Me brand without warning.
Zoe Oli and her mother Evana Oli accused Wells Fargo of emptying business accounts linked to the company that sells dolls, puzzles and books.
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Zoe, the CEO of the company, said she and her mother woke up to discover her business accounts were emptied and closed.
The bank claims it took action because Beautiful Curly Me did not have a “legitimate” business address on file. But Zoe denies the allegations.
“This was not the case yesterday, so my mom called Wells Fargo, and we found out that our account had been closed because we did not have a legitimate business address when we did have our physical office address on there,” Zoe explained. “They closed our accounts, our balances were showing zero, and then said that they would give us our money in a check that would take two weeks to come. First of all, how would you take our money and not give it back for the next two weeks without any warning?”
Zoe called Wells Fargo actions “completely unacceptable”.
“We have things to do and we don’t have time for this,” said Zoe, who added that her mom always had a “great relationship” with Wells Fargo.
The bank even game Zoe and Evana a $5,000 grant for their business, according to Zoe.
“Today is just so crazy to me, because this is just unacceptable for a small business, for anybody to go ahead and take our money,” she added.
Zoe made history as the world’s youngest TEDx speaker in 2023. She launched Beautiful Curly Me at just 7 years old.
Zoe and Evana asked their followers to help them raise money to open an account at a different bank. She urged her followers to donate to her website.
“We can’t operate with $0. Here’s what happened and how you can help. Thanks for your support through this challenge,” Zoe wrote.
After their story went viral, Wells Fargo contacted Zoe and Evana to go into a local branch office and pick up their funds.
Update: “Thanks to the power of social media, our case was escalated by someone in our network to the Wells Fargo leadership team in Georgia. The Executives reached out and invited us into a local branch to pick up our funds. Our accounts remain closed and we are moving on.”
