The Securities and Exchange Commission has made an enforcement action against a former Wells Fargo Advisors compliance officer who allegedly altered a document before it was provided during an investigation.

The Securities and Exchange Commission has made an enforcement action against a former Wells Fargo Advisors compliance officer who allegedly altered a document before it was provided during an investigation.

According to the SEC’s order – instituting an administrative proceeding – Judy K Wolf was responsible for identifying potentially suspicious trading. She was tasked with then analyzing whether the trades may have been based on material non-public information.

Wolf allegedly created a document in September 2010 to summarize her review of a particular Wells Fargo broker’s trading, closing her review with no findings. The SEC alleges that Wolf altered that document in December 2012 after the authority charged the broker with insider trading.

“By altering the document, Wolf made it appear that she performed a more thorough review in 2010 than she actually had,” the SEC said in a statement.

It added: “After Wells Fargo provided the document to the SEC as part of its continuing investigation, SEC enforcement staff spotted the alteration and questioned Wolf specifically about the document.  At first she unequivocally denied altering the document after September 2010, but in later testimony she testified that she had done so.”

The SEC said it previously charged Wells Fargo in the case. The firm agreed to pay $5 million to settle these and other violations of the securities laws.

“Prior to the enforcement action, Wells Fargo placed Wolf on administrative leave and ultimately terminated her employment,” the SEC said.

“We allege that Wolf intentionally altered a trading review document after she knew that the SEC had charged a Wells Fargo employee with insider trading based on facts related to her review,” said Daniel Hawke, chief of the SEC Enforcement Division’s market abuse unit.