Wells Fargo beat shareholders’ lawsuit accusing it of conducting fake interviews of nonwhite and female candidates, Reuters reported Monday.

In a ruling Friday, Judge Trina Thompson, of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, said shareholders could not show that the bank conducted widespread sham interviews — or that such interviews took place. Further, sensible investors would not expect the bank to conduct interviews for positions that had already been filled, Thompson added.

Thompson said she did not find proof that Wells Fargo CEO Charlie Scharf or two other executives, Kleber Santos and Carly Sanchez, knew about any alleged fake interviews. Santos is the bank’s CEO of consumer lending, but until last year, he served as head of diverse segments. Sanchez is listed in her LinkedIn profile as a retired human resources senior executive.

Thompson’s ruling follows allegations from dozens of current and former employees — published in The New York Times in June 2022 — that Wells Fargo violated federal law by conducting sham interviews for already-filled roles in an effort to meet its diversity goals.

Wells launched a policy in June 2020 requiring at least half of the candidates interviewed for open positions paying $100,000 or more annually be women, nonwhite or otherwise disadvantaged.

Federal prosecutors opened a criminal probe into the fake-interview allegations, and the bank last year halted, tweaked and relaunched its so-called “diverse slate” policy.

Plaintiffs in the class action must “allege more than that the sham interviews were open secret,” Thompson wrote in her decision Friday.

“While Wells Fargo's history provides some context for the allegedly misleading statements, it is not sufficient to confer [intent to defraud],” she wrote.

Wells Fargo said it did not have any comment to share at this time.

The plaintiffs also claimed the bank boosted its share price through nine public statements that highlighted the lender’s diversity guidelines, according to Reuters.