A Wells notice is a notice to a company or an individual that regulators, such as those at the Securities and Exchange Commission, plan to bring charges against them.
Wells notices are typically delivered after regulators investigate entities and discover that they have been breaking the law or otherwise violating regulations in some way.
After a business receives a Wells notice, it has the opportunity to make a "Wells submission," which is a statement that explains why the business should not be prosecuted. In this statement, the business has the opportunity to give justification for why it was making infractions, or to dispute the infractions that have been discovered by the regulation agencies.
Whether the business is prosecuted or not, a Wells notice is a major step toward a trial.