WASHINGTON -- It's a tradition for Wells Fargo & Co. to reward top employees with a lavish junket. In previous years, though, the company hadn't just received a $25 billion bailout from taxpayers.

The Associated Press reported Tuesday that Wells Fargo had booked 12 nights, beginning Friday, at the Wynn Las Vegas and the Encore Las Vegas.

"Let's get this straight: These guys are going to Vegas to roll the dice on the taxpayer dime?" said Rep. Shelley Moore Capito, a West Virginia Republican who sits on the House Financial Services Committee. "They're tone-deaf. It's outrageous."

The company initially defended the trip. But within hours, investigators and lawmakers on Capitol Hill had scorned the bank, and the company canceled.

The trip was to come on the heels of this week's announcement that Wells Fargo lost more than $2.3 billion in the last three months of 2008.

Previous all-expense-paid trips for Wells Fargo have included helicopter rides, wine tasting, horseback riding in Puerto Rico and a private Jimmy Buffett concert in the Bahamas for more than 1,000 of the company's top employees and guests.

"In light of the current environment, we have now decided to cancel this event as well," the company said Tuesday night in a news release that also said it had never planned to use taxpayer bailout money for the trip.

Corporate retreats have attracted criticism since the bank bailout last fall. Congress scolded insurance giant American International Group Inc. for spending $440,000 on spa treatments for executives just days after the company took $85 billion from taxpayers. AIG has since canceled all such outings.

Because of the bailout and the recession, other banks have canceled employee outings. Morgan Stanley informed employees Monday that an appreciation trip to Monte Carlo was off.

Initially, Wells Fargo indicated it had no plans to cancel.

"Recognition events are still part of our culture," spokeswoman Melissa Murray said Tuesday afternoon. "It's really important that our team members are still valued and recognized."

Wells Fargo is Colorado's largest bank, in terms of deposits.

In previous years, top Wells Fargo loan officers were treated to performances by Cher, Jay Leno and Huey Lewis. One year, the company provided fortune tellers and offered camel rides, said Debra Rickard, a former Wells Fargo mortgage employee from Colorado who attended the events regularly until she left the company in 2004.

Debra Rickard, a former Wells Fargo mortgage employee from Colorado who attended the events until she left the company in 2004, said Wells Fargo previously provided fortune tellers and camel rides.

Every night when employees returned to their rooms, there was a new gift on their pillows, she said.

"I was amazed with just how lavish it was," Rickard said. "We stayed in top hotels, the entertainment was just unbelievable, and there were awards -- you got plaques or trophies."

Kevin Waetke, another spokesman for Wells Fargo, said the Las Vegas trip provided a "unique opportunity" for employees of Wells Fargo and newly acquired bank Wachovia Corp. "to focus on continuing to do all we can for U.S. homeowners."

Said New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo: "Now, they're sending employees on junkets to Las Vegas. You do the math." Cuomo recently sought information about Wells Fargo's bonuses as part of his investigation into the banking industry.

Rooms at the Wynn and the Encore are consistently among the most expensive in Las Vegas. The $2.3 billion Encore opened in December. Its decor includes a 27-foot Asian dragon made from 90,000 Swarovski crystals and artwork by Colombian artist Fernando Botero. One of the restaurants features Frank Sinatra's 1953 Oscar.

Both properties have high-end retail stores, including Manolo Blahnik at Wynn and Chanel at Encore.

Wells Fargo reversed course Tuesday evening. The company said it had planned to scale back the Las Vegas trip but decided to cancel it, just as it had already done for other events scheduled for this year.

“It's unfair. It's unfair to the everyday taxpayer,” said Brett Torina a Wells Fargo customer in Denver.

Michael Huttner, Executive Director of Progress Now Colorado also happens to be a Wells Fargo customer.

“It's unbelievable with record unemployment numbers and taxpayers paying Wells Fargo $25 billion that they would be hosting a 12-day event in the fanciest hotel in Las Vegas to throw a huge party for their top employees,” Huttner said.

Progress Now Colorado planned to start circulating an on-line petition urging consumers to boycott Wells Fargo had the company not cancelled the trip.

University of Denver Professor of Finance Mac Clouse said there is nothing wrong with giving hardworking employees bonuses and that the Las Vegas trip was designed to reward rank-and-file employees, not CEOs.

“These are people down in the trenches,” Clouse said. “They're doing the actual work in the organization. And if they're doing well, they should be rewarded.”

Clouse said Wells Fargo’s biggest misstep was the lavishness of the reward it chose.

A statement from Wells Fargo issued Tuesday not say what, other than a four-night sales conference, the company had planned for its 12 nights in Las Vegas. The company said, however, it did not plan any other employee recognition events this year.

Here is the full text of the statement from Wells Fargo:

'(Tuesday’s) Associated Press story about Wells Fargo’s recognition events is intentionally misleading. The event is not a "junket" for executives but a four-day business meeting and recognition event for hard-working team members who made homeownership achievable and sustainable for borrowers across the nation. In 2008 alone, the team members who were invited to this event and their colleagues produced $230 billion in mortgage loans for U.S. homeowners.

Through all economic cycles, our recognition events have been an important part of our company’s culture. Late last year, we cancelled recognition events for 2009 except those where the financial commitment was so great that no meaningful savings would occur by cancelling these events. We had scaled back the mortgage event, but in light of the current environment, we have now decided to cancel this event as well. We do not plan to have any other recognition events this year.

The Associated Press story also misleads readers by implying Wells Fargo used the government's investment to pay for these events. As we've said before, we’ve used the government’s investment to lend to creditworthy customers and to help homeowners avoid foreclosure.

Since credit began contracting 18 months ago, Wells Fargo has made almost half a trillion dollars in new loan commitments and mortgage originations. Last quarter alone, we made $22 billion in loan commitments and $50 billion in mortgage originations. That's more than $70 billion or almost three times the amount of the U.S. Treasury's investment in Wells Fargo -- which has begun to benefit from our performance through the dividend we will pay to the Treasury this quarter.

Wells Fargo & Company is a diversified financial services company with $1.3 trillion in assets, providing banking, insurance, investments, mortgage and consumer finance through more than 11,000 stores, over 12,000 ATMs and the internet (wellsfargo.com) across North America and internationally. Wells Fargo Bank, N.A. has the highest credit rating currently given to U.S. banks by Moody’s Investors Service, 'Aa1,' and Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services, 'AA+.'"