The US stock market watchdog, the SEC, on Monday accused former McDonald’s CEO Steve Easterbrook of lying to investors and misleading them about the terms of his departure from the company in November 2019.
Mr. Easterbrook, who neither acknowledges nor denies the findings of the SEC, agreed to the implementation of an order barring him from executive office for 5 years and imposing a fine of $400,000 (approximately 367,000 francs).
The fast food chain is also being sued for failing to communicate transparently about its boss’s dismissal from 2015 to 2019.
The separation agreement signed between the fast food chain and Mr Easterbrook stated that the departure was without cause, which had allowed the ex-executive to keep tens of millions of dollars in redundancy payments.
However, recalls the SEC, the decision to dismiss Mr. Easterbrook was taken because he maintained “an inappropriate personal relationship with a McDonald’s employee in violation of company regulations”.
After the revelation in the summer of 2020 of other intimate relationships at work that had been hidden until then, the fast-food giant had sued its ex-boss. The latter apologized and undertook, at the end of 2021, to return 105 million dollars in compensation.
“When corporate executives corrupt internal processes to preserve their personal reputations or line their pockets, they are failing in their fundamental duties to shareholders, who have a right to transparency and fair treatment of executives,” Gurbir Grewal said. , an SEC official, quoted in a statement.
On the other hand, the stock market regulator did not request a financial sanction against McDonald’s because of the ‘substantial cooperation that [l’entreprise] provided to SEC staff during its investigation.
“The SEC order reaffirms what we have already said: McDonald’s held Steve Easterbrook responsible for his misconduct,” the group responded in a statement.
“We fired him and then took him to court after learning he lied about his behavior,” McDonald’s adds.
Contacted by AFP, Mr. Easterbrook’s lawyers did not react immediately.
/ATS