Fired McDonald's CEO Stephen Easterbrook is fined $400K by SEC trends now
Former McDonald's CEO Stephen Easterbrook has been charged by federal regulators with making false and misleading statements to investors about the extent of his employee romances when he was fired in 2019.
In an order on Monday, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) hit Easterbrook with a $400,000 fine, and a five-year ban on serving as a corporate officer or director.
McDonald's fired Easterbrook in November 2019 for exercising 'poor judgment' by engaging in a sexting relationship with an unnamed McDonald's employee, and the official separation agreement said he was terminated 'without cause.'
But Easterbrook failed to disclose additional secret romances with other employees in violation of corporate policy, the SEC said in its order.
Former McDonald's CEO Stephen Easterbrook has been charged by federal regulators with making false and misleading statements to investors about his firing
Easterbrook's former girlfriend Denise Paleothodoros (with him above) expressed shock when he was accused of carrying on romances with multiple employees
The agency also charged McDonald's with 'shortcomings' in its public disclosures related to Easterbrook's ouster, but did not impose any fines on McDonald's due to the firm's 'substantial cooperation' with the investigation, the SEC said.
Attorneys for Easterbrook, who consented to the order but did not admit or deny the SEC's findings, did not respond immediately to calls for comment.
McDonald's said in a statement that the settlement reinforced the fact it held Easterbrook 'accountable for his misconduct.'
In 2021, Easterbrook returned over $105 million he received as a severance package in 2019 and apologized to the company to settle a lawsuit over the alleged cover-up.
'We fired him, and then sued him upon learning that he lied about his behavior,' the firm said in its statement on Monday.
'The company continues to ensure our values are part of everything we do, and we are proud of our strong 'speak up' culture that encourages employees to report conduct by any employee, including the CEO, that falls short of our expectations,' the statement added.
In 2021, Easterbrook returned over $105 million he received as a severance package in 2019 and apologized to McDonald's to settle a lawsuit over the alleged cover-up
McDonald had fired Easterbrook in November 2019 after he acknowledged exchanging videos and text messages in a non-physical, consensual relationship with an employee. Easterbrook told the Chicago company at the time that there were no
