New York (CNN Business) – McDonald’s has reached an agreement with exCEO Steve Easterbrook, Forcing a disgraced CEO to pay more than $100 million in severance payments.
Easterbrook was fired in 2019 after the fast food giant’s board of directors found it violated company policy by showing “poor judgment about a recent consensual relationship with an employee.” In August 2020, McDonald’s sued Against Easterbrook for lying to the board of directors about the extent of his employee relations.
In a memo with the US Security and Trade Commission (SEC) on Thursday, McDonald’s criticized Easterbrook for his “misconduct, lies and efforts to obstruct investigations into his actions” and that an agreement was the best way to go.
“This agreement holds Steve Easterbrook responsible for his apparent misconduct, including the manner in which he abused his position as CEO,” McDonald’s Chairman Enrique Hernandez Jr. said in the presentation. “The decision avoids a lengthy judicial process and allows us to move forward.”
Easterbrook admitted in the SEC filing that he has at times failed to uphold McDonald’s values or fulfill some of his responsibilities as the company’s leader. He also apologized to the board of directors, his former co-workers, franchisees and the company’s suppliers.
The total amount of the severance pay is $105 million in cash and stock. However, it is not clear to what extent each part corresponds.
McDonald’s lawsuit alleges that the company was informed of Easterbrook’s other relationships with female employees in July, opening a new investigation that found evidence of three sexual relations.
Evidence of those relationships, according to the lawsuit, came in the form of “dozens of photos and videos that include partial, partial, or sexually explicit nudity of different women,” including those of the three female employees. Easterbrook allegedly attached the photos to emails he sent from his work to his personal account.