Lawsuit by the fast-food chain alleges its former chief executive “concealed” explicit photos and videos.
When McDonald’s canned Stephen Easterbrook as CEO in 2019 for having what he and the company described as a consensual relationship with an employee, the parting was relatively straightforward — and highly lucrative for the ousted CEO, who walked away with a compensation package reportedly worth more than $40 million. Eight months later, the fast-food giant is suing its former chief executive to recoup the money, claiming he had sexual relationships with multiple employees and tried to cover them up. In a lawsuit filed Monday in Delaware, McDonald’s accuses Easterbrook of having relationships with an additional three employees in the year before his termination, alleging he “concealed evidence and lied about his wrongdoing.” The suit further alleges that Easterbrook approved an extraordinary stock grant worth hundreds of thousands of dollars for one of the workers. The company’s case against Easterbrook includes dozens of naked or explicit photographs and videos of different women — including some McDonald’s employees — that Easterbrook allegedly sent as attachments to his personal email account from his work account in late 2018 or early 2019.
